Ketchup is in short supply, no thanks to Covid.
Thanks to Covid, however, there is no shortage of vaccine related merchandise that epidemic entrepreneurs produce to promote people who have gotten their shot.
Vaccine related merchandise advertising Covid arm jabs is big business. It’s an online industry that gives a shot in the arm to small businesses looking to recoup profits lost since the pandemic and lockdowns started.
CDC data shows 4.6 million vaccine doses were reported administered on Saturday, a single-day record. That brings the daily average of reported doses administered over the past week to 3.1 million.
That’s a whole lot of buttons.
But it is not just buttons that’s keeping consumers in a vaccine state of mind. Demand is also high for vaccine themed “I-Got-The Shot” t-shirts, sweatshirts, face masks, vaccine card sleeves, enamel pins, bracelets, tumblers, and yes, even party hats.
So whose bright idea was it anyway for arm jab announcements in the first place? Why the CDC of course. Their golden egg of an inspiration was to pass out Covid vaccine stickers to the newly inoculated in the hopes that more people would be encouraged to get vaccinated.
They even released its own design for bright orange and white stickers or buttons.
Vaccination badges of courage, no matter what make or shape they take, are technically supposed to raise the awareness of others about vaccine safety and efficacy. The newly vaccinated wear buttons that encourage other people who are not vaccinated to get their shots.
The end goal here is herd immunity.
The question is are we relying on herd mentality to get us there. Are we finding ourselves in a place where making personal health decisions is being based on the actions of others who sport a button that says, “I Got the Shot.”
Our construct is a belief that wearing Covid vaccine buttons, and other such stuff, will encourage people to line up for their shot. Our expectation is that a lapel pin or party hat will subconsciously sway others into changing their opinion on whether to be or not to be vaccinated.
“We’re very influenced by what we perceive people in our community to be doing, so if everybody else is doing something, it’s attractive to us,” said Katherine Milkman, PhD, co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative.
Even Facebook is getting into the act by offering up their own brand of brag buttons in the form of profile frames that say, “I Got My Covid 19 Vaccine.” Their hope is that Facebook users will be able to convince others in their social circle about the need to get vaccinated.
“Research shows that social norms can have a major impact on people’s attitudes and behaviors when it comes to their health,” Facebook said in a blog post. “We know people are more likely to get a vaccine when they see that many people they trust are doing it.”
On the surface the message “I Got My Vaccine” seems innocuous enough. At what point, however, does vaccine promotion start to mutate from humble brag into pure propaganda.
Is it time for a gut check when “Hello, I’m Vaccinated” on an enamel pin begins to sound like virtue signaling? Has a line been crossed when “Vaccine Compliance/Believe in the Science” silk screened on a t-shirt comes across as an in-your-face power trip?
An announcement that you have been vaccinated is a pathway to a superiority complex. For true believers, vaccinations are what set the super incumbents apart from the Neanderthals and other lesser mortals who have yet to offer up an arm to science.
For countless unremarkable people, being a COVID hall monitor has provided a sense of superiority and importance.
Covid vaccine buttons become hot buttons for those who, for their own personal reasons are vaccine hesitant. Flaunting a “Fauci Ouchie” button or a “Pfizer Alumni” t-shirt in the faces of those who have chosen not to be vaccinated isn’t going to shame them or persuade them into changing their minds.
Research has shown buyers don’t just purchase things they want or need. Buyers also purchase things that enable them to get the job done.
When it comes to voicing an interest in public safety to others about the need to get vacccinated, t-shirts, face masks, buttons, and everything else can seem to be perfect job candidates.
When people start using the messages on these items to deliver their own biases on someone else, however, the time has come to start worrying.
Let the buyer beware.
