Report by Paula Antolini, September 2, 2021, 7:46PM EDT
OPINION / POLITICS / GOVERNMENT
Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut Department of Public Health Acting Commissioner Dr. Deidre Gifford announced on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, the launch of a new television ad campaign “to further impress upon Connecticut residents the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations as the Delta variant continues to spread across the state and the country.”
However, the problem is: Is CT Governor Ned Lamont representing ALL the people when he launches ad campaigns or “public service announcements” that insinuate you are likely to die if you are not vaccinated against COVID-19? Is Lamont stretching the truth when he states the vaccines are “safe“? Is it really proven that “the difference between life with vaccination versus the risk to your life without” IS in fact a risk at all, or death? Is this False Advertising? Misinformation? Psychological Intimidation? Coercion?
View the governor’s full press release here and view the ads in the links below, to help you decide.
Lamont stated, “The new campaign is hard-hitting and clearly depicts the difference between life with vaccination versus the risk to your life without.
Lamont stated, “The new campaign is hard-hitting and clearly depicts the difference between life with vaccination versus the risk to your life without. The COVID vaccines are safe and remarkably effective, even against the Delta variant. You are far more likely to suffer severe disease, hospitalization, or death if you are not vaccinated. Where is all of this documented?
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You have to ask yourself if showing an image of a funeral card of the dad who died because he did not get the vaccine, is pushing things a bit farther than necessary in order to convince people to get the vaccine. For example, in the “COVID Testimonial: Officer Hiram Otero” ad, a Puerto Rican man, Officer Harim Otero of Hartford, CT, who stated he lost his father on May 12, 2020 to COVID, speaks in Spanish about his father after his death. He said, “If he had the opportunity to get vaccinated, he would have gotten vaccinated” (Spanish, subtitled in English, in parts). Visuals then show funeral card for the father. “I heard in his voice in the hospital, he wanted to live,” Otero said.
The governor’s press release reads, “The Turned the Corner” campaign juxtaposes the celebration of everything we got back with vaccinations – hugs, being together – with the realities of the life and death situation the virus poses for people who remain unvaccinated.
The governor’s press release reads, “The Turned the Corner campaign juxtaposes the ‘celebration of everything we got back with vaccinations – hugs, being together – with the realities of the life and death situation the virus poses for people who remain unvaccinated,‘ said Steve Wolfberg, chief creative officer at Cronin and president and chief creative officer at Bonfire Productions, the agencies that developed and produced the campaign.” Is this really a fair assessment of the present situation? Either hugs or death? And Lamont approved of this ad agency’s vaccine campaign suggestions and final ads, as acceptable?
Or showing heart wrenching scenes of a young boy in a happy family scene at home, in the “Turned the Corner” ads. But then in the next scene it shows a woman, assumed to be the mom, sick in a hospital bed, but waving weakly behind a glass hospital room window, and the boy with and older male adult waves back from the other side, sadly. All are wearing masks. A female voice says, “Many haven’t been vaccinated and for them, life could take a very different turn.”
Or using a senior student in high school and his mother, in the “COVID Testimonial: Michael & Abigail” ad, to push the vaccine. After the son “Michael” indicated how he realized he had COVID, mother “Abigail” says, “I wish that I could have done more and I felt guilty as I was the first one to test positive, and to have your family exposed and to be helpless is unbearable.” … “I can’t imagine not letting your kids get vaccinated,” she said. Michael then says, “I was almost bedridden and I started worrying, is this the end, or is there going to be more?” Mom says, “My son Michael still can’t taste or smell right and it’s been a year and a half and I don’t think that mothers want to see their kids suffer for even in that amount, but I can’t imagine what it would be like of it were any worse, so I can’t imagine not getting your kids vaccinated.“
Or using a black Reverend Robyn Anderson, from Middletown, CT, to push the vaccine, in the, “COVID Testimonial: Reverend Robyn Anderson” ad, where, standing in her religious facility, thumbing through a religious book at one point, she said, “COVID has had an impact on my congregation and it is something they’ll never get over, to see so many of their loved ones sick.” The ad is complete with a “faith based vaccination clinic” poster urging people to get the vaccine, and a sign for a walk-up vaccination service, and a poster that reads, “Reverend Anderson and I got our COVID shots, now it’s your turn.” The Reverend’s voice closes the ad with, “People of color have not always had a positive relationship with the medical field and so I am able to be there for people to validate those concerns, because they are true, and half of them see that even though those things are true, that we’re saving our families’ lives, we’re saving our neighbors’ lives, we’re saving our friend’s life if we get vaccinated.” That last line is extremely vague in many areas. Purposely so?
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There is something very wrong here when so many tactics of coercion, whether subliminal or obvious, are used according to race, religion, relationships, age, guilt, Spanish language, and using titles like “Officer” and “Reverend” to add credibility or weight to statements, urging people to get the vaccine.
And this, from our governor who is supposed to be representing ALL the people of Connecticut and all viewpoints.
How about making an ad campaign for people who believe in freedom of choice in what they allow to be injected into their body? Or for people who believe in thoroughly researching vaccines and side effects before deciding whether or not they feel it is good for their health? Or attention paid to religions or races that do not believe in the vaccines? Or hospital workers who are willing to sacrifice their jobs in order to NOT get the vaccine under a mandate? What do they know, that we don’t? The tag line of the ad can be, “Research and decide for yourselves what is right for you and your loved ones.”
Why not show how only a FEW patients are admitted to the hospital, and how many recover on their own, or are turned away to recover at home? Or how many people are actually infected with COVID (5-9 patients per 100,000 in Bethel) among persons living in community settings? Or how other medicines actually work to treat COVID?
Just show BOTH sides of the story!
Something is obviously very wrong here and people are starting to realize that. Continued conflicting information about vaccines and masks, and now coercion and guilt trips and using students to promote the vaccine too, in media ads and beyond? (Read our story here.) And now the mask mandate.
Time to take a stand to protect yourself. This is unacceptable.
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View Governor Ned Lamont press release, September 1, 2021, here.