Akshay Kumar, Arya, Chiranjeevi, Punit Rajkumar to feature in the campaign

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) today launched ‘Corona Ko Harana Hai’ – a multilingual mass media awareness campaign about COVID-appropriate behaviour, targeted at families to protect themselves from COVID.

The campaign will be featured across the country via mass media, including TV, print, radio and digital media starting today, with the slogan ‘’Har ghar ne thaana hai, Corona ko harana hai’.

FICCI, along with its members, has created a comprehensive communication plan in different languages, featuring popular and well-respected personalities, led by Akshay Kumar in Hindi, Marathi and Punjabi, Arya in Tamil, Chiranjeevi in Telugu, Punit Rajkumar in Kannada amongst others.

The second wave of the pandemic has been dreadful – its intensity and virality call for urgent collective action. FICCI’s Media and Entertainment committee have come together to support the government’s efforts to increase awareness and sensitise audiences about the need to maintain COVID-appropriate behaviour during these challenging times. These efforts at mass citizen awareness with contributions from the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Indian Advertising Association, larger media community and members of FICCI’s Media and Entertainment Committee, along with ongoing efforts from FICCI to ramp up critical medical infrastructure and initiate vaccination drives, can help in controlling the spread of the virus and reduce the burden on existing health infrastructure.

FICCI’s Media and Entertainment committee have also met the Empowered Committee of the Government of India on COVID-19 and briefed them on these efforts.

Mr Sanjay Gupta, Chairperson of the FICCI Media & Entertainment Committee said, “Thanks to the heroic efforts of our healthcare workers and various NGOs, we are at a point where it’s beginning to feel like the tide is turning. But we must remain vigilant to protect ourselves, our families and our communities from the continued spread of the virus. This is a crucial period to scale vaccinations and implement an effective preventive programme to ensure that we are prepared for the future and minimise the impact of the virus on lives and livelihoods. It’s incumbent on us to come together to inform and provide specific education through effective communication strategy to all Indians and enable everyone to adopt Covid-appropriate behaviour.”