The Reddit co-founder and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian bought a billboard in the heart of New York telling people to help slow the spread of COVID-19 by staying home and away from crowds. The billboard, which was up there just for a day, uses a simple phrase, “Staying home means saving lives.” At the bottom is the hashtag “#FlattenTheCurve,” which refers to how slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus can help health care providers and other officials better manage the number of illnesses as the pandemic plays out.
According to him, it was a deliberate attempt to reach out to the masses who might not yet be taking the crisis seriously with this belief that out-of-home advertising seemed like a way. Betting on the OOH ad being something that people will not just see in-person if they do happen to be in the middle of Manhattan, but also something people will post on social media that is “a stronger and stronger way to effect people.” The sort of meme of it is here is a billboard in Times Square about flattening the curve, just preventative measures to defeat COVID-19.