In the United Kingdom today, advertising is estimated to be worth £19 billion and accounts for 7% of Britain’s annual economy. This industry is big business and is primarily designed to promote and sell a wide range of products and services. Advertising, however does more than just encourage sales, it is considered to be an important source of public awareness with both Government and charitable organisations spending vast sums of money on a variety of health related promotions. These campaigns include such issues as sexual health, road safety and healthy eating.
With all this money being used to fund multimedia health campaigns the big question being asked is – Does this type of advertising work?
In order to investigate the success of recent health initiatives and ascertain the most effective means of targeting a specific group, two journal articles relating to this subject were sourced.
Journal A entitled ‘Can a public health intervention improve awareness and health-seeking behaviour for glaucoma’ was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology in 2008. The main question under investigation in this article is ‘ whether a public education campaign can increase awareness and change help-seeking behaviour with respect to ocular health in an Indian population.’ (Baker & Murdoch, 2008)
Glaucoma is an eye condition leading to a loss of vision. It ‘is a major cause of preventable blindness in the U.K.’ (Baker & Murdoch, 2008) The objective was to encourage the target group to attend regular ophthalmic screening.
The main issue was how to reach as many members of this community as possible. Researchers decided to run an advertising campaign, made up of radio, TV and print content. The author’s reasoning behind this was to see which form of advertising was most effective within this study group.
As the ‘target population’ (Baker & Murdoch, 2008) were an Indian community the idea was to run these campaigns on Asian TV and radio stations, as well as placing adverts in Asian newspapers and posters in places of worship. Following the campaign Health Knowledge questionnaires and face-to-face interviews were carried out. The results from these primary sources were analysed alongside data collected from local optometric practices, and conclusions made.
Findings prove that the author’s idea of using advertising to increase awareness of Glaucoma was successful. Evidence shows that the number of people who had heard of the eye condition doubled after the campaign. The majority of these individuals obtained the information through radio commercials and radio interviews.
However, even though the belief that advertising can increase awareness was proven to be true the target groups attitude to this increased knowledge was one of indifference. Data collected from the optometric practices showed that there was no increase in the number of eye tests taking place post-campaign. Therefore in this particular study the authors failed to achieve their main objective.
The paper concludes with the suggestion that prior to spending money on future health campaigns organisations should investigate who their target audience is, and what the best methods of reaching them are. It was noted that background research into the diverse social and cultural beliefs of target groups is essential. If the outcomes of such analysis were taken seriously charities, government organisations could save significant amounts of money on advertising in the future. By considering who they want to reach and how this would be best achieved, successful campaigns could be initiated.
Journal B entitled ‘Impact of a media campaign for disaster mental health counselling in post-September 11 New York was published in Psychiatric Services in 2006. The purpose of this article was to evaluate ‘the association between patterns of spending’ within the campaign (initiated by New York State Office of Mental Health following the attacks) ‘and the volume of calls received and referred to a counselling program.’ (Frank, et al, 2006)
Disastrous events such as the attacks on September 11 can cause severe mental trauma, and it is important that the public are aware of organisations such as LifeNet (health hotline) so that they can receive the support that they need. Project Liberty was managed by NYOMH and established in response to the need for counselling services, with its main aim to educate the public on the help available to them. With large sums of money being spent on advertising these projects to the public, the key question that the authors are addressing, in this article, is whether media spending has an impact on the number of people seeking help.
Mental illness is often stigmatised in the US, therefore most people are poorly informed on the topic and unaware of the services available to sufferers. The main concern for NYOMH was that people may not know how to seek help or where to obtain it. In response to this concern an outreach programme was set up to inform as many people as possible. The multimedia campaign consisted of print, radio, television and celebrity endorsed advertising.
In order to discover whether the idea that media spending relates directly to ‘help-seeking behaviour’ (Frank, et al, 2006) the authors analysed data that was collected from Project Liberty and LifeNet.
Figures show that during months of heightened media spending calls to the counselling service increased substantially. The authors suggest, therefore, that ‘media spending may have generated help-seeking behaviour as measured by calls too LifeNet.’ (Frank, et al, 2006)
A secondary source referred to during this study makes the authors aware that the majority of those who report having heard of the project, had so through adverts on television. The authors believe that television may be ‘particularly effective in encouraging help-seeking behaviour.’ (Frank, et al, 2006)
However evidence suggests that it is not necessarily the highest spending that is linked to most calls but what media source is used. The researchers noted that ‘increase call volumes as associated with shifting composition of media outreach appear to be independent of the level of spending.’ (Frank, et al, 2006) When the NYOMH became aware that television appeared to be the most successful means of getting the information to the public they decided to spend more on television advertising. Statistics reflect that during periods of increased TV spending calls also peaked.
The conclusions that can be drawn from the article are the author’s suggestion that television may be one of the most effective ways of encouraging victims of disaster to seek help. However, it s also stated, that further investigation would have to be carried out before adopting this approach for similar projects. The authors’ idea that more research into this particular issue is needed prior to further campaigns will hopefully result in future projects being geared towards reaching the majority of people.
Can it be concluded, therefore, that health campaigns work? From the findings obtained in both Journal A and B I would argue that such media campaigns can have a positive effect and help raise awareness of particular health issues.
Both journals found that one particular form of advertising proved to be the most effective at reaching the target population under study. Journal A focused on a culture and area specific group, and discovered that advertising on Asian radio stations the most effective way to reach that small community. Whereas Journal B focused on a study into informing the entire New York population, in this case television advertising had maximum impact. Even though these are two different forms of advertising they both make use of electronic components.
The issue of achieving health-seeking behaviour was a top priority in both research studies. Whilst Journal A health intervention failed to change the behaviour of the focus group, the campaign under study in Journal B proved to be a success. However I think this could be put down to circumstance. The study in Journal A aims to get people to get their eyes tested, something that the majority of the public don’t regard as a serious issue. Although figures state that ‘1.8 million people in the UK live with sight loss’ (RNIB 2009), many people continue to ignore the offer of free eye tests on the NHS. In my opinion I don’t think this campaign worked because the people targeted did not regard it as a major concern.
Journal B evaluated the impact of a media campaign by a counselling service following 9/11. The attacks in New York would have affected all members of society to a varying degree. As this was a problem effecting them at the time they were more likely actively seek help than the group in Journal A. Needless to say the campaign was very successful as numbers of people who had heard of the service increased from pre to post attacks.
Both journals also highlight the importance of knowing your target audience. Journal A found that having background knowledge into the community was invaluable. In-depth research into the focus group was suggested prior to future campaigns. Journal B also notes that further study would have to be carried out before adopting a similar approach to future projects.
An article which supports this argument is entitled ‘How the media influences women’s perceptions of health care’ (Kahn, 2001) The researcher discovered that women, in this particular study, were more likely to encounter advertising through television or print based sources in magazines. The paper went on to conclude that ‘neither of these two media can be ignored.’ (Kahn, 2001) This only enhances the concern that more research, into target populations, is needed in order reach the optimum number of people.
Current Government Health Campaigns use multimedia advertising as a means of informing the general public on health issues. Present campaigns include Change4Life, Sex: Worth Talking About and Act F.A.S.T. Information on these projects are available online and it is clear from the statements made on the Internet that the Government is aiming to find the most effective way of reaching the public. In regards to the Sex: Worth Talking About intervention, the advertising is said to of ‘been tested with teenagers and parents, with a strong, positive response from both groups.’ (Department of Health) The Change4Life campaign also shows signs that research is being conducted prior to launching projects. The government highlights the fact that they ‘worked in collaboration with experts in their field to develop these toolkits, pooling together years of knowledge and know-how that we can all use on a practical level to help engage and encourage young families.’ (Department of Health)
I think positive steps are being made in order to establish which forms of advertising are most effective. By analysing evidence based research on the most effective means of contacting target groups both the Government and associated organisations can utilise these methods to best serve the public’s interests.
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