A terrifying new advert encouraging Australians to get vaccinated commissioned by the federal government is, very rightly, being slammed with The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson leading the charge.
WATCH: Lisa Wilkinson urges supermarkets to make changes
Bordering on a scare campaign, the TV ad shows a young woman hooked up to a ventilator in hospital struggling to breathe before cutting to the words: “COVID-19 can affect anyone. Book your vaccination”.
The distressing fact that has audiences up in arms is that the woman featured in the ad, like everyone in Australia under 40 right now, wouldn’t qualify to get the vaccine to prevent contracting the disease and ending up in hospital.
The intention of the ad may have been to remind young Australians they’re just as vulnerable to the disease as older citizens, but The Project hosts along with many others, thought it completely missed the mark.
“The ad is acting like it’s on the population, like it’s our fault that the vaccination rates are so low but actually it’s a supply problem,” comedian Nazeem Hussain said.
“The government needs to take responsibility. We should make an ad for the government to go and get some more friggin’ vaccines.”
Lisa then slammed the government’s sporadic choice from previous campaigns.
“We’ve gone from the Dr Nick Coatsworth ad where he is not wearing a face mask, he doesn’t do any QR code check-in, he doesn’t hand sanatise before he walks into that cafe, to this scare campaign,” she said.
“I would have thought there should have been something in between the two.”
Guest panellist Jan Fran surmised it best.
“The person in that ad looks under 40. So, what they are saying is you are a young person and you could have some severe consequences from getting Covid, but you are not eligible for any of the vaccines,” the comedian said.
“So it’s like what do you want me to do?”
New South Wales has today recorded 112 new cases as the Greater Sydney area continues to lock down. Premier Gladys Berejiklian has previously revealed the state’s vaccination rate sits at just 9 per cent.
