Rio with a red face over the vaccine campaign with a mask upside down

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An advertising campaign encouraging Brazilians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 became the backbone of online jokes when some noticed that it showed a man wearing a mask upside down, prompting the Rio de Janeiro government to apologize on Sunday.

Nicknamed “Rio hugs the vaccine,” the state government’s public service billboard shows a health worker in a white lab coat embracing, appearing to smile under an FFP2 mask whose metal clip – meant to fit over nose is seen under the chin.

“The mask in this ad seems to be … upside down ???? This is serious,” Jandira Feghali, a congresswoman and doctor who was among the first to comment on blunders, wrote on Twitter.

“I think the inverted mask image is perfect! So representative – everything is really back here in Rio de Janeiro,” said another Twitter user.

“Rio de Janeiro has never been able to control the pandemic, and that mask upside down shows that your recklessness is a constant,” said another.

The noise soon prompted state officials to admit the mistake.

“Thank you for pointing this out. We, the communication professionals at the Ministry of Health in Rio de Janeiro and the Public Relations Office, apologize for not noticing this error in the use of masks in the campaign,” he said. declared the state health ministry on Twitter.

He told AFP that he had already removed the ads in question and would run a “second phase” of the campaign on Tuesday.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 39,000 lives in the state of Rio, one of the worst affected in Brazil.

Acting Governor Claudio Castro has called for criticism for resisting restrictive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, such as his ally, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

The state government faces allegations of mismanagement of the health crisis, and a list of former officials, including former governor Wilson Witzel, faces corruption investigations into alleged pandemic response funds.

Brazil recorded more than 350,000 COVID-19 deaths overall, second only to the United States.

It is fighting the rise of coronavirus overflowing hospitals, even though the government is fighting to provide enough vaccines for 212 million people in the country.

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