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Capstone: Save the Salton Sea

The rapid deterioration of California’s largest inland body of water has implications for the health and well being of our neighbors, ourselves and other species that inhabit the region and the hemisphere. Although this problem has been recognized for more than two decades, it has continued to grow.

So…

What health communication messages would you suggest for taking this issue on?

Who would your target audiences be, and how would vary messages by different audience segments?

How would you brand your effort?

Target Audience: The first segment would be locals and those communities and cities with in close proximity of the sea. Another target would be expanding that to communities further out such as San Diego, Los Angeles, and Mexicali. Augmenting the message for them. The last segment would be everyone in the states of California and Arizona.

I would brand the messaging as “Prevent another Follout” Perhaps comparing the potential events from the Salton Sea to the Three Mile Island accident of 1979. Using images of people evacuating because the air is so unhealthy, or a child going to school in air mask to prevent them from breathing in the toxic dust.

Part Six: Edutainment 

“Edutainment” is defined either as education done in an entertaining style or entertainment with an educational message built in. A prime example of the former is the Soul City TV/Radio series that emphasizes sexual health, produced in South Africa, and the American PBS program “Sesame Street” that targets preschoolers. Examples of edutainment that comprise primarily entertainment but also include important health or social messages are popular songs about social issues (e.g. Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”), and movies that focus on the power of the tobacco industry, either from a dramatic or comedic tone.

Part One

This module, our first, is structured around McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model for health communication. Modules and the broader sections to which they belong parallel McGuire’s “inputs” and “outputs”.   This module emphasizes McGuire’s central input, the Message.

The message is the ‘what’ of communication. Communication messages tend to combine both logical and factual content with emotional or artistic expression. The content is the “light” of communication: It lays out specifically how individuals can improve their health or that of the community or at least avoid or reduce risk. Content can be presented in a variety of forms but has to be adjusted to the cultural and economic context of the audience.

The emotional, artistic and expressive aspects of a message comprise the “heat” of the health communication piece. Messages often employ humor, sympathy or empathy, anger, anxiety or even fear with respect to a specific health issue. Colors, sound and other touches may be added to contribute to a multisensory and more memorable audience experience with the message. A message is a stated or implicit statement that presents a key aspect of communications destination and strategy to the target audience or a segment of the target audience. Messages should derive from key campaign objectives; without such objectives, messages may seem unclear to a target audience.  These campaign objectives represent what the source or ‘sender’ of the message wishes to do: announce, advise, activate or advocate. (Note that messages can manifest more than one or even all of these objectives…but in doing so may risk clarity!).

Brief definitions of these actions are presented below. In practice, many health communication pieces combine two or more of these objectives:

Campaign Objective: Announce

Presentation that direct individuals as to where they can obtain services, buy a product, or (in the case of health fairs) get more information about a specific health issue. They can also direct the individual to watch or read other media which will provide them with additional information and motivation.

Examples:

https://www.prostateconditions.org/outreach-programs/prostate-cancer-screening Or…

http://www.rbcdesign.net/Examples%20of%20Design%20Work%20for%20RBC%20Design%20Studio/styled-4/medical-advertising-marketing-graphic-design.html

Campaign Objective: Advise

Factual statements regarding health behaviors, risk factors, medications, etc. Information objectives are fairly simple knowledge oriented factual statements informing the target audience about the positive aspects of certain behaviors or other actions or their negative impact. Advice takes the form of information that can help address the challenge of presenting new knowledge or can help clarify misperceptions that people may have. Finally, this information may serve as “booster shots”, reinforcing existing knowledge and reminding the target audience of certain issues.

Examples:

https://gettested.cdc.gov/reasons/default.aspx

Campaign Objective: Activate

Motivating or persuading the audience to attend to and act on the advice or other information presented.

Example:

http://osocio.org/message/aids-campaign-takes-a-different-look-at-social-diseases/

Campaign Objective: Advocate

Documentaries and articles, movies, public demonstrations or ads that embrace and promote a social or political point of view.

Examples:

This current one: http://blacklivesmatter.com/

And this one from nearly 50 years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/20510410925/in/photostream/

Campaign Objective: Combined Objectives

Pieces that attempt to achieve two or more of the above objectives.

Examples:

Research Activity #1

This “It’s Up to Us” campaign flyer announces that May is Mental Health Month and directs receivers to their website for mental health information and resources. Stating the prevalence of mental health problems and the prospects for recovery casts the issue in a serious, but hopeful light, encouraging viewers to visit the website.  

Advise: http://notmykid.org/eating-disorders/

An example of a campaign designed to advise is the “Not My Kid” campaign.  Facts and statistics about various youth health and behavior issues (e.g., substance abuse, eating disorders, bullying) are shared on their website. Receivers can also learn more about the signs of risky behaviors and effective prevention or intervention strategies.    

Activate: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/ms/latchonnyc-ads1.pdf

This advertisement from Latch On NYC is designed to motivate women to breastfeed by stating that only breast milk can lower risks for common infant illnesses.  Moreover, infant formula is depicted as an impersonal “factory made” product while breast milk is “mom made” and offered with a warm embrace.  It typifies a campaign with an activate objective because it emphasizes that breastfeeding has no equal; therefore, women should choose to breastfeed rather than formula feed.

Advocate: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

The documentary, “Food, Inc.”, presents shocking footage of factory farming practices in the U.S. to advocate for a more transparent food system and environmentally-conscious farming and eating patterns. The filmmakers vilify agribusiness and its power over federal agricultural, food, and environmental policies to pursue their “advocate” objective.  

Combined: http://www.letsmove.gov/

Part Three: Do’s and Don’ts of Motivation and Persuasion

A variety of methods can be used to improve the audience’s reception of motivation and persuasion messages. First, serious health issues cannot be treated too lightly, but at the same time the consequence of not taking an action should not be exaggerated. Credibility can be lost if people are shown dying from a fairly minor or obscure illness but also the message must make a realistic connection between a problem and its consequence. What mismatches between the feel and content do you see in these messages (choose 2)?:

Now try these two:

Analyze the potential effectiveness of one of these smoking control ads;

“Don’t Treat Others the Way You Don’t Want to Be Treated” is a good example of mismatch between the feel and content of the message. Once again there’s a horrifying image of baby’s body covered in blood with the seal holding the weapon that was behind this gruesome death. The point of the message content is to make a connection in the audience’s mind between this and seals being clubbed to death by humans as part of their anti-animal cruelty campaign. However, unless you had prior knowledge and have seen images of humans doing this to seals, you would not understood the content of this piece. Especially since the text of the message is so small, light (almost transparent), and all the way in the bottom right corner. The feeling you have, which is you’re basically horrified and shocked, mismatches the content. Also, the consequences of animal cruelty here is not clear and what is offered, gruesome clubbing of humans as payback, is a very exaggerated and almost impossible consequence.

Anti-smoking ad: The first ad, which shows cigarette smoke becoming a bag over a child’s head that is suffocating him, has the potential to be effective as it plays on the heartstrings and has a fear tactic. Naturally, people would not be okay with anything that would harm a child. Therefore this ad attempts to utilize that to make the point in its anti-smoking efforts. However, there’s isn’t enough information explicitly informing the audience that the source of the smoke is cigarettes, therefore diminishes the effect of the ad a little bit. There’s not a lot of text or any call to action being made in the ad. It only depends on the emotional response this ad is suppose to elicit to activate that behavior change.

Part One

This module, our first, is structured around McGuire’s Communication-Persuasion Model for health communication. Modules and the broader sections to which they belong parallel McGuire’s “inputs” and “outputs”.   This module emphasizes McGuire’s central input, the Message.

The message is the ‘what’ of communication. Communication messages tend to combine both logical and factual content with emotional or artistic expression. The content is the “light” of communication: It lays out specifically how individuals can improve their health or that of the community or at least avoid or reduce risk. Content can be presented in a variety of forms but has to be adjusted to the cultural and economic context of the audience.

The emotional, artistic and expressive aspects of a message comprise the “heat” of the health communication piece. Messages often employ humor, sympathy or empathy, anger, anxiety or even fear with respect to a specific health issue. Colors, sound and other touches may be added to contribute to a multisensory and more memorable audience experience with the message. A message is a stated or implicit statement that presents a key aspect of communications destination and strategy to the target audience or a segment of the target audience. Messages should derive from key campaign objectives; without such objectives, messages may seem unclear to a target audience.  These campaign objectives represent what the source or ‘sender’ of the message wishes to do: announce, advise, activate or advocate. (Note that messages can manifest more than one or even all of these objectives…but in doing so may risk clarity!).

Brief definitions of these actions are presented below. In practice, many health communication pieces combine two or more of these objectives:

Campaign Objective: Announce

Presentation that direct individuals as to where they can obtain services, buy a product, or (in the case of health fairs) get more information about a specific health issue. They can also direct the individual to watch or read other media which will provide them with additional information and motivation.

Examples:

https://www.prostateconditions.org/outreach-programs/prostate-cancer-screening Or…

http://www.rbcdesign.net/Examples%20of%20Design%20Work%20for%20RBC%20Design%20Studio/styled-4/medical-advertising-marketing-graphic-design.html

Campaign Objective: Advise

Factual statements regarding health behaviors, risk factors, medications, etc. Information objectives are fairly simple knowledge oriented factual statements informing the target audience about the positive aspects of certain behaviors or other actions or their negative impact. Advice takes the form of information that can help address the challenge of presenting new knowledge or can help clarify misperceptions that people may have. Finally, this information may serve as “booster shots”, reinforcing existing knowledge and reminding the target audience of certain issues.

Examples:

https://gettested.cdc.gov/reasons/default.aspx

Campaign Objective: Activate

Motivating or persuading the audience to attend to and act on the advice or other information presented.

Example:

http://osocio.org/message/aids-campaign-takes-a-different-look-at-social-diseases/

Campaign Objective: Advocate

Documentaries and articles, movies, public demonstrations or ads that embrace and promote a social or political point of view.

Examples:

This current one: http://blacklivesmatter.com/

And this one from nearly 50 years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/20510410925/in/photostream/

Campaign Objective: Combined Objectives

Pieces that attempt to achieve two or more of the above objectives.

Examples:

Research Activity #1

http://www.nyp.org/services/cancerprevention/cancer-free-screenings.html

 -       This website is informing people on the different locations you can go to receive cancer screenings for a variety of different cancers.

 Advise

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/exerciseforolderadults/healthbenefits/01.html

-       this website is educating their target audience, seniors, about the factual benefits of exercise in simple to learn language.

  Activate:

            http://nccrt.org/wp-content/uploads/acspc-042160.pdf

- This website is showing the audience the benefits of catching colon cancer early.  This can be used to motivate people to get screened and hopefully a few lifestyle changes for prevention.

 Advocate:

http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/Teaching%20Tolerance%2051%20Young%20and%20Registered.pdf

This article is advocating and targeting young people to get out and vote.

 Combined

https://videopress.com/v/mQhSRAak

Part Two: Messages that convey motivation and persuasion

Whether the objective is to announce, advise, activate or advocate, the message’s motivational and persuasive contents emphasize change in individual attitudes and group norms with respect to a certain health issue while making the health issue (behavior, social issues and challenges, etc.) foremost in the target audience’s mind. Specific examples of applying activation objectives often derive from fear appeal messages: attempting to arouse fear in the audience by demonstrating to individuals the scary aspects of engaging in a certain behavior and not doing something to mitigate the damage that that behavior can cause. Fear appeal messages usually involve a scary or threatening image or feel to create the desired reaction and promote subsequent behavior change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model developed by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo and Kim Witte’s Extended Parallel Processing Model provide excellent theoretical bases to frame messages that derive from motivation and persuasion objectives, especially those that appeal to fear. A problem with fear-based messages however is that they may cause maladaptive responses when an individual either does not find the image sufficiently threatening or conversely avoids the message (for example, when its images are overly gruesome). For example, The Partnership For A Drug-Free America’s campaign “this is your brain on drugs” has been criticized for engendering more curiosity than fear among teens in the target audience. Also, if the message is sufficiently threatening, the individual may lack the ‘efficacy’ or confidence to take actions that would eliminate the threat. Feelings of helplessness may actually cause the individual to avoid the message altogether. Therefore, fear messages must be used with caution.

However, other emotions can also be invoked which will help individuals remember a specific message and recall the facts and perhaps the reinforcement associated with the behavior change related to those evoke emotions. Humor, sympathy, excitement and other emotions can also create an association that may help an individual remember the importance of the behavior change. For example, contrast the “feel” of the some of the below messages, all of which have the same general purpose.

And these: http://www.bestmswprograms.com/10-brilliantly-creative-condom-ads/

Research Activity #2:

COMPARE THE FOLLOWING TWO SPOTS WITH RESPECT TO FEAR AND RESPONSE EFFICACY-RELATED CONTENT

https://jasonbiviano.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/health-effects-of-smoking1.jpg

https://twitter.com/nyc_dot/status/314067899079872514

Emotions can be evoked not only by the specific nature of the message but also by images, sounds, and other elements that have both an emotional and physical impact on an individual. For example, concordant and discordant musical notes and colors may contribute to a message oriented toward fear and anxiety on one hand or harmony and sympathy on the other. Individual colors may convey different feelings (Example 1; Example 2) though this may vary from culture to culture.  As musical chords mix different notes to create distinct feelings for different compositions, combinations of colors also vary as a function of the light or heat of a message (see here for more info about this).

In terms of sight and sound, which of the following 3 pieces do you think would create the strongest reaction in an audience?

Research Activity #3

LISTEN TO A VARIETY OF THESE SOUNDS. WITH REFERENCE TO 5 OF THE SOUNDS, GIVE A ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION EACH OF 5 DISTINCT FEELINGS THEY CONVEY AND COMBINED WITH 5 MESSAGES THAT SOUND AND FEEL COULD BE PAIRED WITH.

The first ad, the ‘bad effects of smoking’ seems to be a very ineffective way to get people to not smoke/stop smoking. For starters, many smokers are aware of the dangers of smoking now-a-days and seeing an ad like this one will not arouse a fear-response. There is no solution to the danger of smoking or cue-to-action to deal with the habit in the ad, therefore the viewers efficacy to do something about their habit is extremely low; leading to danger control.

The second ad does a much better job at eliciting a behavior change. The image is not overly grotesque so that the viewer won’t be turned away, but it can/does bring about enough fear. This ad does offer a solution to the fear, which is drive 30 m.p.h. rather than 40 m.p.h., the viewer most likely has a high self-efficacy towards the solution of this fear as well; leading to fear control.

 RA#3:

 Sound ‘piano 117 GM 25 1’ conveys suspense and could be used in creating awareness of domestic violence advertisement, perhaps in a ’what is going to happen next’ scene.

 Sound ‘ record scratch 2 ..’ conveys a thought that could be equated to ‘listen up’; this could potentially be used in messages tailored toward teens, condom use.. cigarette use..

 Sound ‘piano 117 am 3 1’ conveys sympathy and could be used in a ‘help us feed the hungry children’ advertisement.

 Sound ‘musical accent tribal ..’ conveys an upbeat message and could be paired with an advertisement people to get up and exercise

Part Three: Do’s and Don’ts of Motivation and Persuasion

A variety of methods can be used to improve the audience’s reception of motivation and persuasion messages. First, serious health issues cannot be treated too lightly, but at the same time the consequence of not taking an action should not be exaggerated. Credibility can be lost if people are shown dying from a fairly minor or obscure illness but also the message must make a realistic connection between a problem and its consequence. What mismatches between the feel and content do you see in these messages (choose 2)?:

Now try these two:

Analyze the potential effectiveness of one of these smoking control ads;

‘If you don’t feed them, who will’ advertisement of a mother pig that has human babies feeding off it her also seems like a mismatch. Again, because this image won’t resonate naturally with viewers, I don’t think it will bring about a response for change.

 The smoking ad that I find most effective is the one with the burning cigarette alongside numbers with the caption: ‘How long can you live?” This advertisement is emphasizing the long-term effect of smoking on your lifespan. This wouldn’t work towards getting teenagers to not try or quit, but it could potentially work for a middle age person who is thinking about quitting.

Part Four: Social Marketing: A Different Slant on Message Objectives

Of major importance to the field of health communication is the Philip Kotler’s “social marketing” framework. Health communication has a mixed ancestry: while generally its roots are in psychology (social, perceptual and behavioral psychology) its other ancestor is in business and economics. Kotler took a business marketing model and applied it to community efforts for health and social change. Building on the work of others in the business world who developed the concept of the “marketing mix” Kotler describes ”4 Ps”: product price, place and promotion. This alliterative framework overlaps to some extent with that of McGuire but specifically details what aspects of the messages content should be included, especially in terms of:

The “Price” of a new behavior (not just as monetary but personal effort and other resources required…and perceived benefits of changing the behavior),

How best to describe ”Product” (e.g. the behavior change itself or the social or environmental change that one attempts to achieve),

The channels by which to send the message that should be used in terms of ”Place” (where a message can best reach someone in terms of a channel or program, and in what stage of life or time of year),

 And finally the overall Promotion (which is often referred to in social marketing as “media mix”: what best mix of print and broadcast etc. to used to initiate and sustain a campaign).

Some have added a fifth “P”, that of “Position”, indicating the specific comparison we can make between our product and that of another on the market (for example, the advantages of getting iron and protein from legumes and quinoa rather than red meat).

As an example, analyze the below anti drunk-driving piece from Kotler’s social marketing perspective:

Research Activity #4

EXAMINE TWO ADDITIONAL HEALTH COMMUNICATION PIECES BRIEFLY, FROM A MCGUIRE AND THEN A KOTLER PERSPECTIVE.  WHICH ONE PROVIDES A CLEARER AND MORE USEFUL EXPLANATORY MODEL, AND WHY?

Part Five: Branding

Branding is the process of pairing an image slogan or other stimulus with a product or practice until the two have become synonymous in the mind of the audience. The concept of “branding” derives from the discipline of marketing, with many years many of successful (e.g. Coca-Cola, Marlborough, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Apple) as well as unsuccessful efforts.  Successes in branding “build relationships between consumers and products” or services that are being marketed.  Audiences eventually become familiar with a product and are reminded of it by seeing the image or hearing a slogan representing that product. One of the best examples of branding in health communication is represented by the long-standing condom promotion and HIV prevention program in Germany, “Macht’s mit: Gib AIDS keine Chance”.  Note that this was initially primarily delivered through billboards and posters; now they have a very impressive web presence as well. 

Examine this measles vaccine poster. Could/should this be better branded, and if so, how?

Part Six: Edutainment 

“Edutainment” is defined either as education done in an entertaining style or entertainment with an educational message built in. A prime example of the former is the Soul City TV/Radio series that emphasizes sexual health, produced in South Africa, and the American PBS program “Sesame Street” that targets preschoolers. Examples of edutainment that comprise primarily entertainment but also include important health or social messages are popular songs about social issues (e.g. Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”), and movies that focus on the power of the tobacco industry, either from a dramatic or comedic tone.

Capstone: Save the Salton Sea

The rapid deterioration of California’s largest inland body of water has implications for the health and well being of our neighbors, ourselves and other species that inhabit the region and the hemisphere. Although this problem has been recognized for more than two decades, it has continued to grow.

So…

What health communication messages would you suggest for taking this issue on?

Who would your target audiences be, and how would vary messages by different audience segments?

How would you brand your effort?

The target audience could also be separated in a variety of was: 

1. The entire population of California and neighboring states, suggesting that this is affecting everyone, not just those near the Salton Sea.

2. The closer local community, and you would tailor your message possibly talking about local economy (houses dropping their worth).

3. The ‘pro-animal life’ community (ie. PETA, maybe even partner with them) and up-play the fact that animals are dying.

4. If possible, invest in getting some airtime for an edutainment piece with John Oliver or someone similar, many people may not be aware of the issue and this would bring it up.  You could emphasize on how our government has been trying to deal with this for decades, but alas!... nothing!

5. When speaking towards the government and those who may contribute money, I would highlight the fact that the amount of money that we spend now would be miniscule compared to the amount we will be spending if nothing gets done (in healthcare damager).

I would attempt to brand this by using something similar to the ‘keep Tahoe blue’ campaign, and maybe use ‘ Keep CA [air/water] fresh’