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How jingles impart lasting memories, and could help children in heatwaves, other disasters

  • Most jingles are used as advertising hooks, but Hong Kong author Martha Keswick is using one to teach children to stay safe during heatwaves

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A boy keeps cool on a hot day. A Hong Kong author is using jingles to educate children and remind them to take precautions during heatwaves, and will be creating jingles to remind them how to act in other natural disasters. Photo: Reuters

A jingle has been developed in Hong Kong to help children understand – and remember – what to do in a heatwave.

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With the message “Let’s stay cool and hydrate”, the jingle aims to help kids do just that when the temperature soars.

Jingles are short slogans, verses or tunes designed to be easily remembered, and are a key element in advertising to get a message across.

Some become earworms that continue to play on in a person’s head long after the music has stopped.

Heatwave Jingle
Anyone who has visited a Wellcome supermarket in Hong Kong recently might have heard a jingle and picked up an earworm thanks to its tune – that of Billy Joel’s 1983 classic “Uptown Girl – which has been given a Hong Kong spin courtesy of Cantopop star George Lam and his son Alex.
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The song, played on a loop, promotes the Yuu rewards programme under which customers earn points for purchases and can redeem rewards when they shop.

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