Youth cannot be lived remotely and that is why Maskigäng-campaign in TikTok encourages young people to wear face masks

Coronavirus cases spread in Finland, and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has given the recommendation to use face masks in situations where keeping safe distances is impossible. The Cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa and Omnia, HSL, HUS, and TYKS have noticed that especially young people from the age of 15 to 19 use face masks less than is hoped, and coronavirus spreads quickly also in this group. That is why the organisations decided to club together and launch a campaign that encourages people to wear masks during the pandemic.

Youth cannot be lived remotely

The campaign intends to show empathy for young people who are living their youth in these exceptional circumstances. The campaign says that youth cannot be lived remotely, so wearing a mask is important. The campaign hashtag is #maskigäng, which pursues to empathize the young people and their groups of friends.

– Ranting or haranguing about recommendations is not an effective way to reach young people or change their behaviour. That is why the campaign is based on letting young people to live their youth and not forbid it. We agree with young people that youth cannot be lived remotely but it can be lived responsibly by taking care of one’s own and others safety, Harri Rinta-aho, the Head of Education and Cultural Services of the city of Espoo tells.

The basis of the campaign is to understand young people and speak to them in a way that fits them, via other young people, in social media channels where they spend time. The campaign is targeted for 15–19-year-olds and is executed mainly on TikTok, where #maskigäng sound effect encourages young people to wear masks. The sound effect and videos based on the effect are launched via TikTok influencers. Campaign materials can be seen on other social media platforms as well.

– Major parts of the campaign are humoristic TikTok-videos that encourage people to wear masks. We wanted to do something different and break images of traditional ways authorities use to communicate. That is why we gave influencers freedom to create their own videos in creative ways, Rinta-aho continues.

The campaign encourages young people to participate

 

The goal of the campaign is to increase the use of masks. That is why the campaign encourages youngsters to take part in content creation. The aim is to inspire the target group to create their own versions of #maskigäng-videos to TikTok. An important element of the videos is wearing masks with one’s group of friends.

 

 

– If we can inspire friend groups to take part in the campaign, we will hopefully inspire them to wear masks in other situations too. Goal is to change young people’s opinions about wearing masks into something that is cool and admired, Rinta-aho explains.

– Friends are super important, and I want to encourage young people to spend time with each other responsibly. Now it is important to take care of ourselves and others. So let’s wear masks and wash our hands to minimize the spread of coronavirus, TikTok-influencer Emilia Hakkarainen says.

Maskigäng campaign can be seen in metropolitan cities from 16th of November. Adverts are displayed in subway and tram screens as well as in social media channels. The Cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa and Omnia, HSL, HUS, and TYKS implement the campaign together with change agency Ellun Kanat and TikTok agency Sakea.

More information about the campaign:

hus.fi/en/maskigang

 

#Maskigäng-videos on TikTok:

TikTok / Maskigäng