Boston University students who came up with ‘(Expletive) It Won’t Cut It’ slogan go national
Boston University students who came up with a provocative public health campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic soared to the national stage Wednesday — as they were front-and-center at a CDC emergency response event about the virus.
BU students who launched the “(Expletive) It Won’t Cut It” slogan on campus presented at CDC’s webinar that explored using social media at colleges to promote positive health behaviors related to COVID-19.
The campaign garnered a lot of interest when BU filed a trademark for the slogan with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — and it even caught the attention of national leaders at the CDC.
“(Expletive) It Won’t Cut It” was one of four public health campaigns from colleges across the country chosen to present at the COVID-19 emergency response webinar, and it was the only initiative fully run by students.
“This is a dream for us. We would have never thought that we were noticed by the CDC as students,” said Hannah Schweitzer, one of the students to work on the campaign. “This is crazy.”
The webinar brought together representatives from colleges and universities — including BU, Pennsylvania State University, Georgia State University and Xavier University of Louisiana — to learn more about how social media has been leveraged to promote positive health behaviors related to COVID-19.
The BU student campaign covers the importance of wearing masks, hand washing and coronavirus testing. The campaign also explores how to talk to roommates about staying safe during the pandemic, reassessing the party lifestyle, mental health, and how to have safe sex in a COVID-19 world.
It’s key for a student-run campaign because students don’t trust institutions, Schweitzer said.
“Only 7% of Gen Z puts a lot of trust in people of power. They’re going to take everything coming from BU with a grain of salt,” she said, later adding, “The solution is a campaign by students for students… students aren’t trusting the institution right now, but they’re going to take advice from their peers.”
The slogan helps spark a reminder for students to make safe choices at different decision points each day — because saying “(expletive) it” to responsible protocols won’t keep students on campus, they said.
The BU group during the CDC webinar put up the following campaign message: “Let’s call students out on their bull(expletive) and remind them that saying ‘(expletive) it’ to small rules can lead to big consequences.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Vuh6cz
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