Sunday, May 10, 2020
Government PR disaster puts lives at risk
And yet, that appears to have been what happened last week, when journalists were briefed on the contents of Boris Johnson's speech at 7pm tonight and were led to believe that the lockdown is to be significantly eased.
In reality, the Prime Minister could not take the other nations with him, and with Wales leaping in to extend lockdown for three weeks, with some minor and difficult to police concessions, it is now likely that Johnson will backtrack and follow suit.
The logo above is appallingly designed and will do nothing to promote behaviour change. It is too vague and not actionable. The average person understands how to stay home, save lives and protect the NHS. Ask someone how they stay alert, control the virus and how they save lives, and you will get blank looks.
For a Prime Minister who was elected because of his ability to relate to and communicate with people, this crisis is proving to be a disaster.
It is not just that their organisation of key essentials such as PPE has been incompetent, that they allowed themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security and acted too late to lockdown the country, at the cost of thousands of lives, but they cannot even get the basic messaging right to back up the decisions they have made.
The inquiry when it comes, is going to have a lot to think about.
