Photo: Ford
Ford launched a new ad campaign earlier this month encouraging America to stay the course as the COVID-19 pandemic continues on. The #FinishStrong campaign includes a 30-second commercial directed by Peter Berg and narrated by Bryan Cranston. The spot, which debuted during college football on Jan. 1, encourages Americans to “hold the line” and, among other things, continue to wear masks.
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Ford invokes the experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, saying that wearing masks and following COVID-19 protocols between now and March can save as many as 50,000 lives.
“While many are weary from the challenges 2020 has thrown at us, now is the time for us to pull together, protect each other and finish strong until COVID-19 vaccines arrive more broadly,” said Kumar Galhotra, president, Americas & International Markets Group. “Lives are on the line.”
The 30-second #FInishStrong TV spot reinforces the importance of wearing masks as Cranston encourages viewers that “we are so close” to returning to normal. With vaccines rolling out nationwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci estimates that herd immunity could be achieved by fall with America returning to an ostensible normal by the beginning of 2022.
To push this important message, Ford turned to award-winning director Peter Berg. Berg told Ford he hopes to inspire actions that will save lives. To help inspire those actions, the video shows frontline healthcare workers administering vaccines as well as COVID-19 survivor John Williams.
Ford’s Project Apollo, which kicked off in April, has led to the production of 55 million masks. Output will reach 100 million masks by the middle of this year. Project Apollo’s contribution also includes 20 million face shields, 50,000 ventilators, and 32,000 PAPR respirators built in collaboration with 3M.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.