Why we need to market masks like condoms
Posted July 3, 2020 5:15 am.
In today’s Big Story podcast, it’s clear from the politicization of masks in the United States, and the mandatory mask policies being enacted in Canada, that we’re not seeing enough voluntary compliance to impact the spread of COVID-19. So who’s to blame? And how do we get where we need to be to curb the virus?
Messaging on masks has been abysmal since the early stages of the pandemic, so you can’t simply blame people for not complying now. And the shaming and shunning of non-mask wearers isn’t what’s needed to convince everyone to buy in to something that represents a huge change in everyday behaviour. So what kind of messaging works? Well, we actually do have a pretty good idea.
GUEST: Dr. Julia Marcus, epidemiologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School; writer at The Atlantic
You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.
You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.
