Ginger ale can’t cure COVID-19.
That message went viral this month thanks in large part to the Baltimore City Health Department’s social media strategy, which has included a series of attention-grabbing memes designed to promote vaccinations.
“We really touched on something that a lot of people, either seriously or not seriously, really do think will prevent COVID, because they do make you feel better,” said department communications director Adam Abadir about the “Ginger ale can’t cure COVID, Derrick” meme.
“Ginger does help upset an upset stomach, so we acknowledge that some of these home remedies that have been passed on for generations are valid,” he said. “But at the same time, we understand that this is a specific instance where a vaccination is a lot healthier for you.”
Abadir worked with Benjamin Jancewicz, a social media consultant, to develop the memes. The text includes eccentric public services announcements pasted over stock photos depicting ridiculous, overacted scenes. The main message is to encourage Baltimore residents to get vaccinated.
“We recognized that we needed to take an adaptive tone of taking complex ideas and simplifying them as much as possible, trying to push them out in a really easily digestible way, because that’s what the internet rewards,” Abadir said. “But also making sure that we are pushing back against anti-vaxxers and misinformation as quickly and as professionally as possible.”
The idea grew out of another viral moment in Baltimore earlier this year. Mayor Brandon Scott drew national attention for off-script remarks during a January press conference about pandemic restrictions related to in-person dining.
“Pull your mask up, Shorty,” Scott said, addressing Baltimore activist Duane “Shorty” Davis. “Come on, man, people are dying… People need to hear this information.” The exchange was captured by television cameras, and became a soundtrack for hip-hop remixes.
The communications department knew the Scott soundbite could help amplify the message on wearing a mask.
“What we saw was, this was a phrase that answered a question that real people had: how do I talk to my friends, my family members about a harm reduction thing, if they’re not listening?” Abadir said. “We decided from there to start taking a look at what were the most common things that we were seeing online.”
The strategy grew out of that organic moment, but the team looked to create content that simplified and made more accessible the current guidance around how to handle the pandemic.
“When we first started being a bit more vocal and using the memes on social media, I don’t know that we anticipated or even had the intention of going viral,” Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said. “We all use memes in our personal life, so I think it was initially intended to be more kind of fun and lighthearted. The fact that it’s garnered so much attention is certainly a bonus. But our overarching purpose is really to get people to have the conversation.”
“Mimosas with the girls? You still aren’t vaxxed, Debra!” was the first meme in the series, posted in late April. As residents started navigating in-person dining, the department looked to encourage people to get vaccinated in order to participate in “mimosas with the girls.”
“There was an opportunity there to talk about the importance of getting vaccinated, but not necessarily from your health commissioner or from a local government official, but from your friends, from your family,” Abadir said. “We wanted to model conversations that we knew either were happening or should be happening in real people’s lives.”
Officials say they can’t really know if their messages are driving vaccination rates, but they hope they are sparking honest conversations among friends, family and neighbors.
“The success of this is really about the authenticity of these conversations, and then putting it in a vehicle like a meme that’s kind of funny, hopefully disarming some of the hesitancy or resistance,” Abadir said.
The department’s efforts picked up steam when writer Britni Daneille highlighted some of the memes in a tweet last week. Her post earned 31,000 retweets and 136,000 likes and drove social media users to check out the rest of the department’s content, Abadir said.
Baltimore’s vaccine campaign is HILARIOUS ????
Get the vax, Debra! pic.twitter.com/yWbjkczVn5
— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) August 9, 2021
Like many accounts on social media, the city health department has become slightly edgier and more irreverent, especially when contending with trolls and anti-vaxxers bent on spreading misinformation about vaccines.
And as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads across the U.S., the department hopes to continue its messaging to get more people vaccinated.
View this post on Instagram
The daily number of new cases confirmed in Maryland reached its highest point since late April last week, with 1,047 new cases confirmed last Thursday.
Earlier this month, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said the Delta variant accounts for nearly 100 percent of the new cases in the state.
The city’s health department developed and published an explainer meme on the Delta variant to address common questions.
“For those who are fully eligible to get vaccinated who haven’t been already, I would hope that Delta would be that encouragement to go ahead and make that appointment to get vaccinated,” Dzirasa said. “The only way that we’re really able to get through this and to really stop the spread of this potentially even more dangerous variant is to get as many people vaccinated as possible.”
The department is also working with churches and other community groups, holding events in communities with lower vaccination coverage and deploying door-knocking teams to discuss questions or concerns with neighbors wary of the vaccine.
According to city data, 58 percent of Baltimore residents age 18 or older are fully vaccinated against the virus; 65 percent have had at least one shot.
In Maryland, 60 percent of residents age 18 or older are fully vaccinated, and nearly 80 percent have had at least one shot.
“Ultimately, the goal is to keep our city residents healthy,” Abadir said. “We just are trying to do it in a way that is a bit different. It’s a bit a bit quirky; it’s a bit sassy. But it’s something that that people seem to be paying attention to, and we’ll continue to do as long as it works.”
Always a good reminder: Salads don’t cure COVID, Connor. Eat your veggies, but also get vaxxed.
