THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Special Project

Special Project
From the 14th Annual Shorty Awards

Delta Variant Force

Finalist in Non-Profit

Entered in Art Direction, Public Service Announcement, Social Good Campaign

Objectives

Despite the introduction of three effective vaccines, COVID-19 continued to ravage much of the United States in 2021.  As the death toll reached 800,000+ Americans, data revealed that Republicans were significantly less likely to be vaccinated and therefore MORE likely to die from the virus. To encourage vaccinations in conservative regions, we needed a message that resonated with a conservative audience.

Strategy and Execution

COVID-19 could have been the perfect political enemy for uniting a divided country: it originated in a Communist country, it poses a serious threat to American citizens, and it requires a community effort to stop the spread. So, what if politicians and public health officials had talked about the virus the same way we talk about other foreign enemies, say, terrorists?

We created a pro-bono lifestyle brand asking Americans to fight for their country and “bare arms” against COVID-19. We modeled our aesthetic after popular military brands with patriotic slogans. We designed custom t-shirts and hats and bumper stickers. We lobbied for support from conservative influencers and right-wing media outlets—even a few Russian bots.

Results

Sadly, we didn’t move the needle on vaccinations (we couldn’t even pay influencers to do the right thing). But we did shine a light on the hypocrisy of anti-vaccine rhetoric, making some people really, really mad. And we did it while raising money for CRUSH COVID – SOS, a crowdfunding initiative by the CDC Foundation helping combat COVID-19 by deploying resources for staffing, oxygen and shots.

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Fitzco, Delta Variant Force

Links

Entry Credits