Rhodes University

Debugging the media and some messymattersSuggestions for Khomanani on the use of newspaper adverts

by Guy Berger,19 November 2004

Rhodes University

Preview points

1. Complexities

2. Theory

3. Paradigms

4. Media mix

5. Newspapers

6. Conclusion

Rhodes University

1. COMPLEXITY:

“(M)any public health communication cam-paigns were found to increase public aware-ness to related health risks … yet only a few … were able to claim behavior change. (Yanovitsky-Striker, 209).

Rhodes University

Some cases…• Newspapers and magazines were the major source of HIV/Aids information for almost 90% of social workers in Harare. (Pitts, Jackson and Wilson)• In a survey in India, more than 70% of respondents said they received their info on the subject from television. (UNAids)• One of the principal effects of a Tanzanian radio drama series was that it increased interpersonal comms about the subject of HIV prevention. (Vaughan et al 91)

Generalising, emulating … or innovating!

Rhodes University

2. THEORY: Direct effects

2.1 S-R model:• Overly-powerful view. •Effectiveness is partly a function of exposure: “dose-response relationship between communication efforts and intended outcomes” (Slater-Kelly, 371).

Media may affect personal risk judgements:

•if hazard incidence high, or •if risky situation is personally relevant. (Snyder-Rouse. 126)

Rhodes University

2. THEORY: Direct effectsS-R model more …•S-R does exist in affective responses: fear, tears, identification, anger, laughter, arousal. Suicides, fashions, riots. • However, easy come, easy go.

• Less-powerful view: S-R is recognised as being modified by: psycho variables, socio variables, 2 step diffusion.

This “weaker effects” view has some validity too.

Rhodes University

2. THEORY: Direct in-effects

2.2 Active audience:• Encoding-decoding

model (Hall) • Codes – denotative,

connotative; • Accept preferred; or

negotiate to suit own conditions; or reject.

• Eg. condom suspicion

Rhodes University

2: THEORY: context2.3 Ethnography:

• Where you are & who you are with affects decoding. •We are many identities and many audiences all at once. • We“tend to process messages with limited attention” (Slater-Kelly)•Low involvement = shortlived effects.

Rhodes University

2: THEORY: discourse already

2.4 Sociology of discourse•Role of media culture in everyday life, •Pre-existing knowledges and broader discourses, make it difficult or easy to accept certain meanings. •Relevancy is an nb concept. (Cohen)

Rhodes University

2: THEORY: discourse already

2.4 Sociology of discourse more …•Persons sympathetic to the content of a message may be more likely to attend to it and retain it in memory. (Slater-Kelly).

•“.. people avoid the intellectual effort required in a true learning situation, preferring messages that review or embellish or elaborate what they already know.” (Liebe, 531)

• Reinforce existing beliefs and intentions. So - prime and increase the accessibility of these (Slater-Kelly).

Rhodes University

Importance of norms•Norm reinforcement – perceptions of public approval or disapproval. •Impact on clarifying and reinforcing social norms is more likely to be indirect – and through processes of social interaction. (Yanovitsky, Striker)

•Perceptions of risks to society, causing certain resources to be marshalled. (Snyder-Rouse. 126)

Rhodes University

THEORY: 2.5 Indirect effects•Policy actions•Effects on other sources of influence in a person’s environment. •Indirect effects thru influence on politics, medicine, religion, the family = mediation of media effects. •Binge-drinking reduced cos reduced normative ambiguity. Yanovitsky, Stryker, 229-31

Rhodes University

Social influences and flow• Other media. • Multi-step flow (story about Mbeki not knowing anyone who died of AIDS reached deep into Cato Manor, even though it wasn’t in the media consumed by the people there. (Jooste)

Rhodes University

Let us pause …Direct effects:

• S-R• Encoding-decoding

(preferred readings)• Ethnographic context

(what media used where)• Sociological discourse

(rights?)• Norms (concordance)

Indirect effects:• Policy, instits, • Agenda, multi-step

Rhodes University

3. PARADIGMS: diving deep

Modernisation Paradigm•Social marketing is

• sales persuasion;•PR is

• getting earned coverage;•Media advocacy is

• enlisting journalists to punt msgs (ltd).

Liberatory Paradigm•Voices from the other side• Rights and empowerment

Us & Them media vantage points

Rhodes University

3. PARADIGMS

Modernisation ParadigmMedia advocacy is

• enlisting journalists to punt msgs (ltd).

• BUT:– Cadre efforts …– Media agenda

“Aids as lead stories = days we lose sales” – Fred Membe

Rhodes University

Modernisation marketing

Stanford process- change theory•Create campaign,•provide exposure, •get actual exposure (media use), •change knowledge, •change attitude, •stimulate trial behaviour,•adoption of behaviour,•= change in health status.

Rhodes University

Critique:• Stages questionable – not pure K->A->P.

• People don’t move zero to full knowledge.

• Learning continues even after attitude change.

• Information does not = knowledge.

• Attitude does not depend on K, it can often determine K!

Rhodes University

Amending:• Rather look at variables that can predict. (Kincaid, 726)

Take account of:• Intention: affected by

knowledge, attitude, self-image, norms.

• Skills to act;• Environmental restraints

or enablers.

Rhodes University

Positioning mod paradigm“Most of the theory of communication and development is from the point of view of government or NGO agencies involved with an intervention to help less powerful groups.” (White, 2004:22)

Rhodes University

Liberatory paradigm

• People as constructors of identity and culture – need to deconstruct ideology, ritual, media. (Servaes)

• Change requires affirming rights. A right to information and a right to communicate (White 2004:22)

• A right to get tested?

Rhodes University

Which paradigm:Top-down or bottom-up?•Mod: talk at, talk to•Lib: talk against.• Combine: talk with …

•Horizontal, vertical.•Exogenous comms and indigenous comms. (Mundy-Compton).

Rhodes University

Both paradigms share:Normative context

•Many behaviours are normatively ambiguous. Eg. Drunk-driving jeopardises other people, but lack of exercise harms yourself. •“(T)o be successful in reducing people’s involvement in risky health behaviours, society must first remove much of the normative ambiguity that surrounds them by clarifying and reinforcing social values and norms” .

(Yanovitsky-Striker, 210-11)

Rhodes University

Mod: enlightenmentFear and loathing:•Likelihood of behaviour change based on personal risk perceptions depends on whether advocated behaviour solves personal fears, rather than social ones.

•“If we accept that under certain conditions (high-problem relevance, problem incidence, or media vividness) media exposure can increase judgements of personal vulnerability, and that personal risk judgements can sometimes lead to behaviour change, then it follows that media exposure may lead to behaviour change.”

(Snyder-Rouse, 128)

Rhodes University

Lib: empowermentIncentives:

• Information: We have the right.• skills and access Talk about it? Where?•Enablers:where you can go• Attitude: Feel about it for others

Rhodes University

Summing up

Modernisation paradigm

≡ delivery interventionist

Liberatory paradigm

≡ emancipatory

Change thru paradigm dialogue

≡ and fusions

Work on norms and individuals

Rhodes University

4. MEDIA MIX: GenresInformation, entertainment, education•Informational media impacts on social risk, but vivid, dramatic media can lead to changed judgement in personal risk; emotional appeals about AIDS were more memorable and stimulated a desire to learn more about AIDS than rational appeals.

Rhodes University

4. MEDIA MIX: Genres•“On the whole, we believe that news about AIDS is less vivid and dramatic than entertainment fare.” •But they concede, “entertainment formats may not be effective for all audiences”. •And news coverage can actually serve to reduce perceptions of susceptibility, which may help when health communicators want to avert a panic or calm some members of the target group. (Snyder and Rouse, 127, 132, 142).

Rhodes University

4. MEDIA MIX: Genres•Note: News goes across radio, tv, newspapers. •Cato Manor - strong preference for more news on HIV-AIDS in all media, especially about “people like us”. (Jooste)

Not only what media do to people- Also what people do to media• Take account of participation, representation, voices, stories, ownership, active audience, consumers as producers and disseminators. • Note: all genres can be present, blur, and all can enlighten & empower• Be creative.

Rhodes University

MEDIA MIX: PlatformsGenres do not equate platforms

Eg. newspapers can be entertaining

Eg. info is not necessarily non-emotional

Rhodes University

MEDIA MIX: PlatformsMcLuhanesque Cliches: •TV: emotive, entertaining, relaxing, linear, branding•Radio: accompaniment•Print: detail, credible, less linear, logic left brain. Aids memory, reference•Magazines: personal•Outdoor: prevalence

Rhodes University

MEDIA MIX: Platforms•Locate in ethnography and in discourse. •Some platforms lend themselves to genres for technical and for historical discourse associations.

But: novelty in disruption? (eg. Daily Sun?) …•Plats significant for audiences and reach … eg. newspapers reach leaders.

Rhodes University

Genres + platforms synergies

•Media synergy is more than using multiple platforms and multiple genres.•It not only spreads & repeats, it creates complementarity.

Rhodes University

Advertising•Any medium contributes diminishing returns, so you build reach by adding new media. CPM is a factor here, but there are also diminishing returns on awareness, persuasion and response. •“(U)sing a mix of media will make advertising work better.” (Ephron, 2002).

Rhodes University

Special focus: Clutter•USA: TV & magazines seen as most cluttered media – affecting search, and disrupting consumption, and hence leading to less favourable attitude to adverts and greater advertising avoidance.

Clutter is the “belief that the amount of advertising in the medium is excessive”, and it constitutes noise – the ratio of unwanted signals to total signals. Of course many ads are not seen as clutter, but as desired signals. (Elliot and Speck, 1998

Rhodes University

Comparative clutter

•“Mentor” system recommends that to reach 65% of women, put 38% into TV, and the rest into print, radio, online. For men, it is 44% into TV and the rest into the other media. (Ephron, 2002).

•In SA, consider audience chosen for ads.

•Disruption is less likely in print media since readers control the duration of ad exposure. •TV and radio are rated as more annoying than newspapers or magazines, while TV and magazines are more enjoyable than the others. Print media are seen as more informative. (Elliot and Speck, 1998:31).

Rhodes University

It’s all about content•Ad avoidance is action by media users to reduce their exposure to ad content. In TV, it is leaving the room, channel hopping, or tuning out. In newspapers, it is discarding inserts, skipping pages with mainly ads, ignoring ads.• “When television is involving, commercials may seem more intrusive. When radio serves as background, they may be less disruptive.•When magazines and newspapers match ads to content, readers are more likely to have specific interest in the ads and therefore not see them as clutter. (Elliot and Speck, 1998:41, 30).

Rhodes University

Media mix optimisers!•Yes, target lower LSMs with radio – but complement it.•The cost reach per person is not insignificant – but where they are and who they are is nb. •It is also misleading in that the viewership of a TV channel is taken over a lengthy period of potential watching, • Less so for a paper, • No guarantee that at any given time you are reaching people – depends on content.

Rhodes University

5. NEWSPAPERS

Readers – what they are and do

Primary, secondary, tertiary.

Readers avoid ads that don’t deal with their interests.

They look for some things, try to avoid some things: reading the paper is an organised search.Bogart and Tolley 1988

Rhodes University

5. NEWSPAPERS“How to get your ad read”:

• Readership jumps a lot (80%) if you show lots of prices, by 40% if you have a full page rather than a quarter page. •It rises by one-third if half the space is an illustration, and there are one quarter more readers if the ad shows a model. •Readership goes up a fifth if it uses full colour, and also up a fifth if it is about a sale. (Editor and Publisher, 1999).

Size of ad explains 40% variability of readership.

Type of product explains 50% of variability.Bogart and Tolley 1988

Rhodes University

Design for ads•Remember feelings – and that people use facts to justify them.

•Simple focus. Topical like the news,

•Aspirational – show what people want.

•Beware doom-‘n-gloom negative news; instead play against that.

•Highlight benefits.

K nowledge

A ttitude

P ractice

P ay-off

- from audience point of view

Rhodes University

Advert tips• Visual! Distinctive. • Colour counts – more than size. It communicates subtle emotions (Tolly). •B&W works as documentary.

But use words cleverly! These are readers. •Readers don’t just glance at headlines. (Tolly)

•Canadian Newspaper assoc says: long text – fewer readers. But when relevant, people will study. •Conventional wisdom says no more than 150 words, but Ogilvy did a full page of words on Shell and it was fascinating.

Rhodes University

6. CONCLUSION:Remember ...

•Complexity• Challenges! Innovate!

•Theory• Active audience,

ethnography, socio-discourse.

• Indirect impact is NB.

•Paradigms• Modernisation, liberatory

•Media mix•Newspapers

Rhodes University

Way ahead• Locate campaign in context of theory and paradigms, media mix and particularities of papers.• Draw on SA’s liberatory history• Get a media mix • Evaluate and adapt!

Rhodes University

Impact

“It’s the training that did it”

Rhodes University

Thanks!Khomanani the bug-catcher!

“It’s the training that did it”