H1N1 ad blitz costs $ 28M

[Guest guest]

And Australia, with a population base of about half of Canada's spent the same

or more on our H1N1 promotion (propaganda) campaign. Is this really a proper use

of taxpayer dollars?

H1N1 ad blitz costs $ 28M

• 18 Feb 2011

• Fort McMurray Today

• — QMI Agency

No web link

OTTAWA — A massive federal H1N1 pandemic prevention advertising blitz cost

taxpayers some $ 28 million, according to figures released by the government.

The Public Health Agency of Canada launched the multimedia, multi-phase “

Citizen Readiness Marketing Campaign” in April 2009 soon after the first cases

of the deadly flu strain first appeared in Mexico.

The federal agency rolled out TV, radio, print and web ads across the country to

tell Canadians how to protect themselves from the H1N1 virus.

The ad campaign caused the agency's the ad budget to jump from just over $ 1.2

million in 2008-09 to more than $ 22 million for 2009-10. Figures for late 2010

have yet to be tabled.

The health agency called its campaign as “ generally a success,” noting a

department report found that, of half the Canadians who were exposed to the ads,

60% began washing their hands more often.

It also boosted the number of flu shots in the population, said agency

spokeswoman Charlene Wiles.

“ Canada’s H1N1 immunization rate was among the highest in the world and there

is good evidence that the collaborative public education efforts deployed by

federal, provincial and territorial governments contributed to positive

behavioural changes by Canadians,” she said in an email.

The agency also made heavy use of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube as part of the

campaign, along with its own website.