Marketing Through Eugene's Eyes

    I want to share this advertisement by the “Measles Initiative”, which focuses on vaccinating people against the virus, measles. I was shown this video at the very beginning of my Virology class last Friday (once in the link, watch “The Last Measles” video) and somewhat surprisingly, some marketing ideas popped into my mind.

    Just some background information on measles. Measles is an infection caused by the Rhabdo family of viruses. It is easily spread by aerosol (coughing/sneezing) transmission and through direct and indirect contact (e.g. touching a doorknob with the virus). When infected, it causes the archetypal symptoms of an infection – fever, headache, cough but it also causes a nasty skin rash that usually commences in the neck region (I would include picture of this but the photos may be a bit too graphic for some). For most patients, these are the only symptoms but for about 20-30%, secondary infections such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, blindness and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) occurs due to the suppression of the immune system by the measles virus (specifically, much like the HIV virus, measles inactivates the T cells, which is critical immune defence mechanism against viruses). It is because of these secondary complications that death usually ensues, especially amongst children living in developing nations as they are usually living in poverty, are malnourished and have little access to the scarce medical facilities.  In developed nations, these patients usually survive because of hospitalisation. In very rare cases, the measles virus can enter the central nervous system causing Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which has a 100% mortality rate. Currently, 450 people die each day from measles-related complications. The risk of this also exists in developed nations – in fact, 14 unvaccinated people in the Vancouver area were infected with measles earlier this year.

    Anyway, so how does this have to relate to marketing, you may ask? Well, in my opinion, it most certainly relates to marketing. Marketing is necessary to convey the message of the measles problem and the solutions to it, which is what the advertisement above was aiming to do. Through the narration of a young measles survivor from Africa, we gain a first-hand experience of the heartache, pain, terror and fear the measles virus sparked in his family, school and village. He informs the audience of the “miracle” – the vaccine which eliminated the virus in his village but fears for nearby towns that have not received the vaccine. The advertisement concludes with statistics and how we can help by donating money so that vaccinations can continue. Without such advertisements, people would not be aware of the measles problem and would not be aware of the contributions which they can make to solve this problem.

    I was emotionally appealed (pathos) by the advertisement. It generated fear, worry and sadness for these communities. Certainly, the sombre tone of the advertisement was augmented by the narrator’s innonence, and the black and white colour tones, which contrasted with the red spots, symbolic of the measles virus. Personally, for me, I perceived the red spots as danger and so I believed that this was a good technique. All of these features really generated interest in me and helped capture the audience’s attention such that Measles Initiative’s message could be conveyed. Subsequently, I gained a desire to donate to the foundation and I plan to take action within the next few days. In fact, the whole class was moved by the advertisement because the lecture hall suddenly fell silent upon hearing the first few seconds of the advertisement. 

    I hope that the advertisement has also made its mark on you and has expanded your understanding of the dangers of some viruses, which we may personally never see in our lives, but are rife amongst unvaccinated populations. I hope that it is not too much longer before measles (and polio) becomes eradicated in the same way smallpox has, made possible after the introduction of the Salk and Sabin vaccines.