University of Idaho

Vaccine Myths and Declining Vaccination Rates in the United States:

Communication Campaign Plan
By
Caleb Cotton

27 March 2016
Rationale
Goals:

Vaccination rates in the United States are on the decline. Misinformation

spread throughout media and vocal opponents of vaccines have caused
many young parents to forego vaccinating their children (Centers for Disease
Control, 2014). While there is a lot of information online about vaccines and
their safety, there is just as much misinformation about the dangers of
vaccines. The truth about vaccines needs to be made more readily available
than misinformation.
With an increasing population and decreasing vaccination rates, the
unvaccinated population is at greater risk of contracting communicable
diseases. Unfortunately, children and infants without the ability to decide
whether or not to be vaccinated are the age group with the lowest rate of
vaccinations and are the most susceptible to diseases that are commonly
vaccinated against (Centers for Disease Control, 2014). Teaching parents the
truth about vaccines and the consequences of not vaccinating could sway
their opinion and reverse the decline in vaccination rates.
Showing parents the very real dangers of not vaccinating their children is key
to spreading the message. Successful efforts to eradicate diseases have
created a nation that no longer knows the devastating effects of a host of
communicable diseases that were once commonplace. Growing up with only
stories of the horrors of diseases such as polio and measles does not have
the same impact on someone as seeing them first hand. One way to help
parents understand the implications of falling vaccination rates may be to
show graphic images of the dangers of some of the more common diseases
that have been eradicated but could make a comeback.
While the United States has a robust vaccination program, emigrants from
countries without robust vaccination programs could carry diseases to the
United States and cause an outbreak of a disease that could injure or kill
those that are not vaccinated. Worldwide, approximately 8.8 million deaths
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of children under age 5 are attributed to vaccine preventable diseases (World

Health Organization, n.d.). Cities with large populations of out-of-country
tourists and large, concentrated residential areas are the most vulnerable to
large scale outbreaks.

According to the CDC, Oregon, Idaho, Michigan, Vermont, and Maine have
the highest rates of kindergarten-aged children with nonmedical exemptions
from vaccinations with approximately 7% of kindergarteners unvaccinated
(Centers for Disease Control, 2014). In general, western states tend to have
lower vaccination rates, approximately 5%, compared to eastern states,
approximately 1-2% (Centers for Disease Control, 2014).

The long-term goals of this project are to convince parents of the safety of
vaccinations and increase vaccination rates in the United States by making
the World Health Organizations (WHO) World Immunization Week and the
Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) National Infant
Immunization Week (NIIW) more popular. By increasing vaccination rates,
there will be a reduction in child mortality related to preventable diseases.
Audience:
The target audience of the proposed media plan is young parents (18-29
years old) that use social media and live in western states. The 18-29 year
old cohort is the most likely to believe vaccines cause autism (yougov.com)
and has the highest use of social networking sites at approximately 90%
(Pew Research, 2013). The group of 18-29 year olds are either parents to
young children or are potential parents. Since most communicable diseases
that are controlled through vaccination have been eradicated since the
1960s, 18-29 year olds have not seen the effects of these diseases, but their
parents probably have. This 18-29 year old group is statistically likely to have
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been vaccinated themselves, but are subjected to information via the

internet that may or may not be true (Centers for Disease Control, n.d.).

Messages:
The messages from this communication campaign are intended to promote
the long-term goals of the campaign. The key messages of the campaign are:

Vaccination rates are declining

Unvaccinated children are the most at-risk for contracting preventable

diseases
Unvaccinated people pose a risk to children who have yet to be

vaccinated
Diseases are preventable with vaccines
Vaccines do not cause autism

While the messages are grounded in sound science, those who listen to
celebrities for their information may disagree with the information. People
concerned about the possible dangers of vaccine ingredients or overall
amount of vaccines recommended may ignore the message outright. The
people that have chosen not to vaccinate have done so for a reason, either
morally, spiritually, or based in what they believe is truth.

With the rise of autism and its increasing prevalence in the United States,
many people that oppose vaccines will attempt to link the rise of autism and
increase in vaccinations. A message that links the increase of television
watching over time and rise in autism and other corollaries can be shown to
dismiss the claim that autism and vaccines are linked. Correlation is not
necessarily causation and any event that has risen at the same or similar
rate as autism can be shown as the scapegoat.
The messages of this campaign have the potential to cause heated debates.
Getting people to do their own research on the topic of vaccinations is one of
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the main goals of the campaign and some of the campaign statements could
include:

Be responsible. Vaccinate your children.

The zombie apocalypse begins when parents stop vaccinating their

children.
Babies cant speak. Be their voice immunize.
When you become a parent, there are plenty of things to worry
about. Dont make preventable diseases one of them. Speak to your
doctor about vaccines.

This campaign will have two styles of images to show both sides of
immunizations. One style will show parents and children and what will
happen when children are immunized. In this style, happy and healthy
parents and children will be playing in a park. The children will be playing
with other young children (4-6 years old) around a jungle gym with parental
supervision. In this vision, the sun will be shining and no clouds in the sky,
almost as if there isnt a care in the world. This image is a subtle reminder
that vaccines protect.

In the second style, the commercial will begin where the second one left off.
In the park, one of the children will start to cough. Suddenly, the sky will get
cloudy and images of people infected with diseases will be shown on the
screen. The dangers of not vaccinating will be revealed in the second style.
These images may be harsh, but are the truth. To capture attention and get
people to visit the websites, it may be necessary to show what the world was
like before vaccines or show images of outbreaks in countries where vaccines
are not as accessible as they are in the United States.

This campaign will be half shock advertising and half subliminal advertising.
Shock advertising will work to grab the attention of viewers and may get
them to go to the website just to see what the Walking Dead-esque
commercial was all about. The subliminal side of the advertising will work to
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show that with vaccines, there is no need to worry about children going into
public places or being near other children.
The spokesperson for this campaign will be a celebrity that is popular with
the demographic and has already shown support for vaccines. Jimmy Kimmel
has already made a statement and his own video on support for vaccines.
Getting Mr. Kimmel to assist in making the viral video and spreading the
message to the key demographic would be helpful.
Media
Since this campaign is directed toward a population that uses the internet
heavily, almost all of the information will be delivered through social media.
Using social media, ads can be directed at different states or even counties
within states. States with high vaccination rates will not be targeted as much
while states with low vaccination rates will be heavily targeted. Given that
90% of the target audience uses some form of social media, websites such
as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube will be the primary focus of the ad
campaign. Other social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Hulu will
also be targeted. Ad content will be provided to each service and will be paid
for per click on the advertisement or for run time. Advertisement will also
be purchased for one television show most popular with the targeted
demographic. The advertisements will direct users to the website that will be
built to house information on vaccines and links to other resources, such as
the CDC and WHO and other websites that encourage vaccinations among
children.

Since viral videos are such a large part of internet traffic, a pro-vaccine video
will be made to attract attention to the correct information and get people to
repost the video or link to the video and distribute the message. To make a
successful viral video, enlisting a celebrity that often makes popular videos
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and developing a script will be critical to make the message resonate with
the demographic.

Budget and Production

Budget
Elements

Costs

Total Costs

Facebook
Advertisement

$0.24 per click. $2,400

for 10,000 clicks each
month
$0.50-$4.00 per click

$28,800 per year

Twitter Advertisement

Twitter Promoted April

16-23 2016 (NIIW)

$0.50 per click cap for

500k views= $250,000
per year
$1,400,000 for NIIW

GoDaddy Webpage
Domain

Promoted trend
$200,000 per day. 7
days at $200k
Average of $0.20 per
view or $0.10- $0.30
per view
$600 for domain per
year

Webpage Renewal

$16 per year

$160 for 10 years

Instagram Photo
Advertisement
Instagram Video
Advertisement
Snapchat Photo
Advertisement

$20 for 1,000

impressions per photo
$30 for 1,000
impressions per video
$750k per Brand Story
ad. *Amount of
impressions not
released by snapchat

$4,000 for 200,000

photo impressions
$7,500 for 250,000
video impressions
$750,000 minimum
advertisement cost

Hulu Video
Advertisement

$35 for 1,000

impressions

$8,750 for 250,000

views

Script Writer

$2,500- $10,000 for

senior writer 2-3 min Ad
2-3 minute video for

$ 10,000

Youtube Advertisement

Production costs :

$0.30 per view with a

cap at 500k views =
$150,000
$600

$ 250,000
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Hinge Marketing
Service

$100,000- $1,000,000
plus

Webpage and Web

Designer Costs

$5,640- $11,400 plus

depending on
Requirements
$10,000 to $50,000

Celebrity Spokes
Person Cost
Extras for video

$100 per Extra

$10,000 with one year

of training and content
support
$50,000 Primary
Celebrity
$1,000 for 10 Extras

Incidentals

$10,000

Total:

$2,930,810

Production of Viral Video

Funding

Hiring

Product

Adding

First

Approv

Staf

ion

Video

Airing

al

to

Time

Youtube
1 week
3 weeks

Required

months

1 month

2
months

Total
Time:
12
months
Production of Commercial
Fundin

Hiring

Product

Dissemina

First

Staf

ion

tion to

Airing

Approv
Time

al
6

Require

months

Television
1 month

Station
1 month

1 month

months

d
Total
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Time:
12
months
Website
Funding

Hiring

Productio

Review and

Approva

Staf

Website

l
Time

6 months

Launch
1 month

3 months

1 month

Require
d
Total
Time:
11
months

Assessment
Objective

Grade, 1-10, 10 is the

Total Points (100

points available)

Website functionality

highest
Based on visits to WHO,
CDC website via this
website (1 pt per

Website success

100,000)
Success will be graded on
traffic

Website launch on time

Increased vaccine rates in

One point per 0.25%

targeted areas
Reduced percentage of

increase
One point per 0.25%

kindergarten-age children

decrease

not vaccinated in target

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areas
Commercial launch on
time
Commercial success

Graded on response from

Viral video success

viewers
One point awarded per 10
million views

Viral video launch on time

Partnerships with CDC

Traffic among websites

and WHO

Conclusion
The technology-focused and celebrity-driven media plan will take time to
develop and will require multiple partners for success. Using advertisements
to direct the demographic towards a website that will host vaccine and
disease information will educate individuals that are or will be deciding
whether or not to vaccinate their children. With the information easily
accessible and decipherable, common vaccine myths will be debunked
among the masses.

REFERENCES:
______"10 Facts on Immunization." WHO. Web. 26 Mar. 2016
______GoDaddy Domain Name Search Tool. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

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______"Hire Freelance Writers and Buy Content - How WriterAccess Works."

Hire Freelance Writers and Buy Content - How WriterAccess Works. Web. 24
Mar. 2016.
______"How Much Does a Website Cost in 2015?" Executionists. 2015. Web.
25 Mar. 2016.
______"How Much Does an Actor in a Commercial Get Paid? - Quora." Web. 25
Mar. 2016.
______"How Much Does Facebook Advertising Cost?" 2013. Web. 25 Mar.
2016.
______ "Social Networking Fact Sheet." Pew Research Center Internet Science
Tech RSS. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
______"The Economics of Prime Time: How Much Does It Cost To Place A 30
Second Ad In A Prime Time Weeknight TV Show?" International Business
Times. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
______ "Vaccines." WHO. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.
______"What Is the Cost of Video Production for the Web? | Hinge." What Is
the Cost of Video Production for the Web? | Hinge. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
______ "What Online Ads Really Cost - Digiday." Digiday. 2013. Web. 27 Mar.
2016.
______ "World Immunization Week 2015: Close the Immunization Gap." World
Health Organization. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
CDC. Programmatic strategies to increase vaccination rates assessment
and feedback of provider-based vaccination coverage
information. MMWR 1996;45:219-220
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What Would Happen if We
Stopped Vaccinations? 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

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