Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
I received many inquiries from fellow UCLA students on the campaign, with many of my friends and family members signing on as part of the BINGO game. I also saw reposts of the graphics from strangers on Instagram, broadening our overall outreach efforts.
From the infographic’s creation date on July 1st to today (July 25th), over 2 million new COVID cases have been reported globally, and almost 250,000 more deaths. Very shocking and further highlights the importance of the pledge and campaign.
A set of instructions exists on how to make this work
This poster references Tinder by using the word “match,” a flame symbol similar to the Tinder logo, and a pink/orange gradient similar to the Tinder colors.
Objective:
The objective is to get students to question the role of patents in the pandemic and to ask their university to sign the Open COVID Pledge.
People familiar with Tinder were immediately able to get the reference and found it amusing! Hopefully, this means it can effectively catch students’ eyes on a university campus.
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
I created a draft, modified it using the feedback of other Free The Vaccine participants, and then submitted it for review by Avram Finkelstein. Using Avram’s feedback, I then revised the poster again. I also added a QR code created by Fiona Davey.
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
If I had unlimited resources, I could imagine having giant posters installed all over university campuses. (We could modify the ask as needed, but continue using the concept of patents and public health/pandemics/coronavirus being a “bad match,” and continue using the pink/orange color scheme and flame symbol.)
Interpretive Statement
User Instructions
Print it and post it.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
The cartoon targets CureVac (a German biotechnology company working on a COVID-19 vaccine) to sign the Open COVID Pledge. It depicts the problem of access to a COVID-19 vaccine and shows ShareVac (in place of CureVac) coming in as a superhero solving the problem of access with the Open COVID Pledge.
People love it! Some people were confused at first, but the oddness of the cartoon has the power to draw people in.
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
We would love to work on an English version of both cartoon and website. Additionally we would like to provide the cartoon as a template for other groups and other targets.
The objective behind the video was to raise awareness of UT’s role in the pandemic, to raise awareness of the petition, and to move university researchers to sign it.
The Project:
“Push the University of Texas to Openly Share Their Research for COVID-19” is the title of my video on YouTube. The video itself is a music parody of “What a Wonderful World It Would Be [if we freed the vaccine]”, targeting the University of Texas Pharmacy department and representatives from AskBio pharmaceuticals.
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
The quality of the video and audio (and singing!) wasn’t too shabby. I was very limited to my equipment and space (and singing capabilities), but I managed to produce the video very simply in one day. It could have been even simpler and it still would have been effective. Making a music parody was not as hard as I initially imagined. So, having just made it, whether or not it got the response I desired, was still a success in itself.
According to UT, “researchers are racing to develop innovations in fields like virology, immunology, epidemiology and medical engineering to support the fight against COVID-19” (giving.utexas.edu/covid-research/). They have already developed and licensed an innovative vaccine delivery method to AskBio pharmaceutical (hnews.utexas.edu/2020/03/04/new-delivery-method-could-transform-vaccine-distribution-to-remote-developing-areas/).
I believe UT should pledge to make their intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease! So instead of just posting online about our petition for UT students/staff/professors and other members of the Austin community to sign urging UT to join other heroic companies and universities in making the Open Covid Pledge (opencovidpledge.org)… I thought instead that I would try to make an eye-catching video with the hopes of gaining more traction on social media.
Original files can be provided for exhibition
The work can be reproduced on site with instructions (provided)
Reflections from Dannie Snyder
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
I would love a team who could simply help me make social media posts on a regular basis, with targeting popular groups/individuals on social media who might be interested in sharing our video, and with taking other measures for making the video go viral. It would be cool to make the process of sharing the video more interactive, where students/staff/professors at UT in particular could be part of the fun and voice their own opinion rather than merely sharing/re-posting our video. It might mean remaking the video and getting students/staff/professors to lip-synch (see next reflection question).
If someone else were going to make/use/do something like this, what advice would you give them?
I had to unfortunately make this video on my own, but I believe it would be so much more effective if I had a team of people, videos showcasing different UT students/staff/professors lip-synching. For example, the #JoleneVaccineChallenge by another team with Free the Vaccine was very popular (they also made a parody using Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” song to target Vanderbilt University).
Raise awareness in Boston (home of many academic/pharma labs) that we should be concerned about access to Covid technologies and that Free The Vaccine exists!
The Project:
This work was inspired by Avram Finklestein’s lessons on poster creation. I wanted to create something that was succinct, eye-catching, and region specific. The font and donut messaging is a spoof on the Bostonian love for Dunkin Donuts. The “masshole” messaging was inspired by a political add which caught attention by using the phrase “we’re massholes, not assholes”.
To target the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas, I decided to make a gift box. Representatives at the office were not responding to my emails or phone calls, so I decided to go with generous snail mail. The gift boxes I made included handmade masks with the Free the Vaccine logo on it and coffee cups with the University of Texas logo on them (except I changed their tagline from “What starts here changes the world” to “What starts here SAVES the world”. It also included beautiful flyer of the Open Covid Pledge, article from the World Health Organization advocating for the pledge, and an imaginary cover of TIME Magazine with UT Pharmacy’s faces (see images).
The main objective was to get representatives from the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas to respond to me, so that we can start a discussion about the Open Covid Pledge, on how to pledge making their research for COVID-19 free / available to all and how to make their therapeutics for COVID-19 sustainably priced. My tactic was to take a generous approach, to show that the Austin community deeply cares about their researchers’ efforts in ending the pandemic.
This was one of my first attempts to “craftivism,” as inspired by Sarah Corbett.
Other Notes:
An original object can be provided for exhibition
Original files can be provided for exhibition
The work can be reproduced on site with instructions (provided)
Reflections from Dannie Snyder
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
As mentioned above, I watched Sarah Corbett’s TED Talk on “craftivism”. This really inspired me to make a gift box for my targets. I did not really personalize the crafts to the targets themselves, but will try this the next time. Meaning, I will do more research on the targets – their interests, hobbies, history, etc. – and incorporate these elements into the crafts.
What were some of the responses to this work?
Unfortunately, I still did not get a response from the Technical Transfer Office. I actually cannot even confirm if they received the packages. Hence why I am considering sending another gift box…
We wanted a meeting with VIDO-Intervac to discuss the Open Covid Pledge.
The Project:
This is a photoshopped image of all the VIDO-Intervac (Canada’s largest vaccine initiative) executives. I attached in an email to the communications director, the woman in the center.
The aim was to create a simple and effective poster, conveying a clear message. We hoped that this poster would be eye-catching, and easy to make physical — and hence share in the public space, as well as on social media.
The Project:
A poster inspired by Avram Finkelstein. A hand holds a vaccine, ready to be used, on a plain background. The title reads “Freedom. It’s Worth A Shot.” The rejoinder reads: “A free COVID-19 vaccine is the only way to keep everyone safe.
#Freethevaccine.”
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
I would just create non-stop! If had all the time and skills, I would want to make art, to design, to create physical installations that are smart and effective. I would create a network of people all around the world creating with me, to take up the public space with the messages of social justice and access to medicines.
If someone else were going to make/use/do something like this, what advice would you give them?
Make many, many draft images! Move things 1mm each time. Really create as much as you can. You get on a roll and the images just start to pull themselves together. Then, don’t be too much of a perfectionist. When you have a first draft, ask someone who knows for feedback.
The objective of this image was just to create a poster that could be used to gain support for the Free the Vaccine campaign.
The Project:
This image is a rectangular poster that has several colorful people in three lines across its length. The people are a very diverse group and depict multiple genders, ethnicities, races, ages, sizes, abilities, religion, and more. In the middle of the people is a blue box with the words “Who Doesn’t Deserve a Vaccine?” in large print. In smaller print is “Let’s give everyone equal access to a life saving COVID-19 vaccine!” In the bottom right corner are the words “#Freethevaccine.”
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
What worked?
We tried pairing other images with the question, “who doesn’t deserve a vaccine,” and this is the one that worked best. Photos got too specific – the cartoon felt like a better fit.
This image was created using canva.com, so all art work was pulled from this site.
Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Emilie Seibert
What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?
The next steps would be to further refine this image and then use it as a poster to put everywhere (billboards, subways, etc.). So people realize that EVERYONE deserves access to a vaccine.
