An ad campaign encouraging Brazilians to get vaccinated against COVID-19 became the butt of online jokes when some noticed it showed a man wearing his mask upside-down, prompting the Rio de Janeiro government to apologize on Sunday.
Dubbed “Rio embraces the vaccine,” the public service billboard from the state government shows a healthcare worker in a white laboratory coat giving himself an embrace, appearing to smile beneath a mask whose metal clip — meant to fit over the nose — can be seen beneath his chin.
“The mask in this ad seems to be... upside down???? This is serious,” wrote Jandira Feghali, a lawmaker and doctor who was among the first to comment on the gaffe.
“I think the inverted mask picture is perfect! So representative — everything really is backwards here in Rio de Janeiro,” another Twitter user wrote.
“Rio de Janeiro never managed to control the pandemic, and that upside-down mask shows your recklessness is a constant,” another added.
The fracas soon prompted state officials to acknowledge the mistake.
“Thank you for pointing this out. We the communication professionals at the Rio de Janeiro state health ministry and public relations office apologize for not noticing this error in mask use in the campaign,” the state health ministry wrote on Twitter.
It said that it had already removed the ads and would run “a second phase” of the campaign from today.
COVID-19 has claimed more than 39,000 lives in the state of Rio de Janeiro, one of the hardest-hit in Brazil.
Interim Rio de Janeiro Governor Claudio Castro has come in for criticism for resisting restrictive measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, like his ally, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The state government faces accusations of mismanaging the health crisis, and a slate of former officials, including former Rio de Janeiro governor Wilson Witzel, face corruption investigations for allegedly embezzling pandemic response funds.
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