Ann Masterson
Title and Research Question
Death or Difficulty?
or
Don’t Choose to Refuse
(working title- subject to change)
How can I visually indicate that vaccinations save lives and that failing to vaccinate one’s children is not only irresponsible, but tantamount to choosing death over difficulty?
General Introduction
A study published in the United Kindom in 1998 (and formally retracted in 2010) linking vaccines to autism spawned a marked increase in refusal of children’s vaccination in the United States. This incorrect belief has allowed a resurgence in previously eradicated, preventable and contagious life-threatening diseases.
Problem Identification
What is the cause, issue, service, or problem?
In recent years, there has been an increasingly popular movement among affluent, educated households to refuse vaccinations for their children due to a fear of potential side effects, most notably autism. This incorrect belief has permitted a resurgence of contagious, life-threatening diseases which are preventable.
What issues must be overcome?
There is a popular belief that vaccinations can cause autism, although single study published in 1998 that originally spawned this theory included only 12 children and was formally retracted in 2010 due to evidence that the data was manipulated for profit. Nevertheless, its conclusion that vaccinations led to autism in the children was widely publicized and led to a notable decrease in childhood vaccinations. This new anti-vaccine movement was promoted by some celebrities, most notably actress Jenny McCarthy, who blamed vaccines for her son's autism.
1
What single message should be communicated?
Vaccinations save lives, and refusing to vaccinate is tantamount to choosing death over difficulty.
What is the desired emotional response?
A little bit of shock and awe from indicating the number of lives saved by vaccines when compared to past fatalities, as well as recognition that autism is not a death sentence.
Analysis and Conclusion
By using dynamic visual information to indicate the actual risks of refusing vaccinations vs the imagined risks of accepting them, I hope to prove that it is irresponsible and selfish to refuse preventative care.
Demographics:
1 Splete, Heidi. "Anti-Vaccine Movement." Consumer Health Care . Ed. Brigham Narins.
Vol. 1. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. 44-46. Gale Virtual Reference Library . Web. 2
Mar. 2015. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX3189500028&v=2.1&u=auraria_main&it= r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=966a90a69cea2cc1a87ab4189df4627e.

82.0% of mothers choosing not to vaccinate their children are non-Hispanic white, 61.2% of them are 30 years of age or older, 76.8% are married, and 61.3% are part of a household with an annual income at or exceeding $75,000. Only
9.5% of non-vaccinated children are only children, with 47.2% being in families with four or more children.
2
Psychographics:
52% of non-vaccinating mothers have some post-high school education, with
36.8% having attained a bachelor’s degree or greater. A stunning 70.9% of surveyed non-vaccinating mothers said that medical doctors have little to no influence over vaccination decisions for their children.
3 These women are afraid of possible negative side effects to their children and lack a full understanding of the possible consequences of refusing vaccinations. Social media plays a large role in validating these concerns, and has allowed for a significant boom in vaccine refusal since the turn of the century.
4 Some may be influenced by celebrity guidance as well.
Geographics:
Colorado falls within the top 10 states with the highest rates of vaccination refusal.
Intended Audience:
Affluent, educated Caucasian-American women in Colorado aged 30-45 who have or plan to have children.
*
Positioning, Production and Communication strategy
By using dynamic visual information to indicate the actual risks of refusing vaccinations vs the imagined risks of accepting them, I hope to prove that it is irresponsible and selfish to refuse preventative care.
Pragmatic Issues
I will be going up against strong preconceptions, ignorance, and a significant online community. It is difficult for one to alter their assumptions, and I cannot expect to influence everyone.
2 Smith, Phillip J., Susan Y. Chu, and Lawrence E. Barker. "Children Who Have
Received No Vaccines: Who Are They And Where Do They Live?" Pediatrics 114, no. 1
(2004): 187-95. Accessed March 2, 2015. http://0-
3 pediatrics.aappublications.org.skyline.ucdenver.edu/content/114/1/187.abstract, 190.
4
Ibid.
Largent, Mark A. 2012. Vaccine : The Debate in Modern America . Baltimore: Johns
*
Hopkins University Press, 2012. see Demographics for more detail