Mayor Lori Lightfoot is enlisting Chicago sports teams in a full-court-press campaign to convince young people responsible for a recent uptick in coronavirus cases to stop their risky behavior.
At a news conference at Guaranteed Rate Field, home of her beloved White Sox, Lightfoot unveiled a public service and education campaign she called, “We Are All One Team.”
The goal is to convince young people and young adults oblivious to the dangers of COVID-19 to start wearing face masks, stop socializing in large groups and maintain social distance to avoid putting themselves and their older and more vulnerable family members in jeopardy.
Early on, Lightfoot enlisted local sports teams in a “We Are Not Playing” campaign aimed at convincing Chicagoans to stay home to save lives.
The new campaign has a more targeted audience: young people between the age of 18 and 29 who are responsible for 30 percent of the new Chicago cases of COVID-19 since June 15.
The campaign will use the influence and star power of players and mascots from the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Sox, Fire, Red Stars and Sky to drive home the message on social media channels, digital and actual billboards across the city.
The “on-the-ground” portion of the marketing campaign will deploy “street teams of young adults to hot spots” across the city, including bars, restaurants and parks. The ambassadors will not only remind their peers to follow health guidance. They will distribute face masks, hand sanitizer, buttons and fliers to promote social distancing and mask wearing.
To make it fun, Chicagoans will be encouraged to post and share photos of their masks on social media, using the hashtag #WeAreAllOneTeam.
Lightfoot has tried just about everything to get through to young people who behave as if they’re oblivious to the coronavirus or invincible to it.
She closed the lakefront, reopened it only for running, biking and walking and kept the beaches closed. She cut off citywide liquor sales after 9 p.m. and drove around the city personally breaking up large groups.
She warned of a rollback, only to have young people continue their risky behavior, forcing her to tighten regulations on bars, restaurants gyms and salons.
Now, she’s trying the education approach and hoping that sports celebrity can carry the message over the goal line and succeed where warnings have failed.
“If we’re going to win against the greatest public health challenge we’ve ever faced, none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines and warm the benches,” Lightfoot was quoted as saying in a press release just days from the start of a Major League Baseball season that will be eerily played in empty stadiums.
“The `We Are All One Home Team’ campaign means that we all have a role to play in keeping each other safe, especially our youngest residents who must continue to follow our public health guidelines. lWe cannot afford to let our guard down. It’s time to team up with your masks up.”
The Cubs are the only team in baseball that has yet to have a player test positive for the coronavirus.
“Our club has been vigilante in our efforts to slow the spread and we hope our participation in the `We Are All One Team’ campaign encourage Chicago’s youth to do the same,” Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney was quoted as saying.
“As our city continues to experience a surge of COVID-19 cases—especially now among our youth, the Cubs are encouraging our younger population to heed the guidance of our local officials to wear masks and help keep themselves and other safe.”
