In what must have been one of the most eventful months in Hong Kong's recent history, the growing public concern over the atypical penumonia outbreak reached a crescendo of hysteria on April Fool's Day when a hoax website report induced mass panic buying. A 14-year-old hacker had published a bogus news item stating that Hong Kong would soon be declared an infected port.
What was telling was the speed at which the news sent locals out to strip supermarket shelves bare by mid-afternoon. The Hong Kong Government, in an unprecedented move for the administration, instructed the six mobile phone networks to issue SMS messages to their subscribers denying the news.
It may be the one time in the drive to inform the public about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that the Government got it right. The rest of the public information campaign, says the industry, has just gone horribly wrong. "I did not see any TV campaign other than the health minister asking people to wash their hands," notes Bates' Jeffrey Yu. "My point of view is that this is a very weak and indecisive Government which wavers (in) its position every minute, every hour, everyday. As such, there would not be any meaningful campaign other than asking people to wash their hands." What most people have seen on TV during commercial breaks is a bespectacled woman - it is unclear whether she is a Department of Health(DoH) representative - droning on about how travellers will have to submit health declaration forms when they enter Hong Kong. Bang's Chris Kyme says the presentation is at fault. " If you think about the Government's poor image right now with this whole crisis, they should be doing everything possible to reassure the public that they are in control, and I think presentation is important. The woman in the TV message hardly instills confidence.
In fact, the opposite. You sort of feel, if she's an indication of the switched-on personalities who are in charge, we're in trouble."
Kyme says one of the problems with the campaign is the tone of voice.
"It isn't hard hitting enough; there's no sense of urgency being communicated."
Most of industry practitioners Media spoke to have seen 'the woman in the TV spot'. Few, however, had seen the cartoon ad that ran before, showing how droplets from sneezing people can be infectious. Charles Brian Boys, managing director of the Mediaedge:cia, says his only vague recollection of an information campaign "is of a rather childish cartoon stating obvious hygiene tips".
That a cartoon was used was seen as lamentable as it appeared to trivialise a rapidly escalating health scare. However, it underlined the Government's penchant for cartoons in cheap PSA campaigns.
What about print ads? The Big Thinking Group's Chris Jaques says advertising in such a scenario "is a total waste of time and money". He explains: "Advertising is highly effective for exploiting brand strengths, but an inefficient medium for overcoming image weaknesses. When a company or government has a negative image, everything that fits in with that image is seen to endorse it. The problem lies with its actions, not its communications."
Leo Burnett planner Kara Young adds: "The SARS ads are confusing in terms of their message and really provide very little information - especially when you just have to open the newspaper to see pages of commentary and updates." She would have been talking about the half-page black and white print effort, this time with no playful cartoons, but a stern exhortation to "wash your hands". In placement and colour, the ad hardly registered.
Contrast that with the Singapore Government's hard-to-miss full-page ad on the back page of the main paper. Mediaedge:cia Singapore managing director Bertilla Teo says the Government's print efforts were excellent as was the use of all channels from radio to web to SMS. "I think this is a good case of instant media being put to good use."
Judging by the hoax website that sparked the panic buying spree, the online medium is a vital information source that the Government again appears to have ignored except to counter the hoax website. Brian Boys points out however that finding information on the Hong Kong Government is tough enough. "A search on Google didn't throw up one 'official' Hong Kong Government FAQ or information site on SARS. If one persists, eventually information can be found, including a rather helpful FAQ on the DoH's site, but it is difficult to find. Once there, a pop-up links surfers to the atypical pneumonia information site, which is comprehensive but hidden away."
The sense of calm could very well be reinforced with a strategic public information onslaught - another area in which experts say the Hong Kong Government fell short. "The publicity has been neither enough nor substantive in content," says Rick Allen, group managing director of Euan Barty Associates/Firebrand Communications. "Rather than helping ensure that people really understand the risks and precautions that should be taken, and to ensure a sense of calm is maintained, the absence of much useful and timely information is resulting in a steadily growing concern by most people. Real advice has been thin and sporadic. Aiding and abetting the rising concern of the local population is the inevitable media coverage which, typical of the press, has painted stark and emotive images of the outbreak."
From Media's experience dealing with the DoH information unit on this issue, it appears that the Government may need help on the frontlines.
The DoH was asked what advertising and PR it had done to communicate preventative measures, only to be told by a staffer at the unit, Jimmy Lee, that the unit did "not have email" to receive press questions.
At press time, the authorities also began airing a new 'Your health is in your hands' campaign, featuring real people, with the main message being to encourage people to wash their hands regularly.