Untitled

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?

Musical Festival Attendees

Attendees at the Coachella music festival in Coachella valley, less than 40 miles from the Salton Sea will be the primary audience of this campaign. This group tends to be young and socially conscious and interested in leaving a positive footprint. Messaging for this group would be aimed at the idea of making a difference. Advocating for the health of the region will be emphasized. Additionally, some messaging will focus on the end of the festival due to the environmental devastation of the loss of the sea.

Musical Festival Runners

The Coachella music festival is already dedicated to environmental sustainability. They offer local artists incentives to use materials recycled from the festival grounds. Additionally, festival goers who carpool are entered in a drawing for lifetime tickets. The festival runners themselves are either very environmentally conscious and/or aware of that fact that millennials - their target audience - are super into “socially conscious” capitalism.

In that vein, messaging towards festival runners would be less about advocacy and more of a business pitch. Festival runners could be encouraged to offer incentives to attendees who donate to a Save the Salton Sea fund, or offer special events for attendees who purchase special Salton Sea tickets. This campaigning would precede messaging for the festival attendees, as it would impact the way the campaign was marketed to that audience. Messaging to this segment would additionally be focused on the negative economic impact the loss of the Salton Sea would have on the company that runs the festival.

Messages

The most basic messaging on this campaign would let viewers know that there is a serious problem in the area that impacts the future of the entire region. This information would be disseminated through social media pages, which can be found through advertisements in print and on the web (I have included an example at the bottom of the post). Additionally, Facebook targeted marketing would recommend these pages to people who expressed an interest in Coachella. Messaging for festival goers would primarily be visually arresting images featuring the appropriate webpages to visit for more information. The messaging on the web pages, besides providing factual information, would encourage viewers to take action by donating to a Salton Sea fund and sharing page content. Additionally, they would receive advertising for the special Coachella tickets.

Messaging for the festival runners would be more traditionally informative and would address the economic impact of the environmental issues facing the Salton Sea. Face-to-face communication would be the most utilized for this campaign, as it is targeted at a super unique population. A meeting would probably be the most appropriate.

Brand

“Coachella Saves Salton”

All social media pages and campaign materials would feature the hashtag #savethesaltonsea and the name @coachellasavessalton. This gives this impression of a social impact both on the continuation of the festival itself, as well as on the health of the region.

Media Advocacy

Media advocacy doesn’t really have an appropriate place in this campaign. The campaign isn’t supported in a grassroots way, which is where media advocacy does its best work; it focuses more on fundraising for current efforts to restore the sea.

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;

“Rain changes everything” a billboard placed in New Zealand is likely to grab the attention of a driver who is driving in the rain because the picture of a child is spewing blood out of his orifices. This ad has a strong fear appeal, it might be more effective as the behavior (speeding) is actively occurring (only if engaging, of course) and because the driver would see this billboard, there will be a greater likelihood of “driving to the conditions.”

Smoking Ads

The smoking ad depicting the two children who are portrayed as second hand smoke victims being suffocated with the fumes of a cigarette is rather compelling. This ad uses a vulnerable population to elicit behavior change. This type of ad would be highly effective for smokers who are parents as it simply demonstrates the severe consequence of second hand smoke by creatively manipulating the fumes.

Child abuse Ads

The “Rain Changes Everything” billboard is most effective if the audience has seen the image before it has rained and then again once it is raining. However, the billboard may also compel the driver to spend time looking at it as it begins to rain harder to notice the change. Additionally, the driver will be compelled to read the wording at the bottom of the billboard which takes the driver’s eyes off the road. Making effective billboards that are not too distracting always needs to be taken into consideration.  

I agree that the smoking ad with 2 children suffocating is effective for parents. The message is disturbing and drastic thus using fear messaging to draw in the audience.

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?

The Budweiser commercial, “Friends are waiting” portrays a maturing friendship and strong bond between a young man and his dog, his best friend.  This commercial stages two probable endings to the ultimate decision to drink and drive. It appeals to the viewer’s emotions by outlining the impact one decision can have on others. The “product” of the commercial is the wrongful behavior of driving under the influence of alcohol. This commercial encourages young adults to not drink and drive and rather spend the night at a friend’s house. The “price” or “cost” of drinking and driving the commercial alludes to is the death of a human being and the impact this will have on a pet. Such death will result in not being able to come home to your best friend anymore and making your best pal wait for you forever. The “place” to market this commercial is social media and ideally this is a great location to cater to teenagers and young adults.  The hope of this is that young adults view this advertisement before they head out to a party or a place where they are more likely to drink. The “promotion” aspect of this advertisement is the channel used to persuade behavior change from the target audience and the techniques used to instill the message, such as appealing to the viewer’s emotions, providing a reasonable and manageable solution to the problem, and activating the public to drink responsibly. The “position” for this campaign is favorable as majority of anti-drunk driving campaigns use fear-based tactics to elicit a response from viewers. This piece builds on the audience’s emotions and approaches the problem from a different perspective than other campaigns such as those produced by MADD.

Research Activity #4: McGuire & Kotler’s Analysis

#1 Evolve USA developed a funny gun safety campaign targeting parents on personal responsibility and safety in terms of owning and storing a gun in the home.  The campaign slogan reads, “If they find it, they will play with it” and features children playing with sex toys, feminine products, and other embarrassing things that parents wouldn’t want their children to get a hold of.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGDvlY7gglk

McGuire’s Perspective: The campaign messaging advises parents to always lock up their guns when storing them in the home. The campaign activates gun-owning parents to follow recommended advice by emphasizing the consequences of not taking action through the use of humor.

Kotler’s 5P’s: The “product” is the utilization of a locking device when storing a firearm in the home. The “price” of not engaging in the desired behavior outlined by the campaign, is discovering your children playing with an unwanted, embarrassing item.  However, the ultimate “price” the campaign is referring to is much more grand and serious, an unintentional child injury or death. The “place” for this campaign is at home.  Because firearms are stored in the home, the commercial can persuade parents to check the safety of their stored guns. The “promotion” aspect of this campaign is the channel used to persuade behavior change for the target audience (i.e. broadcast television, print material) and the techniques used to instill the message (i.e. humor). Lastly, the “position” of this campaign is favorable as it is one of the few national campaigns targeting gun safety and personal responsibility. Such that the “position” of this campaign is appealing to a wider range of individuals regardless of what their personal beliefs and opinions are concerning gun access and ownership.

 Kotler’s 5P’s provide a more clearer and comprehensive approach than McGuire’s psychology-based model. Because Kotler’s 5P’s take a social marketing perspective, specifically used in the promotion of a business product, the components must be easily understood by the target audience in order to motivate the “purchase” of the product or in this case to motivate “behavior” uptake or change. McGuire’s psychology-based model allows for the audience to understand the overall picture and messaging attached to a specific health piece; however, Kotler’s 5P’s provide a more in-depth analysis.

#2 A French condom commercial, “Kids are a pain” was voted best commercial in Europe as it encourages condom use to avoid the annoyance of a screaming kid throwing a tantrum.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gLlBv_SrZw

McGuire’s Perspective: The commercial advises the audience to use a condom by emphasizing the consequences of not taking action (i.e. dealing with the annoyance of a difficult, screaming child throwing a tantrum). It activates viewers to follow recommended advice through the use of humor. Additionally, the commercial outlines a major incentive of condom use.

Kotler’s 5P’s: The “product” the advertisement is promoting is pregnancy prevention through the use of condoms. The “price” of not using a condom is the annoyance of a screaming kid throwing a tantrum at the grocery store. The “place” in the advertisement is a market or store where children are more likely to act up and have a tantrum over parents not willing to purchase what they asked for. Essentially, the advertisement wants individuals to rethink using protection as a means to avoid the distress of childhood tantrums. The “promotion” aspect of this commercial is the channel used to persuade behavior change for the target audience (i.e. television) and the techniques used to instill the message (i.e. humor). Lastly, the “position” of this campaign is favorable as it depicts other “consequences” of not using a condom rather than focusing solemnly on the negative health outcomes (i.e. contraction of an STD) of such act.  

I had never seen the Evolve USA gun safety ad that was chosen for this assignment. I found it to be quite funny and effective. The slogan, “If they find it, they will play with it” and the use of sex toys was a creative, humorous, and shocking way to grab the audience’s attention. The message is clear and makes parents think about how children can find things that you think are hidden and will never uncover. Without a gun lock, children will find the gun and play with it as well.

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?

I would suggest that the campaign target the farmers that are disposing agricultural drain water into the Salton Sea. The communication message would emphasize the necessity of changing practices to create better water management.  According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website, “Higher irrigation efficiencies and lined irrigation conveyance structures will reduce the amount of drainage water which needs to be removed.” Additionally, messages will be focused on performing in- depth evaluations of drainage water to determine if it can be re-used on the crops before drained to the Salton Sea. The message would be supported by the local environmental agencies that will enforce policy changes on the farms. Auditors will assess whether water management and evaluations are being carried out at each farm, and they will provide helpful resources and tips on how to better their practices. If farms do not implement the changes, fines will be given. The farms that are meeting the protocol and reducing drainage into the Salton Sea will be recognized publicly as environmentally conscious farms.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7224e/w7224e05.htm

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

The target audience would be farmers that are disposing agricultural drain water into the Salton Sea. The farmers would be segmented into 2 categories; farmers with children and farmers without children. The overall message will be the same for both segments; focusing on the implications and costs of not following the new policies. However, additional ads will be used with the two segments to provoke different emotional appeals. For the farmers with children, there will be messaging that highlights the increase in childhood asthma and respiratory disease in Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley, presumably where these farmers and their families live. The farmers will be reminded that their actions are impacting not only the Salton Sea but the health of their own family. The messaging for the farmers without children will highlight the decline in tourism and high unemployment rate in the Coachella and Imperial Valleys and that as the sea continues to dry up, it will be harder to maintain business and growth.

How would you brand your effort?

The effort would be branded with one slogan for all of the messages but there would be marketing pieces with different images in order to target different segments of the audience. The slogan would always appear in the same font and same color on all marketing pieces to increase recognition and continuity of the campaign message. Fear-based tactics would be used to compel the farmer to make changes that will improve his family’s health (segment 1) or increase his job security (segment 2).  

Would you use media advocacy, 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.

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 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?

Price: The man in the ad has a close relationship with his dog; he has raised the dog since it was a puppy, they have fun together, and the dog relies on the man to take care of him. It is more important to the man to wait to drive home safely than to get in a car accident and never return home. Thus the “price” is the benefit of returning home safely.

Product: The desired behavior of this ad is for people to make the choice to not drive when they are drunk and to make a plan to wait until they are sober. The man chose to not drive home right after drinking and therefore his responsible behavior choice is the product.

Place: The place of this ad is TV and online. It is an ad that would be most appropriately aired on TV on the weekends in the morning or afternoon when guys are watching sports, and before they go out to drink with their friends.

Promotion: The only interaction that the audience has with the campaign in order to sustain it is via the hashtag (#FriendsAreWaiting).

Position: After viewing this ad, the audience may have a positive or favorable opinion about Budweiser and the company’s concern for keeping people safe while still enjoying their brand of beer. This commercial stands out from other beer ads in that it not only tells the audience to drink responsibly but also demonstrates that there is an easy solution and that the benefits are great.

 Research Activity #4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-W0eMTCkug

The first piece from the government of Canada encourages families to choose healthy foods and to use the nutrition facts table as a guide. The commercial announces how to obtain more information regarding choosing healthy foods by providing a phone number and a website. The ad advises by featuring a mother and her daughter grocery shopping and conveying that healthy eating is necessary for the family’s well-being. Emphasis is placed on a mother’s desire to want the best for her family, thus activating mothers to call the phone number or visit the website. The price is the benefit of keeping the family healthy by purchasing more nutritious foods, although specific health benefits were not mentioned in the ad, which could have been beneficial. The product is changing mothers’ behaviors to ensure they are checking the nutrition labels before purchasing food. The commercial seems to be aired on TV and can also be viewed online so these are good places to reach mothers. The campaign is from the Canadian government so there seems to be support to run these ads on TV and online in order to spread the word about the campaign and promote the message to mothers. In terms of position, a favorable reaction to the campaign will depend on how much the audience believes that the Canadian government is a credible source that can assist them, and how useful the phone line and website are for them.

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/7106352-fda-read-the-label-youth-outreach-campaign-tweens-healthy-choices

The second video on this website, “Read the Label” depicts adults in the grocery store singing about reading the nutrition facts on products. It advises the audience to read the nutrition label in order to check the number of servings and choose lower fat and sodium products, but does not identify why this is necessary. The commercial announces how to obtain more information at the end by stating, “Don’t let your food take you by surprise. Read the label!” and provides the FDA website for this campaign. The upbeat and simple suggestions activate the audience to take action and begin looking at nutrition labels. The campaign aims to target youth between the ages of 9-13 but also to engage parents and caregivers to take action. The placement of this ad on the Read the Label Youth Outreach Campaign website is only effective if numerous people are drawn to the website. I do not believe that this ad was featured on TV and therefore will not reach much of the intended audience unless parents are getting involved or school programs are implementing this campaign. The price is the benefit of staying healthy by purchasing more nutritious foods, although just like the previous ad, specific health benefits were not mentioned which would have been useful. The product is changing the behavior from purchasing anything in the store to only purchasing items that are deemed healthy after reading the nutrition labels.

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;

The "If You See a Child as Anything More ..." ads are extremely inappropriate for the message that they intend to convey. In taking smiling young girls and Photoshopping them into women’s large breasted figures, not only is the message confusing but the image makes light of the situation while the wording tries to condemn statutory rape. Overall the content is misleading and unclear. There is a complete mismatch between the content and the goal of the campaign.

The “Kill a Cigarette and Save A Life. Yours.” ad is artistically very interesting and well-crafted but in terms of providing a powerful message, it lacks in fear and persuasion methods.  There is nothing compelling the target audience to quit because the woman smoking looks relaxed and peaceful, which are often the reasons that people choose to smoke. The noose made of smoke does not pose a threat. One cigarette does not make the audience feel as though they are closer to dying. Instead, the image is actually aesthetically pleasing and therefore there is no motivation for the audience to change behaviors.

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 attempts to use fear based messaging to convince smokers that their habit is dangerous. However, the ad does not successfully elicit enough fear to compel the audience to take action, nor does it provide guidance on how to quit smoking.  The ad is stagnant and lacks an emotional draw that would motivate the audience to make a behavior change. Since the perceived threat is low, the target audience will view the ad and then move on without accepting the message or putting further thought into it.

The second ad effectively uses fear messaging to remind people to drive the speed limit. The image of a young child with half of her face shown as a skeleton, along with the concise and poignant wording, increases the level of threat. Additionally, the ad specifically states what people can do to avoid the negative consequence of speeding. Therefore, efficacy is high and perceived threat is high, thus there is acceptance of the message.

 Research Activity #3:

1. “PIANO 117 AM 18 1” conveys concern and trepidation and could be used in an ad where a patient is waiting anxiously for his lab test results.

2. “ACOUSTIC POP MELODY” conveys hope after a difficult time and could be used in an ad to show a couple mending their relationship and taking actions to work together and support one another.

3. “STRAT AM 140 23 1” expresses loneliness and could be used in an ad focused on ending child homelessness by depicting a homeless child walking along the train tracks, hopelessly wandering.

4. “PIANO E FLAT MINOR CHORD” conveys a sense of sustained shock and could be used in a spot about overdosing, where a mother comes home to find her son has overdosed on pain medication.

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

Advise: The HPV Action campaign clarifies misconceptions about the HPV vaccine being only for females. The campaign informs the public about the importance of boys getting the vaccination as well. The focus of the campaign is to encourage “gender-neutral” vaccination. http://www.hpvaction.org

Activate: Teen Mental Health (http://teenmentalhealth.org) is an organization that aims to educate and motivate youth, parents, health professionals, and educators to take action in identifying mental illness, obtaining resources, finding support, and ending stigma.

Advocate: This cartoon is politically charged, blaming Obamacare for the negative consequences of providing women with free birth control. The cartoon is stating that when women get free birth control they become more promiscuous and pass on sexually transmitted diseases to men. http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/27/cartoon-claims-obamacare-will-give-men-stds-because-women-can-afford-birth-control-now/