My latest pandemic-inspired rant about people having too much time on their hands comes from a recent advertising campaign that appeared in Estevan.
A series of advertisements appeared on electronic billboards owned by local company Future Signs, which has been around for well over a decade and has been a valuable part of our business community. The advertisements call for children to be unmasked and for restrictions to be lifted – the things we have heard repeatedly from some groups for the past 13 months.
And, as expected, it brought out the keyboard warriors on both sides of the debate.
Those who want to see the end of the restrictions were quick to support the campaign. Those who want to see the restrictions continue, or even beefed up, were quick to pan the advertisements and the company responsible for the billboards.
(You have to wonder how many of the malcontents actually went to Future Signs with their concerns, and how many simply yapped on social media).
The issue received provincial attention, with NDP Leader Ryan Meili saying that people shouldn’t be advertising against public health laws.
The only reason why this received any attention provincially is SaskTel and one of its distributors had their logos attached to one of the billboards. The advertisements appeared on another billboard in town, but there wasn’t a mention of it because the logos on that billboard are for a private company.
Since SaskTel’s logos were there, some viewed this as an endorsement. (The logos for SaskTel and the distributor have since been covered up).
The timing for this advertising campaign was terrible. The Estevan area has been experiencing its biggest influx of cases in the past 13 1/2 months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. We’re in the midst of what is essentially our first wave.
In the past six weeks, we’ve seen outbreaks in health care facilities. Schools have been forced to shift to remote learning, although most have returned to in-person learning, and people have been hospitalized for treatment.
Do I agree with the campaign’s messaging? No. We’re still in a situation in which there are too many cases, too many people in hospital and too many people becoming ill from COVID-19 to ease up on restrictions.
If given the choice between listening to the opinions of experts and health professionals, and listening to the opinions of the Facebook MDs and the conspiracy theorists, I’ll opt for the real doctors, the majority of whom say we need to wear masks and avoid large gatherings and crowds until most of us are vaccinated.
There are restrictions that I wish would be loosened up, and activities that I want to see resume once our active case count is much lower, but I get why these restrictions are still in place.
I also understand that Future Signs is a private business that has electronic billboard advertising as one of its revenue sources. It has every right to accept advertising from an outside agency that wants us to ease up on restrictions. There has to be common sense in the advertising. Don’t compare these restrictions to Nazi Germany or communist China, and don’t encourage people to be abusive to those enforcing the rules.
The messages in the billboards are the same thing we’ve heard from a minority of people for the past 13 months.
I don’t agree with the messages, but if somebody is willing to pay money to share their thoughts, that’s their prerogative.
Once the majority of Saskatchewan residents receive their first dose of vaccine, hopefully the restrictions can be eased. And as more people are vaccinated, more restrictions will be lifted.
(I’ll be eligible to book my COVID-19 appointment on April 28. I’m glad that I’ll get my first dose soon, although there are some who aren’t eligible to receive it yet who should be vaccinated before me).
Until then, let’s strive to not be so easily offended, and to spend less time on social media.
