The Conservative Government is to roll out its coronavirus public health campaign across Scotland, after its research suggested people are unclear about the Facts slogan.
Advertising funded by Boris Johnson’s administration will highlight the “hands, face, space” message, currently in place in England, to encourage people to wash hands, cover their face and keep away from others.
Private polling found that less than half the people asked were able to recall the lengthier meaning of the Edinburgh administration's Facts acronym, which has dominated public health messaging in Scotland to date, and that the UK slogan was easier to follow.
The Scottish slogan stands for: “face coverings, avoid crowded places, clean your hands regularly, two-metre social distance, self-isolate and book a test if you have symptoms”.
According to the Sunday Times, the First Minister, who is in overall charge of public health in Scotland, initially objected to UK government plans to spend money extending its “hands, face, space” campaign to Scotland on the grounds it could cause confusion but has since withdrawn this.
A UK government source told the paper: “We are very pleased that this strong, clear and simple public health message is being rolled out across the four nations.”
However, Professor Linda Bauld, a public health expert at Edinburgh University, said: “The Facts campaign may seem more complicated than hands, face, space but it was designed with behavioural science input and is a simple way of communicating complex public health messages.”
She said it included important additional information, on avoiding crowded areas, seeking a test and self-isolating.
Research by the UK Government indicated that 46% of people who saw the Scottish advertising campaign were able to spontaneously name “Facts” and it is not clear how many could say what it meant.
The Scottish Government said its research had identified that Facts has had a strong impact with the Scottish public.
A spokesman said: “Facts and hands, face, space are both communicating very important messages around the key steps we can all take to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus.
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