If there’s someone who knows a thing or two about wearing facial masks, it’s Jason Voorhees. The starring character of the Friday the 13th franchise is now appearing in a New York-centric ad campaign aimed at raising awareness for the benefits of wearing facial masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Ogilvy ad agency is behind the new ad, which finds the notorious slasher wandering the streets of New York, with the narration sorrowfully starting, “It’s not easy. The mask kind of makes people uncomfortable. I wish everyone could see me for who I am. I’m just trying to fit in.”
It’s a lonely existence for Jason, with people going out of their way to avoid him as he wanders through landmark New York locations. He can’t even seem to hail a cab. But eventually the reasoning dons on him as a little girl approaches him and presents him with some additional facial covering, which you see Jason putting on over his mask.
“Wearing a mask can be scary. Not wearing one can be deadly” is the ad’s tag line. Watch it in the player below.
Ogilvy’s health division captioned their Instagram post with the following message: “Wearing a mask has proven to be an easy and important way to stem the spread of the #coronavirus, yet many New Yorkers still aren’t doing it. This is especially true of younger people who may feel invincible to #Covid19. How can we get them to pay attention to this life-saving message? Tap into pop culture and entertain them. Don’t preach. Don’t fear-monger. Do the opposite. Make them smile, engage and share with their peers. As the tri-state area begins to open, Toby Trygg, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy Health, aligned with the talented folks at @chimneygroup to help create this timely PSA.”
In New York, there have been over 397,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases with over 31,000 deaths. Overall in the U.S., there have been over 2.5 million confirmed cases with over 125,000 confirmed deaths. As New York begins to re-open certain businesses, the Jason Voorhees message is just one of the ways in which the state is trying to continue to promote the benefits of facial masks and social distancing.
Jason has seen a bit of a comeback of late, with horror rock enthusiasts Ice Nine Kills recently celebrating the 40th anniversary of the original Friday the 13th film with their musical parody, “Jason’s Mom,” a take off of the Fountains of Wayne track “Stacy’s Mom.”
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