War or Journey? Cultural Resonance in COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom

Presentation abstract

Abstract

The effectiveness of public health campaigns depends not only on the accuracy of the information they communicate but also on how that information is framed and the extent to which those frames resonate with the cultural contexts of their intended audiences. Drawing on Van Gorp’s (2007) cultural constructionist approach to frame analysis, this study investigates the multimodal framing of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The analysis examines a corpus of sixteen government-produced vaccine posters (eight from each country) to explore how verbal and visual framing devices interact with reasoning devices to construct culturally resonant frames that encourage public engagement with recommended health behaviours.

The findings reveal clear cross-cultural differences in framing strategies. The journey frame emerges as the dominant frame in the Saudi corpus, whereas the war frame is consistently employed in the UK posters. In the British context, the war frame reflects the widespread use of military rhetoric by political leaders during the pandemic and draws upon the enduring national narrative of the “Blitz spirit,” invoking resilience, collective sacrifice, and perseverance. Its persuasive force is further reinforced by its familiarity within British historical consciousness. In contrast, the Saudi journey frame aligns with longstanding cultural narratives surrounding safar (the journey) and desert travel, conceptualising the pandemic as a challenging yet temporary stage that can be overcome through collective effort. This framing also resonates with broader patterns in Saudi public discourse, where life is frequently represented as a journey toward progress and achievement. Furthermore, as Saudi Arabia is characterised by relatively high uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede, 2011), the journey frame provides a clear behavioural roadmap, with the visual metaphor of the hopscotch game depicting vaccination as a sequence of achievable steps that reduces ambiguity and reinforces confidence in the recommended health behaviour.

The study demonstrates that the persuasive potential of multimodal public health communication depends not only on the selection of particular frames but also on their cultural resonance. By integrating multimodal frame analysis with a cultural constructionist perspective, it contributes to framing research by demonstrating how culturally embedded narratives, values, and symbols shape the design and effectiveness of public health communication across different sociocultural contexts.