Covid-19 comment: Tailor guidance messaging to appeal to both young and old
12 October 2020
Professor Marina Della Giusta, economist at the University of Reading, said:
“Research just published my myself and colleagues (http://ftp.iza.org/dp13753.pdf) showed that different people respond differently to different messaging – with older people more likely than young people to comply with guidelines when they are presented in terms of the lives they will save.
“This shows that mass vague messaging of the kind pursued several times by the UK government thus far is ineffective. More effective government communication would target different parts of society with tailored messages. Information framing is very important and differential groups need to be targeted differently in order to elicit the highest possible compliance.”
Professor James Reade, Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Reading, said:
“What is required is a clear, well thought out system that can be relied on by people, and by businesses, for making decisions. It needs to have clear thresholds for moving between the different categories - both as things get worse, and as things get better.
“It also needs to have associated measures to support businesses in the areas with the more severe restrictions. This goes without saying, since there has been a huge amount of difficulty for firms around the country trying to function in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
“Finally, there needs to be the right balance struck in messaging. The virus clearly presents a significant threat, and cases, hospitalisations and deaths are growing exponentially. But this is going to be an ongoing thing, and we do need to learn to live with Covid-19. It can’t be a return to conflicting messages like 'get back in the office to save Pret' that we had just a couple of months ago.”