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Mag Safeguard #SafeWash Even at Home | Safeguard

In the Philippines, welcoming a family member, whether it is the parents or the children, with a warm hug and kisses is a very common practice. However, ever since the pandemic started, even these traditions were restricted between families when the new normal policy of going out was implemented. According to the World Health Organization (2020), COVID-19 can be transmitted through direct contact by mouth and nose secretion and indirect contact through contaminated objects and surfaces. Hence, several products were released through advertisements to promote protection to people around the world.

Safeguard, a well-known anti-bacterial and anti-fungal soap, released an advertisement regarding protection and shield against the virus. The advertisement titled “Mag Safeguard #SafeWash Even at Home” was aired on March 11, 2021, depicting a short story about a family. The story starts in a set-up where a common Filipino household practice is shown where the children and mother at home are very excited to meet their father, who came from work. The pre-pandemic practice was shown where the children welcomed their father with a hug; however, the advertisement depicted a giant character of bacteria which portrays the father. Here, it was shown that the germs and bacteria were then transferred to the children, which may cause them harm by catching mild to severe diseases.

Through the given situation, the main goal of the advertisement was shown where they promoted the body soap that is proven to kill 99.9% of bacteria they have gathered outdoors and protected them for 24 hours. This brings a message to the intended viewers from the age range between toddlers and adults that it is best to immediately clean up when one comes from an outdoor setting before getting in touch with the family physician. This will prevent each member of the household from carrying and transferring communicable diseases to one another and will keep a healthy state that also benefits maintaining the strong immune system to fight bacteria and viruses several places and objects could bring. The commercial delivery was portrayed to give an entertaining appeal to young audiences so that they could visually imagine how much it would affect them and the entire family if ever they did not practice proper hygiene. It was also intended to give proper lessons to adult audiences about how much their family and/or children might get sick through their household practices. 

The media was conveyed with involving one of media manipulation, a hoax. Claiming that the soap could kill 99.9% of germs and bacteria as well as 24-hour protection was a little exaggerated because several studies proved that no product could totally wipe out that many pathogens we hold. According to Medline Plus (2020), using strong chemicals and alcohol are the only ones that could swipe off a huge percentage of bacteria. This means that for skin types, no products are really made to kill such amount of bacteria; however it could lessen them. 

References:

Medline Plus. (2020, November 18). Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sanitizing. Medlineplus.gov. https://medlineplus.gov/cleaningdisinfectingandsanitizing.htmlQ&A: How is COVID-19 transmitted? (2020, July 14). Www.who.int. https://www.who.int/vietnam/news/detail/14-07-2020-q-a-how-is-covid-19-transmitted