KEY CONCEPTS
-SMCRD
-Communication/Persuasion Matrix
-Them/Us (Customer In Middle)
-Sex, Looks, $$$
-KAB vs BAK
-Who Says What/Hears What?
-Communication Model: Exposure - Message - Effects
-Two Paths To Persuasion
-Issue Involvement and Personal Relevance
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
I really enjoyed the information on key concepts that helped me organize how to put together a campaign, what to focus on in the important areas. The matrix was great. I was a little disappointed to know that I need to follow the status quo of using sex, looks and money to get attention--i know it sells but I prefer a different approach, especially regarding health care. I hope I can try different approaches and succeed. I don't following the media standard--regardless of what sells. Two paths to persuasion were concise and informative,as well as issue involvement was very important to realize in forming an effective campaign. I found the PPT confusing and not clear as which article, since there were so many to read, you were referring or didn't write the right one down ???
I must add it took 1 1/2 hours to log in to this site because of complications not accepting images, etc. Hightly frustrating
I agree the matrix was helpful and I really enjoyed the class exercise because it put theory to work... how to motivate others to change, which is OBVIOUSLY a hard thing to do. I also liked SMARCD and that clever sentense "Who says what to whom through what channel with what effect" but I thought it was much better when we took the reciever's side. Its important to make the consumer the focus. Also I love to think about the two ways that people think, either central or peripheral. Its tough that sex, looks and money sells but maybe we can turn that to good, and as long as we are making positive changes, we are moving in the right direction.
Revelations abound! I took a Social Psychology course a couple of years ago, and we must have discussed the Two Paths to Persuasion Model for at least a couple of weeks. While at the time I understood the model on a superficial level (note that I can be a bit of a cognitive miser at times), it was not until it was discussed in the context of health promotion that its utility became clear. Now I see just how critical it is to think about the target(s)' likely information processing style when designing an intervention. The discussion of it in class not only made clear to me the details of what was once a slightly amorphous theory but it also gave a concrete format for tailoring interventions--something we talk a lot about in HP but mostly in vague terms. What a handy theory!
The importance in learning how to understand our audience's info processing was my favorite topic in class. Being "customercentric" is I believe one of the most important element to keep in mind while organizing a campaign.
I really enjoyed the class lab and actually putting we learned to work. There is so much that goes into communicating and making what you say stick and or be effective. I guess that is why we use sex, money, and looks. As I said in my other post it is no different from the Carls JR commercial with a half naked Paris washing a car and eating a burger.
Week 2: Theories and Celebrity Health Campaigns
Hey Everybody!
It is interesting to me how big an influence the source of communcation is in regards to how we take in or perceive information. In particular, if the source is a respected (popular) celebrity. In all of our health campaigns in class we used some type of celebrity to get our message out to our particular audience. If we pay more attention to health campaigns that features a celebrity does that mean were are more heuristic in our thinking than systematic. For example, the actor with Parkinson disease (forget his name), does his celebrity status cause us to be just aware or does his health condition make us think more carefully about the disease? Also, consider when you are watching the Oprah show with all her experts, are you in systematic mode even though you are being entertained. I guess it all depends on what we do after the show, i.e. discuss the topic with others, learn more, or move on to the next show. When considering to use a celebrity as a source for health campaigns it is important to assess the type of exposure, attention, interest, understanding, and yield you expect them to deliver in the message and to whom. The goal is to have the celebrity use their status to get the right channels for the right destination, i.e. behavior change. Seems like a great deal of work for a celebrity, I guess that is why they get paid the big bucks, not us poor HP students. Have an eventful weekend.
Noni
http://www.ogilvypr.com/expert-views/celebrity-health-campaigns.cfm
I agree with other comments about the Communication Persuasion Matrix, as it was very helpful to see the elements of communication and the hierarchy of effects in a visual format. I enjoyed doing the class exercise as it was fun to get our creative ideas flowing and get a chance to apply the theories and lessons about health campaigns. When my group was assigned to promoting physical activity in senior citizens, I realized how important formative research is in understanding the target audience. We were trying to relate to seniors and figure out what might appeal to them, and had trouble thinking of a senior celebrity. Knowing your target audience and what they want to hear, seems like the key to an effective message. Although, we did learn that sex. looks, and money are a safe bet in marketing strategies, as the peripheral cues get people's attention- no matter what the message is! Hopefully after attracting them with one of the big three, we can increase their involvement and get them thinking in the central route about our important health messages.
After reading some of the comments from other students, I also do agree with the importance of focusing on the audience as being the primary goal. This is what we talked about as far as "receiver driven" communication which happens to be more powerful versus "sender driven". So, I leanred that the first step to a successful campaign is to customize to the people we want to reach. The exercise we did in class helped greatly applying what we learned and putting things into perspective.
The best part about class this week was putting into practice the theories discussed. I had a true moment of realization when working on our campaign for teenagers and nutrition. When we were trying to figure out the details of our campaign we kept asking ourselves "what do teenagers like?" I mean it wasn't THAT long ago since I was a teenager; but there I was assuming this is what teenagers like, don't like, do or don't do. The distance between me and my target population was evident. Its the kind of gap captured in our discussion of sender driven messages (us centered) as opposed to receiver driven-where we put "them" at the center. I am intrigued at the possibility of empowering people through receiver driven messages and of doing research that puts them first and not the goals and expectations of health professionals and research sponsors. On this same note of applying HC theories into "practice" it would be really helpful (at least for me) if we could have a lab or a class example of how the Communication Persuasion Model works. When reviewing my notes I was having difficulty trying to come up with an example for myself on how I could use it.
The dual process of persuasion article made me think about how I listen to the communication in my life. When I read the article before class I wasn’t able to put it in a health communication context but after the lab exercise it really made sense how differently one must communicate with people at the two different levels. Since class I have been paying more attention to all the communication I am exposed to and noticing that the majority are on the peripheral path. However, when I have been interested in the topic I easily move over to the central path. And once on the central path I am much more able to remember what I heard. For instance, I can tell you all about a show that I watched on PBS last night about global warming but there is no way I can tell you about the ads that I was exposed to before and after the show. With this personal experience it makes me realize that for a health message to ‘stick’ with a person it is important to get them onto the central path. This brings up the challenge of getting them to care about the issue so much that it has high personal relevance. I think that ties closely into the idea of empowering the person through health messages. The receiver driven statement of who hears what from whom through what channel for what purpose seems like it would be more effective than the sender driven statement. However, I feel that most ads on TV are sender driven. An exception I can think of are the health promotion materials that Kaiser puts out. As a Kaiser member I receive a lot of information from them and I feel that all of their health promotion messages are very empowering and putting me, as the patient, front and center. In fact, I just opened up the Kaiser homepage to see what it was like and the first thing I see is the quote “Be Your Own Action Figure.” If that isn’t putting the customer in the center, I don’t know what is…
I really like the reading about being in either a systematic mode or a heuristic mode. It is very fundamental in understanding how to effectively use communication. To get a message a cross to individuals is very effortful and demanding. Why? I think it is because that there is so much information out there in the world that people tend to sort them out in systematically in a heuristic way if that makes any sense? All this information comes at us and our minds tend to just store it or throw it out systematically, but sort heuristicly. Does that make any sense? Anyways, my point is that we use it at the same time depending on what it is. Anyways! That's it for now...
KAB and BAK made sense to me because I’ve fallen victim of it before. A lot of times it happens to me when I’m listening to music on the radio. I hear a new song, I don’t like it, I change the station – until they’re playing it so often, I finally give in, and it grows on me. My attitude changes and I’m thinking maybe it’s not such a bad song after all. The beat is good and is something I can work out to or the lyrics are actually meaningful. Then, I do more research (knowledge), check out the songs on iTunes – maybe even purchase the song – sad, but true – I know. But, imagine, if we were to take this same scenario/concept and apply it to a public health issue like HIV testing, mammograms, or an anti-drunk-driving campaigns. For instance, we have a program at work that gives Marines a free pass to get home safely if they’ve had to much to drink. It’s called the Arrive Alive Program. Many don’t know about the program or how it works, but they know the card can get them a free ride home. They use the card. They see it works and their attitude changes about drinking and driving. They call our office if they need more cards and to get more info on how the program operates. This knowledge gets passed on to their Marine buddies and the cycle perpetuates. On a side note, heuristic cues are definitely the way to get an audience that may not normally give you the time of day. But, whether it’s Marines, seniors, tweens, or teens, it’s challenging to know what they want to hear and from whom as the exercise in class proved. However, I’m up for the challenge? Are you game? P.S .I’d elaborate more on my thoughts, but I was little long winded last week, so see my blog for more of my two cents.
Just two classes into my health communications course and my mind is already swimming with so many questions about how can we reach the public with positive health messages that will be well-received and effective... Having acknowledged that sex, looks and money are the most captivating subjects for the majority of our audience and keeping in mind that most of what we will deliver as health care professionals appears to be the antithesis of anything glamorous, we are faced with the realization that our task at hand is a challenge to say the least. Once public health professionals take into consideration our lack of resources (i.e. $$$), we then must address the dilemma of how far we will delve into that abyss of what REALLY sells to gain exposure to our audience, catch their attention and deliver to them the message we hope they want to hear about a health topic that we have deemed important. And herein lies a question of health communication ethics...
I feel that it might be beneficial to use the Dual Processing Model in two stages in order to get people to pay attention to health messages from a public health standpoint. In the first stage, one would use the peripheral path (in combination with sex, looks and money) to catch a target audience's attention. Once they are listening and cognitively aware of what you are trying to convey, then you can present them with information that necessitates a deeper level of thinking.
As several other people have already mentioned, I thought the lab component of this week's class was a helpful exercise. Activities that make me immediately apply and practice new information definitely helps the info 'click' with me. I guess that 'click' can also symbolize me moving from the peripheral pathway of persuasion/understanding to the central pathway. Since our last class, like Lisa mentioned, I've also been trying to pay more attention to the different communication messages I'm exposed to and realized most are part of the peripheral path. As a result of this I can't even recall many of these messages now.
Two paths to persuasion is such great theory. Wow, this seems to be a good way to split our audience and strategize how to get the information to these different individuals. I believe everyone uses stereotypes to an extent. Who would have ever thought we could use these types of shortcuts (credible source) to help people process our health promotion message. I guess this is “thinking out side the box”. I just assumed that everyone processed messages the same way.
Post a Comment