‘Injections-While-You-Dance’: Press Advertisement and Poster Promotion of the Polio Vaccine to British Publics, 1956–1962

Abstract

This article discusses the production and dissemination of the emotive and informative messages promoting polio vaccination registration in Britain from 1956-1962 through the lens of public health press advertisements and posters. It argues that as the press reported on the problems which beset the vaccine campaign, and the various publics who could register for the polio vaccination multiplied, the campaign's content changed. Material was adapted to target the presumed emotional and educational needs of newly eligible publics. The article contends that by attending to the emotional content of this campaign, the variety of publics envisioned by the producers may be examined. KEYWORDS Polio myelitis; British vaccination; public health campaigns; history of emotions 'Polio could strike your child'. 'Polio could strike you'. 'Polio can strike anyoneeven the fittest'; so declared three newspaper advertisements from the Ministry of Health's 1959 campaign to increase rates of polio vaccination in Britain [Figure 1]. 1 Provided to areas where vaccine uptake was low, these advertisements represent snapshots of an evolving vaccination campaign which adapted to persuade an ever broader and more fractured public to seek vaccination. Since the first British epidemic in 1947, polio, a viral disease, had affected thousands of children, sometimes causing muscle weakness, paralysis, or even death. Eye-catching and emotive, newspaper advertisements and posters were just one expression of the government's polio strategy; disseminating carefully constructed narratives about citizenship, motherhood, youth, and health. 2 While the campaign's engagement with these ideas was familiar from other efforts to improve public health, 3 it also relied on, and battled against, the specific narratives which existed around, and were created by, polio. 4 This article explores the government's polio vaccination campaign through its newspaper advertisements and posters, investigating their cultural, political, and emotional context. It argues that as the press reported on problems which inhibited the vaccine campaign, and the various publics who could register for the polio vaccination multiplied, the posters changed. They evolved to target the assumed emotional and educational needs of each newly eligible public through text and image. The British inactivated

Historicising “containment and delay”: COVID-19, the NHS and high-risk patients

“…This emphasis on prioritisation has manifested in other social measures – such as attempts to provide preference in home food delivery or reserved shopping times – encompassing other groups considered vulnerable, like the over 70s . Building on the changing tone of public health campaigns from the 1950s onwards, efforts to control individual behaviour have also looked to mobilise emotional responses to the risks to these groups ( Berridge & Loughlin, 2005 ; Elizabeth et al , 2019 ; Hand, 2020 ). The language of self-isolation – as opposed to quarantine – not only highlights the individual’s responsibility in the crisis, but “staying home” has been framed as something which will also save the lives of the most vulnerable – our parents, grandparents or sick relatives.…”

Superman vs. Nick O’Teen: anti-smoking campaigns and children in 1980s Britain

“…Children, therefore, served more as reminders for adults to behave as good healthy citizens, than as the primary audience or beneficiary. Frequently, even those health campaigns designed to improve or protect the health of children targeted children’s guardians rather than children themselves (Elizabeth et al, n.d.). These efforts ranged from preventative health interventions like campaigns around vaccination, sexual health, or dental care, to more nebulous efforts to prevent moral or physical injury by advertising the dangers of roads, pre-marital sex, kitchens, strangers, quarries, and rubbish dumps, to name but a few.…”

The shadows of waiting and care: on discourses of waiting in the history of the British National Health Service.

“… 28 See Bates, 2021 ; Bivins, 2017 ; Crane & Hand, 2022 ; DeVane, 2021 ; Elizabeth et al , 2019 ; Saunders, 2019 ; Simpson, 2018 ; Snow & Whitecross, 2022 and the wonderful work at the University of Essex: BodySelfFamily.org. …”