ind Singhal ,andEverell 1\1,Rogers (1994), Persuasion and Planned Social Change. ... month campaign between Thanksgiving and New ... free by such mass media as radio and television ...... "equality," and "a world of beauty," forcing view-.
.
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~". ind Singhal ,and Everell 1\1,Rogers (1994), Persuasion and Planned Social Change. In Erv Betunghau~ & l\hchael J Cody (eds.), Pmua.ril,( Communication (pp. 379-397) Fifth Edmon, New \ ork: Harcourt Brace College Puhlishers. •
PERSUASION
AND
PLANNED
SOCIAL
Arvind Singhal and Everett M. Rogers
OUTLINE
PSAs AND SOCIAL CHANGE THE
ENTERTAINMENT-EDUCATION
STRATEGY HISTORY OF THE ENTERTAINMENTEDUCATION COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ROCK MUSIC TO PROMOTE SEXUAL RESPONSIBILITY "HUM
LOG" AND OTHER SOAP OPERAS IN
DEVELOPING
NATIONS
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AND PLANNED SOCIAL CHANGE ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION
VERSUS EDUCATIONAL
IN THE U.S.:' A FALSE
DICHOTOMY? "SESAME STREET":
THE
LONGEST
STREET IN THE WORLD THE
PROFOl]"ND EFFECTS OF "ROOTS"
THE
GREAT AMERICAN VALUES TEST
THE
HARVARD ALCOHOL PROJECT: A
DESIGNATED ETHICAL
DRIVER CAMPAIGN
DILEMMAS
CHANGE
tiana and Johnny song in Mexico had an effect in By Arvind Singhal and Everett M. Rogers persuading large numbers of rvlexican young peoIn a recent television soap opera in India, the ple not to engage in-premarital sex, the presently daughter of an Indian family rejects the husband her parents have chosen for her to marry, and in- high rate of teenage pregnancy in Mexico will desists on leaving home to pursue a professional ca- crease. If the Harvard Alcohol Project, which inreer. An audience survey shows many of the cludes the "My Two Dads" episod~ and similar attempts to persuade Americans to designate a young Indian women who identify with their teledriver when they are drinking, reaches its stated vision counterpart are convinced that a working career represents an alternative to marriage at an goals, the rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths should decrease. Thus we see the relationship beearly age.' In a 1989 episode of "My Two Dads," pop- tween mass persuasion and social change. ular U.S. television series, the two fathers get drunk and then drive a car, angering their television daughter, who tells them they should have PSAs AND SOCIAL CHANGE decided which one would be the "designated driver" before they began drinking. Similar mesIn addition to the advertising of commercial prodsages about the designated driver were included in 76 other television programs as part of a two- ucts like soaps, toothpaste, cars, and beer, the mass media also carry a type of advertising called month campaign between Thanksgiving and New PSAs (public service announcements). The conYear's Day (the heavy drinking season), causing tent of PSAs consists of unpaid advertisements for an increase in viewer awareness and use of the designated driver idea.2 Similar designated driver various public issues. Examples are drug abuse, campaigns were mounted in 1990-1991 and in AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) prevention, enrollment in adult literacy classes, 1991-1992. and smoking cessation. Well-known examples are In Mexico, two young rock singers, Tatiana such themes as "Take a Bite Out of Crime," "Be and Johnny, perform "Cuando Estemos Juntos" Smart, Don't Start," and "Only You Can Prevent ("When We Are Together"), whose words argue for teenage sexual abstinence. The song was Forest Fires." The Media-Advertising Partnership for a played an average of fifteen times per day by the Drug-Free America is a coalition of advertising average Mexican radio station, over a six-month agencies, television networks, publishers, and so period. A study showed that this extremely popular song raised consciousness among young Mex- forth that collaborate to use the power of the media to combat drug abuse. Each year the Partnerican people about the issue.3 , What all three of these illustrations have in ship places about $150 million of public service common is use of the mass media as part of an advertising or radio, television, and print media. Their most famous ad is the "frying egg" PSA organized communication campaign to persuade ("This Is Your Brain"on Drugs"), a hard-hitting individuals to change their attitudes and behavior. The intended result of these communication cam- message which starkly demonstrates the effects on paigns is social change, defined as the process by the brain of taking drugs. This PSA gained . .., great which an alteration occurs in the structure and acclaim, but also generated much controifersy for function of a social system. Such social change can its "overly" dramatic content. PSAs are usually created by advertising happen at the level of a community, an organization, or a society. Social changes result from many agency personnel at no cost for the National Adindividual-level changes. For instance, if the Ta- vertising Council, an association of advertising
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agencies that selects thc topics for the PSAs ..t The time and space for these PSAs is usually provided free by such mass media as radio and television broadcasting stations, networks, and newspapers and magazines. Unfortunately, such free time and space in the media are usually provided when the intended audience is least likely to expose themselves to public service announcements. For example, television PSAs about drug abuse, such as the frying egg ad, are most likely to be broadcast at other than prime time, such as at 3 A.1\1. when few drug-abusers are viewing television. So its persuasive effects are minimal. Television broadcasters do not promise when a PSA will be broadcast, so a PSA cannot be aimed at a particular audience segment, like stay-at-home housewives, teenagers, working men, and so forth, who watch TV at certain hours. PSAs on television are typically unable to produce much change in the audience's social behavior.5 While television particularly attracts children, the elderly, minorities, and low-income audiences, radio is especially popular with teenagers. Newspaper and magazines are consumed more by well-educated and higher-income audiences. If the target audience for a public health campaign consists of teenagers, showing television PSAs at 3 A.M. is an ineffective strategy. PSAs, which are usually created gratis or on a tight budget, can hardly compete for audience attention with other, high-budget commercial advertisements. Antismoking and anti-alcohol PSAs are outnumbered by the frequent advertisements for cigarettes, beer, and wine on television, billboards, and in magazines. Commercial advertisements are often more sophisticated, vivid, emotional, and more effective than PSAs. Further, PSAs suffer from "PSA glaze," in which a genre of such advertisements all begin to look similar, and thus have little impact. Nevertheless, evaluation studies show PSAs can have some intended persuasive effects, especially if they are one part of a multimedia campaign. For example, the Harvard Alcohol Project
AND
PLANNED
SOCIAL
CHANGE
381
consisted not only of the seventy-seven different episodes in prime-.time television series, but also included a series of PSAs broadcast during the 'same two-month period each year. At the end of playing the Tatiana and Johnny song, "Cuando Estemos Juntos," radio and television sqltions often broadcast a PSA announcing the address and telephone number of local family planning clinics for teenagers. This combination of the content of television entertainment shows and PSAs can more effectively influence public awareness, attitudes, and behaviors, than could either type of message alone. The PSA can provide the details of what to do and how to do it. The television entertainment show motivates the change in behavior. So PSAs are persuasive messages that can contribute toward important social changes if the public service announcements reach the intended audience, if they are carefully designed and created so as to utilize persuasion strategies (such as fear appeals, or providing personal models for the desired behavior), and if they are pretested with the intended audience to ensure they will be effective and not offend sensitivities. For instance, Tatiana and Johnny do a hip-grinding, sexy dance while singing "Cuando Estemos Juntos" on their MTV video, but an audience study indicated that their hip-swinging did not offend teenagers, parents, or priests in Mexico.
THE
ENTERTAINMENT-EDUCATION STRATEGY
A needless dichotomy exists in almost all mass media content: Mass media programs must either be entertaining or educational. Educational broadcasts usually require a heavy financial invesrJ;(:nt, are perceived by audiences as relatively dull, and receive little audience attention. Nor are such programs popular with commercial advertisers. On the other hand, entertainment programs like
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