“Be A Protector” is a new non-partisan, non-profit coalition and national messaging campaign developed by Civic Entertainment Group’s cultural insights division, Cultique, to galvanize leading brands to model and normalize safe COVID behavior in content. The mission is to leverage world-class content (while consumption is at an all-time high) in partnership with brand and network executives and best-in-class content creators (showrunners, writers, performers, etc.) to deliver life-saving information in organic, resonant ways.

Coalition partners include:

• Yale School of Public Health
• University of Michigan School of Public Health Communications
• USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Hollywood, Health & Society
• NIH (with Be A Protector informing NIH guidelines)
• The Lincoln Project
• Civic Nation
• Creative Coalition
• The Ad Council 

The initiative is inspired in part by the work of NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff and the Harvard School of Public Health 30 years ago, innovating ways to bring the concept of a “designated driver” into popular culture through content.

Coverage:

• LA Times: “Could TV writers help curb the pandemic? This group thinks so.”
• Variety: Positive COVID-19 Messaging on TV Can Persuade Resistant Viewers, The Protector Coalition Says
• Cheddar: How TV Shows Can Help Stop the Spread of COVID-19