Poll: Just one in 100 Scots have FACTS straight
Only one in 100 Scots fully understand FACTS – the Scottish Government’s flagship public health campaign, a poll reveals.
The £1.65 million campaign, routinely cited by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at her daily press briefings, was intended to explain the best ways to curb the spread of infection but was widely criticised as being too complicated. An opinion poll by The Sunday Post last year revealed most young people had no idea what the public health message meant and a new survey carried out for Scottish Election Study (SES) by Yougov shows just over 1% can now fully explain the acronym.
Of 1,259 adults in Scotland questioned, 38.2% could not remember what any of the letters stood for. Just 41.7% could remember what one letter stood for, 13.3% what two stood for and 1.1% for all five.
SES researcher Dr Fraser Mcmillan, of Glasgow University, said: “These findings suggest key aspects of Scottish Government messaging during earlier periods of Covid restrictions missed the mark. Public health communication should ideally be clear and concise, and FACTS was neither.
“While the slogan might have served as a useful general reminder to exercise caution, our data show the acronym was over-complicated and ambiguous. We hope the Scottish Government will take this into account if and when similar messaging is required in future.”
The Scottish Government claimed last year its own polling showed a good understanding of the key messages, insisting 40% could name all key messages, but marketing experts claimed the UK Government’s Hands, Face, Space slogan was simpler and more effective.
Andy Maciver, co-founder of PR consultancy Message Matters, said: “There was a widespread feeling at the time, including among people close to the Scottish Government, that Hands, Face, Space was better than FACTS, much more understandable and memorable. Acronymns are hard, particularly when they have five letters and introduce new concepts.
“From a PR point of view, if you want a clear public message to be put across on a really important topic, then you’ve got to try to make sure it works. FACTS clearly did not work.”
The SES poll published yesterday also found 36% of Scots believed the country should “never again” be in full lockdown.
Some 46% thought things needed to get “a lot” worse before it was in place while 3% believed there should be a full lockdown now.
The Scottish Government said: “The FACTS campaign has been very successful in helping people to stay safe and suppress the virus.”
FACTS stands for: Face coverings in enclosed spaces; Avoid crowded places; Clean your hands and surfaces regularly;
Two-metre distancing; and Self-isolate if you have symptoms.