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Entertainment-Education for Better Health |
 
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| February 2008 Issue No. 17 |
The INFO Project • Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health • Center for Communication Programs • 111 Market Place, Suite 310 • Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA • 410-659-6300 • 410-659-6266 (fax) • www.infoforhealth.org • infoproject@jhuccp.org | |
Investing in Mass Media: Getting the Most for the Money
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Entertainment-education in the mass media can be expensive. For example, Jasoos Vijay, the TV drama broadcast in north India from 2002 to 2003, cost about US$2.2 million (102). To get the most for an investment in mass media, E-E programs have reached large audiences, and they have found ways to reuse products and further expand audiences. Working with communities to produce E-E projects on local radio stations is a way to decrease costs. Some projects have attracted advertising or commercial sponsorship.
With large audiences, the cost per viewer is small. In north India 6.7 million people saw Jasoos Vijay, and an estimated 872,000 were motivated to increase condom use. The cost per viewer was US$0.33, and the cost per person increasing condom use was US$2.49 (102). In other mass media E-E projects, too, the cost per person influenced has been about US$3 or less (11, 40, 51, 74, 84).
Programs reuse or reproduce mass-media E-E materials to get the most for the initial high expenditure. For example, radio or TV E-E dramas in several countries have been so popular that they were rebroadcast (75). Some editing may be necessary, however, if programs are rebroadcast in communities with different customs or norms. Folk theater can be taped for broadcast on radio or TV, and TV series have been edited into a single show and shown from video vans (91, 105). A theater group in Tanzania, however, found that using videos of performances to increase the audience was too costly (59). Plays and TV series can be recorded digitally and saved on CD-ROM or made available on the World Wide Web.
Starting small can help to hold down costs. For example, the organization PCI-Media Impact trains members of community organizations to write and produce radio dramas in its “My Community” initiative. Communities then draft proposals for a radio project and compete for grants of up to US$15,000 from PCI. For the selected projects, PCI arranges technical assistance to produce the drama, to broadcast it on a local radio station, and to evaluate results. Communities’ in-kind contributions and volunteer work amount to 20% to 80% of project costs. Under this initiative communities in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru have developed radio dramas to discourage pregnancy and prevent STIs/HIV infection among young people (72).
Advertising Covers Some Costs of E-E Projects
The large audiences for mass media entertainment-education have attracted commercial advertising. Food, candy, and soft drink manufacturers, cosmetics, oil, and financial services companies, and others have advertised on or sponsored E-E music projects, radio or TV dramas, and variety shows about family planning and reproductive health (22, 66, 76, 77, 79, 83). Advertising fees or business sponsorship for production or broadcast expenses have covered some costs, and broadcasters have offered free airtime. Still, most projects need some donor funding (66).
E-E products have attracted substantial advertising in countries with a strong economic base and people with enough money to buy the advertised products (66). For example, in Kenya advertisers support the radio drama Tembea na Majira (Move With the Times) and an accompanying magazine-style radio program. The drama started in 1996 to provide agricultural information and has since included story lines about domestic violence, female genital cutting, and HIV/AIDS. Initially, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) provided support. Now advertisers such as Cadbury and Colgate cover most of the costs. Cadbury, for example, is mentioned before, during, and after the drama or magazine show. Also, Cadbury uses characters and themes from the drama in its own advertising (63, 66).
Advertising on E-E dramas has increased sales for some companies. In Tanzania, for example, a mattress company, Ply Foam (Tanzania) Ltd., advertised on the E-E radio drama Twende na Wakati when the show started in 1993. The company stopped advertising after two years, however, because it could not meet the demand for mattresses created by the advertisements on the popular drama (66). In India in 1984 the TV drama Hum Log (We People) was the first Indian TV program to accept advertising. Hum Log promoted family harmony, gender equity, and family planning. Each 30-minute broadcast included 22 minutes of the drama and 8 minutes of commercials. The advertising paid the US$6,000–$12,000 cost of producing each episode— one of the rare examples where advertising fees covered all E-E production costs. Seeing increases in sales, advertisers came forward to sponsor other TV shows (23).
E-E products need to be well-done to compete with pure entertainment for advertising. Also, the producing organization needs to maintain relationships with potential advertisers. Pursuing advertising takes time and energy (66, 76). Managers need to choose advertisers carefully, however, to avoid conflicts with E-E content. Advertisers should not expect to control the E-E content, and the advertising should not contradict the content.
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