£32K spent on Welsh vaccine campaign featuring band GLC

The Welsh government spent the money on a campaign that featured rap group Goldie Lookin’ Chain (GLC), in an attempt to get more people vaccinated.

£32K spent on Welsh vaccine campaign featuring band GLC

Goldie Lookin’ Chain, a satirical hip-hop group based out of Newport, were paid £7,000 to write a song and feature in an advert encouraging people to get the vaccine. Additionally,  the government paid £10,000 to a publisher and £13,000 to a PR agency. The song was named Get the Jab Done, and was released in August, accompanied by a music video, where the band can also be seen in the Welsh Government’s press room in Cathays Park.

The Welsh government reportedly had a final say in the lyrical content of the track,  highlighting that “key messages” from the government were implemented into the song, as revealed by a Freedom of Information request. The government said that it wanted to educate more people about the benefits of having the vaccine, GLC have said that their cut was legitimate income.

Details from the Freedom of Information request show that Media Wales, Wales online’s publisher, the Western Mail, and the South West Echo were paid £10,000 altogether, and PR agency Golley Slater received £13,000. The Media Wales content was labelled advertorial, and was promoted as a paid partnership on Facebook.

Rhys Hutchings, a member of Goldie Lookin’ Chain, mentioned that the band took part to help the music industry, which was “in trouble” because of the pandemic. Hutchings mentioned: “It's a message that was important to get out, ultimately, being in GLC, I don't know if anyone really listens to us, we're a little tiny voice in a big world, but we just want people to get back into clubs and venues, go and enjoy themselves.” The rapper added: “Well we are a band, we do things, we do work where we get paid to do stuff, it's what people do, they go and they do a job and they get paid for it. So yeah, we knew we were getting paid money.”

GLC have been under scrutiny regarding whether they should have taken the money. Hutchings addressed this by saying: “If you are employed to do something, I think you should probably get paid to do it. So yeah, that's usually how it works when you've got a job.”

The Welsh government has used multiple methods to try and get the public vaccinated, especially those who do not usually engage with mass media coverage, or those who avoid government campaigns. To reach these people, they initiated paid partnerships with online content creators and influencers, who are not health professionals, but are seen by the target audience.

Header Image Credit: "GOLDIE LOOKIN' CHAIN" by ElfieTakesPictures is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Author

Ash Edmonds

Ash Edmonds Kickstart

A graduate of Music Journalism from BIMM Brighton – where he now lives – Ash has been writing about everything creative for the past few years. An avid audiophile, he spends a lot of his time searching streaming platforms, record stores and live shows trying to find his next musical obsession.

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