A top marketing guru claims Australia's new campaign won't convince anyone to get vaccinated, but a distressing video for Sydney's lockdown will be very effective.
Siimon Reynolds, who was behind the 'Grim Reaper' AIDS campaign in the 1980s, said the $21 million 'super weak' ad series to encourage people to get the Covid-19 jab was a waste of money.
The video, which was rolled out across the country on Sunday, asked Australians to 'arm themselves' with the vaccine - and features a range of people of different ages lifting their sleeves to show they've had the jab.
Mr Reynolds was not impressed with the 'weak' messaging and dubbed the effort a 'colossal waste of money and a terrible missed opportunity'.
Siimon Reynolds (pictured with TV host Kathryn Eisman in 2017) created the famous 1987 advert warning Australians about the grave dangers of HIV and AIDS
'You can't simply just have someone's arm with a band aid as a way of changing millions of people's points of view,' he told ABC news.
'"Arm yourself against the vaccine" is super weak and it says nothing more than get the vaccine.'
But he was optimistic about a second ad which began running on TV and online in Sydney on Sunday evening.
The 30-second ad shows a very sick young woman laying in a hospital bed, wheezing heavily and clawing at a ventilator fastened under her nose because she can't breathe properly.
The nationwide campaign urging Australians to get the Covid-19 vaccine has been slammed by a marketing guru
Pictured: A still from a nationwide ad campaign encouraging Australians to get vaccinated
A message then pops up that says: 'Covid-19 can affect anyone. Stay-at-home, get tested and booked in for a vaccination.'
Mr Reynolds said: 'It shows that Covid can really be painful which a lot of Australians don't really believe and it shows that young people can get it, not just older people.
'It is 10 times better than the first ad.'
He also warned that wheeling out celebrities and pop stars to encourage the public to get the jab is not going to work as it may have done in other countries.
In the ad (pictured), a young woman with Covid-19 can be seen clawing at her ventilator because she can't breath
'People have been trying to sell everything from watches to cars that way for 100 years, surely when we have a life-threatening disease we can do better,' he said.
'It just reminds people that this isn't such a big deal because here's a pop singer cracking a joke about Covid and it's the exact opposite of what should be done.'
He said that if he was tasked with leading the vaccine campaign he would look at celebrities who have actually battled Covid and speak first hand about its devastating effects.
'What about celebrities like the US pop star Pink. She got Covid so badly that she rewrote her will, so that her two children could be looked after, after
