Health groups running get-out-vote social media videos in Florida

Screen Shot from We Can Vote commercial "Song."

This is a wheel of fortune nobody wanted to play.

Spin it once, the wheel stops on COVID-19, just past UNEMPLOYMENT. Spin again, it comes up RECESSION. One more time: WILDFIRES.

“Welcome folks! This is 2020!” calls out a game-show style narrator. “That’s right. This year has been a train wreck. There’s one way we can win in 2020.”

The final spin stops on “2020 ELECTIONS.”

“By voting in the elections!” the narrator adds.

The 30-second spot “Wheel of Fortune” will be appearing on social media and other digital platforms in Florida over the next 10 days, along with two other “Healthy Voting” spots.

The spots are from the nonpartisan group Healthy Voting. They are part of a $2.2 million campaign by a project of the American Public Health Association, Center for Civic Design, Center for Tech and Civic Life, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and We Can Vote.

The buy is for Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Pandora, Spotify, Verizon Video and “over the top” TV services like Roku, for viewers in Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

A news release from We Can Vote says this is the first time public health groups have developed messages for voters.

The other two spots are also 30 seconds. “Happy Hour,” features two women talking by video chat while drinking wine. “Song,” features a music video on voting safely.

The three commercials emphasize early voting and taking safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic to assure safe voting.

The latter point is particularly driven home in “Song,” which shows people dancing and masking. A singer raps, “No worries, now, have no fears. You can still vote this election year. Safety measures taken at the polls, strongly reinforced so everybody knows. Wear a mask. Keep a safe distance. Wash your hands. Everybody listen.”

The ads follow up on a previous set of voting videos that We Can Vote launched earlier this year.

In the news release, We Can Vote calls itself the only national group working with public health officials to make sure this year’s elections are safe, secure and successful. On top of this ad buy, the organization runs a website that details safe voting measures in all 50 states. It also has distributed more than 150,000 thousand paper Healthy Voting Guides nationally at clinics, food banks, flu shot sites and public health offices.