the strategy turned up more recently this month, as n.s. is dealing with a pandemic wave. “it is not the time to go to costco for sandals that you heard were in stock,” strang said to emphasize a stay-at-home order, referring to a sale on birkenstocks. that’s not health promotion advice. not unless you follow it. the joy at this comment, which was also scripted, prompted mcneil, no longer the premier, to tweet a photo of his feet in battered old birks, saying “listen to the good doctor.”
to pursue their research into the social dynamics of this kind of messaging, cormack and harling stalker have assigned graduate students to build a database of social and mass media mentions of “stay the blazes home,” strang’s sandals, and other similar memes. there is a theoretical context too. for example, their work draws on the writing of norbert elias on the social functions of gossip as either praise or blame, and on the demarcation of groups.
health is so often spoken of as an individual concern, cormack said, but mcneil and strang turned that on its head to great effect, with appeals to the common fate of nova scotians. “the idea that health is now a collective responsibility, that came out of nowhere,” cormack said.