To reach vaccine holdouts, scientists take a page from digital marketing

Researchers showed content related to vaccines to more than 100 million people on Facebook across six countries, tweaking everything from the message itself to its tone, format and style, then analysing engagement with the content. — Reuters

Public-health researchers seeking new ways to persuade vaccine holdouts to take coronavirus shots are turning to the strategies of the digital marketing industry to figure out how to win over the reluctant.

Companies that use online ads to sell products try out various colours, phrases, typefaces and a whole host of other variables to determine what resonates with consumers. So why not, the thinking goes, apply the same sort of A/B testing to figure out how best to promote vaccines?