The UK government’s recent ‘look him in the eyes’ Chinese coronavirus poster campaign has been described as ’emotionally manipulative propaganda’. Now sceptics of this guilt-tripping blackmail have struck back with a series of posters of their own.
In the original, government propaganda posters, actors in oxygen masks gaze meaningfully at the onlooker. “Look him in the eyes and tell him you always keep a safe distance,” says one. “Look him in the eyes and tell him the risk isn’t real says another.” Both are inevitably accompanied by the logo of Britain’s national religion, the NHS (National Health Service).
But the government’s posters aren’t a patch on the ones which have been produced in response.
These include:
Look in her eyes – and tell her why she can’t see her own family
Look him in the eyes – and tell him why his cancer wasn’t caught early enough.
Look her in the eyes – and tell her why her business collapsed
Maybe the government needs some better copywriters…