Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ngNuuPpmj8
This week, Governor Cuomo posted a video to his YouTube and Twitter accounts featuring Paul Rudd, a "Certified Young Person," encouraging young New Yorkers to wear masks in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Rudd, who is actually 51, explained that his buddy "Cuoms" needed help reaching the Millennial audience, and called him up to help, assuming he was 26 years old. Over the course of the video, Rudd cornily misuses common Millennial and Gen-Z slang, for example: "I wanna stan you" and "slide that into your DMs and Twitch it." The video went viral in the days following its release, reaching over a million views in less than a week.
It is true that young people are helping to drive the spread of COVID-19, but there's reason to believe it's linked more to the younger generation's economic disadvantage and need to stay at work rather than a disdain for wearing masks. Still, one has to appreciate Cuomo's attempt to reach a younger audience, and his choice of advertising channel is ideal for the targeted age group. According to AudienceProject data, YouTube has 81% penetration in the 15-25 year age group, and 71% penetration in the 26-35 year demographic.
This, combined with higher YouTube consumption during quarantine and relatively low levels of trust in COVID-19 communications by public officials, has potential to be much more effective than traditional medical communication. Furthermore, the viral nature of the medium allows the humorous video to reach audiences beyond New York City. Going forward, it will be interesting to see whether more public officials recruit public figures in an attempt to make the battle against Coronavirus a little more lighthearted.
No comments:
Post a Comment