When prime minister Andrej Babiš got the vaccine on camera to kick off the Czech Republic’s vaccine program, he mentioned there would be a “campaign” to encourage citizens into getting the vaccine. The next day, a number of Czech associations released a promotional commercial for getting the vaccine in order to help the Czech government prepare for the release of a nationwide campaign.
The commercial features a montage of Czech people doing regular things that are now banned while a male narrator recites a classic Czech poem called Jitřní píseň (Host do domu) or in English “Morning Song (Guest to the House),” written in 1921 by Jiří Wolker, one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ).
The end of the second stanza of the poem contains its hallmark phrase, which is “Snad plakali jsme, – ale teď chcem žít!” (We may have cried, but now we want to live!)
When the narrator recites this phrase, instead of continuing the poem as its written, he says “A budeme. Tak, jako dřív! Díky očkování” (And we will. Just like before! Thanks to the vaccination)
This commercial is apparently the first of a series of attempts to get the population vaccinated. The campaign was prepared by the volunteers from Asociace public relations (APRA) – a voluntary association of PR agencies and PR teams, Association of Communication Agencies, Czech Events Association and other leading experts in communication. They are working free of charge to prepare a strategic plan which can be later used by the Czech government for the official campaign.
Pavla Mudrochová, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said the government was still working on creating the rest of the campaign, including a strategy to create more digital advertisements, and collaboration with “influencers.”
“The campaign was created in an unusually short amount of time, and at present, the Office of the Government is deciding when, where, and to what extent it will be published… We’ll then submit the final draft of the campaign to the state to see if they accept it.”
Photo credit: engin akyurt on Unsplash
