"Better Get Vaccinated" : A Frame Analysis of the Swiss Government's Covid-19 Vaccine Campaign on TikTok

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to analyse the first TikTok posts of the Swiss government that were published during the pandemic. This thesis investigates how their Covid-19 vaccine campaign is presented on TikTok and contributes to the field of crisis communication. For this, the analysis relied on two theoretical frameworks. On the one hand, Barthes’ concepts of denotation and connotation (1968) helped to structure the analysis and allowed a clear distinction between the description of visual and textual aspects of the posts as well as possible interpretations. On the other hand, taking the concept of framing (Goffman, 1974) allowed to categorise data and draw patterns of association of the government’s communication with the public. Results of this study show that the frames evidence and facts, claim, call for action and personal motivation are represented in the government’s Covid-19 vaccine-related TikTok posts. Thereby, the government let experts in the field answer to topics of interest to the public and address several concerns about the vaccine such as causing side effects, infertility, allergic reactions, and immunisation after the vaccination. On the other hand, posts also speak to young users and show benefits of getting vaccinated in terms of having more freedom when travelling, meeting people and partying. All in all, the posts make a stiff and planned impression as in an interview situation. Furthermore, people shown in the posts are all middle-class Caucasians, which excludes other subgroups of the population such as non-Caucasians or those with a migration background and is critically discussed. Further studies could elaborate on governments’ post-pandemic communication or other platforms and campaigns.