On Social Marketing and Social Change

25 Years of AIDS Campaigns in the US

June 5th marks the 25th anniversary of the day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention introduced the world to the disease that we now know as AIDS. To mark the event, the Kaiser Family Foundation has pulled together a number of AIDS resources and released a report: Evolution of an epidemic: 25 years of HIV/AIDS media campaigns in the US.

The report is divided into five time periods:

1981-1985: A new threat and activist response
1986-1989: The HIV/AIDS PSA is born
1990-1995; Reaching communities at risk
1996-2000: HAART brings hope: But is AIDS over?
2001-2006: Global AIDS

Snapshots of some of the public education campaigns are included in the review including their different approaches, historical context and impact. An Appendix also contains summaries of many other HIV/AIDS campaigns launched with government, voluntary sector, foundation and/or corporate sponsorship over the years.

This document should find its way into many classes and texts on developing sustained and responsive health communication and social marketing campaigns to public health threats. Who knows, maybe a few policy-makers will see it and recognize the value of long term planning and sustained commitment to public education and health marketing initiatives: youth obesity anyone?

Fun Fact of the Day: The first position in the US government with 'social marketing' in its title was at the CDC in their America Responds to AIDS Program. The first person to hold the position was...?

Technorati Tags: Health Communication, HIV/AIDS, Media Campaigns, Public Health, Social Marketing

Irrepressible!

Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information.

Amnesty International has launched a new campaign to mobilize people against restrictions on the freedom of expression on the Internet. Governments and IT companies are the target of the initial efforts. The irrepressible.info box in the right hand column of this blog will stream content that has been censored on each page load. The campaign site has other actions you can take to support the most basic of human rights - free speech.

Thanks to Sarah Rich at WorldChanging for noting this.

Technorati Tags: Amnesty International, Freedom of Expression, Irrepressible,

The Costs of Marketing Mosquito Nets

The question of whether to donate insecticide-treated mosquito nets to prevent the spread of malaria or to charge a fee for them as is the common practice in many social marketing programs in Africa has been a raging question over the past year and more. Jeffrey Sachs, the UN Secretary-General's special adviser on the Millenium Development Goals, has argued that the $3 nets should be heavily subsidized or given away free. "Mothers and children are dying of a completely preventable disease because we are trying to sell bed nets. Let me urge the end of social marketing today." Now comes some empirical evidence that provides evidence for both sides of the debate.

METHODS: Over several years questionnaires and surveys of usage and condition of nets were carried out throughout a town and 15 villages in north-east Tanzania, where nets and insecticide have to be purchased and in 24 other villages where over 15000 nets had been donated and annual re-treatment is provided free-of-charge.

RESULTS: There was very high population coverage in the town but, in the villages where nets have to be purchased, only 9.3% of people used nets which were intact and/or had been insecticide-treated and could, therefore, provide protection. However, where nets had been provided free, over 90% of the nets were still present and were brought for re-treatment several years later.

CONCLUSIONS: In this part of Tanzania, social marketing has performed well in a town but very poorly in villages. However, the study showed that people look after and bring for re-treatment nets which had been provided free-of-charge. [Abstract] [Free access to pdf version of the manuscript at Malaria Journal]

Technorati Tags: Insecticide-treated Nets, Malaria, Social Marketing

Social Networking Sites: Who's the Audience?

If your idea of social networking sites are MySpace and Facebook and you are considering including them in your health communications or social marketing plan, get a little closer. Nielsen/NetRatings looks at the Bebo and MySpace audiences and finds clear differences between them. While not getting the same mainstream buzz, Bebo had 2.16 million compared to MySpace's 2.84 million hits in April, 2006.

• Bebo members spend nearly 24 minutes more on the site
• Audience under age 18 is 54% on Bebo (1.17 million) and 31% on MySpace (0.89 million) - 40% of the MySpace audience is over 35
• Bebo members tend to be more female (56%) than MySpace (46%)

Another site noted by Ypulse is Bolt, one of the original tween and teen networking sites, which was relaunched in March for 18-34 year-olds and includes integrated photo and video sharing capabilities. Bolt2 has been added as the new social networking site for tweens and teens (and already has ads for the new truth anti-tobacco campaign on it).

Finally, TechCrunch highlighted TagWorld as another social networking site to watch as it signed up its 1 millionth member in less than 3 months.

Technorati Tags: Audience Profiles, Social Networking, Targeting

Scalability and Program Dissemination

The NYT Magazine includes a profile of a program for violent youth that results in 54% fewer arrests and 57% spending fewer days in jail over a 14 year follow-up [Home Remedy - New York Times]. Multisystemic therapy (MST) uses a social ecological approach to create tailored interventions for the child and his/her family.

Henggeler studies the ecosystem composed by family, neighborhood, schools, peer groups and the broader community. Instead of removing children from that ecosystem, he tries to change it: solve the drug problems and the legal problems, get kids away from delinquent peers and encourage academic success for each child and his/her family.

A central idea is to focus on the parents. "We want the therapist to build the competency of the parents, because the parents are going to be there after the therapist leaves," he says. If the parents can't handle the job, he might ask an uncle, aunt or grandparent to fill in... The single most important piece of the treatment is getting children away from deviant peers.

While the approach can be demonstrated to be cost-competitive when compared to upwards of $50,000 per year for residential treatment or jail, MST therapists normally have caseloads of only between 4-6 families. Scaling up such interventions so that they can be more broadly implemented is one of the ways in which policy-makers and funders should consider the value of a [social] marketing perspective. 

The commercial sector if filled with stories of the small upstart that 'roared' with a mix of production and marketing talent. Occasionally, such a story appears in the public health literature. One of the more frustrating things to witness is the many fine programs that are developed and tested to solve various types of social and health problems, but then left to collect dust because of the lack of expertise, will and resources to market and adopt them broadly and over the long run.

Technorati Tags: Multisystemic Therapy, Social Ecology, Violence Prevention

Social Marketing in the News

Blogging Conference Draws 400 in D.C.

Approximately 400 Washington-area marketing, public relations and media professionals crowded into a standing-room only Mayflower Hotel ballroom Friday morning to try to discover what's beyond blogging… The first addressed blogging's place in corporate communications, advertising and marketing, and the second focused on blogging's role in social marketing and advocacy.

Health 'Should Market Like Nike'

Health services should borrow marketing ideas from big companies like Coca-Cola and Nike, experts have said.

This concept, which is known as social marketing, applies commercial marketing strategies to social good. It has already been shown to be effective in changing health behaviour.

The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand already use such strategies within their health services and studies suggest that social marketing campaigns are successful in tackling issues such as alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

Cancer Research UK: Adopting Industry Marketing Tactics Improves Health, Say Experts

“Borrowing this ‘consumer orientated’ thinking and finding out why people make the unhealthy choices they currently do - their values and motivations - can help develop tailored initiatives that are more effective at promoting healthy behaviour.”

Known as ‘social marketing’, the concept has been shown to be effective in initiatives for early cancer detection, improving diet and tackling alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

Is There a Road to Combat HIV on the Highways?

With better highway amenities and lesser stop times, there could be a reduction of high-risk behaviour and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among 5 mn truckers and helpers in India, analysts said...

In fact, the action plan prepared by the NHAI to control HIV/AIDS along the highways, has envisaged programmes like organising camps among target groups, displaying IEC materials at strategic locations and maintaining them, promoting behaviour change communication (BCC), condom promotion, social marketing and/or free distribution of condoms, and referring people to treatments available for STD/ HIV/AIDS at nearby hospitals or clinics.

Singing in the Shadow of Death

Hip-hop has a significant role in the lives of Tanzania’s youth, and some organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in the country are harnessing this combination of rhythm and poetry to reach their target audience. One of the most prominent health organizations in Tanzania is Ishi (Live! in Swahili). Ishi’s aggressive social marketing campaign promotes the ABC model of HIV prevention (“Abstinence, Be faithful, use a Condom”). Nassoro Ally, a regional outreach director for Ishi, describes their strategy: “We have TV ads, we have radio ads, we use magazines, we use billboards, so it reaches a lot of youth. And for those who are not able to read and write, we reach them through our community concerts.”

To engage youth, Ishi had a group of top-selling artists record hip-hop versions of their messages, and during my time in Arusha, the streets and airwaves of Tanzanian cities were saturated with Ishi’s catchy theme song “Usione Soo” (“Don’t Be Shy”). Ishi isn’t simply promoting its messages to young people using popular music: It is also actively empowering them as artists and community leaders, inviting urban youth to help craft its messages.

Corporate Philanthropy: More Than Just Writing a Cheque

This commitment to corporate philanthropy in Ottawa is just one example of how a growing number of firms are supporting local and national non-profit organizations. Most companies, whether they're public or private, are seeing how charitable work guarantees a return investment, whether it's from a positive public image or the value employees place on being socially responsible…Ms. Poirier says they also see support from businesses through sponsorships, social marketing partnerships and gifts and/or services in kind. There are also corporate matching campaigns, where firms will match the dollars raised by their employees.

The Future of Medicine

For many of the chronic diseases and cancer, developing healthy lifestyles will have the biggest impact throughout the world. We need to understand the impact of social marketing, the systems and the political levers there are that will vary from country to country and culture to culture…From a psychiatric point of view, being brought up in a one-parent family, being abused by your mother's boyfriend, having poor or no education about health, and even taking drugs by the age of 12 is building up more and more problems. Psychoses have doubled in London since the 1960s because of people's lifestyles. There are many areas of disease, such as obesity, hypertension and coronary artery disease where lifestyle patterns are important. The lack of education or societal planning to try to reduce the factors that engender these illnesses is very important.

Malaria Control: Improving Access to Treatment

The burden of malaria actually increased in Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. This was mainly due to resistance to commonly used anti-malarial drugs, the deterioration of primary health services in many areas and the emerging resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides used for vector control.

Trials of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in the 1980s and 1990s showed that ITNs significantly reduced deaths in young children. However, social marketing schemes, health education campaigns and the development of a �net culture' through promotion and publicity will definitely create more demand for use of the nets.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Cancer Prevention, Corporate Philanthropy, Health Behaviors, Health Education, HIV/AIDS, Malaria Control

What Are the Effects of Media on Child Development?

That could have been the subtitle for the briefing and panel discussion convened by the Kaiser Family Foundation on the release of their latest report The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and Their Parents [news release, full report]. This national survey, supplemented with focus groups, of parents with children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years documented the extent of young children’s exposure to screen media (TV, videos/DVDs, video games or computers) and offered a panoramic view of how media fits into the everyday lives of these children and their parents. The results come after 15 years of expanding commercial interest in programming for the youngest viewing audience traced by one panel member to the success of “Barney.” The profits from the character’s licensing fees, along with an increasing awareness of the importance of the first years of life in brain development, was the impetus for the development and promotion of various products, especially videos and CDs, to ostensibly improve intellectual development and other types of cognitive skills. [See the review of evidence for educational claims by commercial media products and the site for ‘the nation’s first channel for babies’ for a quick orientation as to where we are today.] However, as became clear during the panel discussion, there are only a few studies that give us any insight into how media exposure and use is affecting (positively or negatively) children’s cognitive, emotional and social development. And a review of the literature concluded: there is very little evidence to suggest that children younger than 2 learn anything useful from television.

The position of the child programmers and network executives was, in their own words, ‘the train has left the station’ and people need to understand that children’s exposure to screen media was not going to go away. So the best thing to do is develop content that is educational and, they repeatedly emphasized, stimulates interaction between the parent and the child – though in the next breath they admitted that very few parents actually did this (2/3’s of the survey respondents reported that they watched TV with their child ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time - interacting with them is another question). The physician on the panel was the champion for ‘live’ interactions between parents and children and while not recommending zero tolerance for screen viewing (except for infants < 1 year old), was much more cautious in his appraisal of the unknown and possibly untoward effects of screen viewing behaviors [see the current recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics].

The backdrop for much of this interest in early childhood exposure to screens is the recognition that the years 0-5 are crucial for brain development. This massive, uncontrolled social experiment of using screen media to help parents manage their schedules, keep the peace and provide a backdrop for other activities of daily life such as eating and falling asleep, is taking place in a society where very few public research dollars are devoted to investigating the effects of this ubiquitous social influence on the early development of values, knowledge, language skills, cognitive and social skills and behaviors. A review of the research by ZERO TO THREE found no research on the impact of TV viewing on early childhood development and some studies that have noted an increase in the potential for negative effects as viewing time increases. That the assumed positive effects of exposure to content teaching academic subjects has had very little support only magnifies the finding noted by the PBS representative that parents place even more value on content that involves social-emotional learning and teaches values when choosing programs and other content for their child to watch.

For social marketing and education programs aimed at very young children and their parents, these results and the ensuing discussions have raised my awareness that simply ‘buying into’ using screens as part of an intervention is not an excuse to ignore the possible negative consequences of our actions. We need to learn how to use media in new ways and not simply fall into the traditional, and unsupported, ways of doing things.

Technorati Tags: Brain+Development, Education+Media, Kaiser+Family+Foundation, Media, Parents, Screen+Media, Young+Children

New Meaning for Upstream Marketing

The grin of the day goes to the Futurelab's Blog report on a Russian merchant's use of upstream marketing (relationship marketing?) to help liquidate an overstock of bottled water.

Technorati Tags: Futurelab, Upstream Marketing

Improving Physician Prescribing Behaviors

Not the usual journal I'd expect to see a social marketing article in. An unobtrusive indicator of social marketing's expanding reach and influence perhaps?  An article in the latest issue describes a social marketing program conducted by the National Prescribing Service in Australia to improve physician prescription behaviors to treat and control high blood pressure.

A series of nationally implemented, multifaceted educational interventions using social marketing principles focusing on prescribing for hypertension, was commenced in October 1999, and repeated in September 2001and August 2003. The target group was all primary care prescribers in Australia and interventions were both active (voluntary) and passive. Newsletter and prescribing feedback was mailed in October 1999, September 2001 (newsletter only) and August 2003. Approximately a third of general practitioners (GPs) in Australia undertook at least one active educational activity (clinical audit, educational visit or case study) during the period October 1999-April 2004. National dispensing data from 1996 to 2004 were analysed using time series methodology with a decay term for intervention effect, to assess trends in prescribing of various classes of antihypertensives...Consistent with key intervention messages, the program achieved an increase in low-dose thiazide and beta blocker prescribing. Horn FE et al. Measurement of changes in antihypertensive drug utilisation following primary care educational interventions. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, April, 2006. [Abstract]

Social marketing programs with health care practitioners as the priority audience are as about as rare as those that focus on policy maker audiences. One of the first empirical studies on this subject employed social marketing to influence the practices of mental health professionals. It was also the first time I saw the explicit linking of social marketing with diffusion theory [Rothman et al, 1983; also discussed in this chapter].

If you're interested in programs that target prescribing behaviors, check the article by Perz et al in the June 19, 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (free registration and access for archive issues). Though they don't use the term 'social marketing,' this comprehensive community-based program aimed at health care practitioners, parents of young children and the public demonstrated significant reductions in pediatricians' antibiotic prescribing behaviors.

Technorati Tags: Antibiotics, Hypertension, Mental Health Treatment, Prescribing Behaviors, Social Marketing

Different Norms for Different Behaviors

I recently had the chance to talk with Marty Fishbein, the author of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) - one of the most frequently employed theories in health education and health behavior circles. We were attending the Health Communication Symposium where a poster he was an author of, “Towards an understanding of the role of normative influence on cancer-related behaviors,” had gotten my interest. It was several minutes before the official program began, and he offered to come back with me to the poster and talk about the findings and their implications for behavior change efforts.

The research looked at how various components of TRA could be used to predict people’s stated intentions to do six different cancer-related behaviors: get a colonoscopy, mammogram or PSA test (if it’s already recommended for someone of the person’s age), exercise at least 3X/week, eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, and go on a diet if they were overweight. As Marty explained it, the ‘injunctive norm’ variable in TRA has been shown to be a fairly good predictor of intentions to engage in screening behaviors, but pretty poor with intentions to do more complex behaviors such as exercising and eating. In this study, they decided to add another type of normative variable to the mix: ‘descriptive norms.’ And as you may have guessed, the descriptive norm variable turned out to be quite predictive of intentions to engage in the more complex behaviors while the injunctive norm maintained its superior predictive power with the screening behaviors. Here’s how they measured the two norms:

Injunctive norm: Do most people you know who are important to you think that you should or should not get/do …? [1 (definitely not) – 5 (definitely should)].

Descriptive norm: How many of the people most similar to you got…? How many of the people most important to you do …? [1 (none) – 4 (all or almost all)].

He drew the distinction between the two as the injunctive norm being one more psychological in nature whereas the subjective norm is more of a sociological construct. While he is still working out the theoretical implications for these findings, they did draw two practical implications from the work that social marketers and health communicators should keep in mind as they focus on different types of behavior change:

Very different communications will be necessary to increase the likelihood that people engage in screening behaviors than to increase the likelihood that they will engage in lifestyle behaviors.

Communications focusing on screening behaviors should emphasize injunctive norms while, depending upon the behavior, those addressing lifestyle behaviors should focus on perceived control, attitudes or subjective norms.

Take home: ‘Just do it because we think you should’ vs ‘Just do it because we do’ isn’t just a semantic exercise, but one with real consequences for the effectiveness of the behavior and social change enterprise.

Technorati Tags: Cancer Screening Behaviors, Health Communication, Intentions, Lifestyle Behaviors, Norms, Social Marketing, Theory of Reasoned Action

Using Marketing to Improve Health

Two articles appear in this week's British Medical Journal advocating for the expanded use of social marketing by doctors and other health professionals.

The first article by Doug Evans reviews the basic tenets of social marketing, but unfortunately relies of mass communication efforts to illustrate the approach and devotes little attention to other elements of the marketing mix. His conclusion for medical practitioners:

This brief overview indicates that social marketing practices can be useful in healthcare practice. Firstly, during social marketing campaigns, such as antismoking campaigns, practitioners should reinforce media messages through brief counselling. Secondly, practitioners can make a valuable contribution by providing another communication channel to reach the target audience. Finally, because practitioners are a trusted source of health information, their reinforcement of social marketing messages adds value beyond the effects of mass communication.

Gerard Hastings and Laura McDermott note that social marketing is more than an advertising campaign and focus on its role in promoting changes in public policy.

Ideas like patient orientation, multifaceted interventions, strategic planning, and stakeholder marketing provide a useful way of thinking about how to change behaviour. They also sit comfortably alongside current views on patient centred health care and reinforce the role of doctors and health professionals in health improvement. In short, social marketing can help you do what you currently do better. And it works.

Both papers focus on the health practitioner audience and are very clear in their assertions and the documentation for the efficacy of the social marketing approach to achieve population behavior change. Is JAMA next?

Technorati Tags: British Medical Journal, Health Education, Mass Media Campaigns, Public Policy, Social Marketing

Social Marketing in the News

Abstinence Clashes With Reality When Women Are Powerless

From over 20 percent at the start of the '90s, HIV prevalence [in Uganda] has dropped to five percent today, which according to experts was the result of the government's bold support for a safe sex policy that promoted condom use.

However, the condom social marketing strategy changed dramatically last year -- emphasising sexual abstinence, with condom use messages being directed at high-risk groups.

"As a feminist, I strongly think the abstinence programme doesn't take into consideration the reality in the country, which is that women's sexuality is controlled by men," said Salome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, coordinator of the Uganda Women's Network (UWONET).

"How will a woman abstain if she doesn't even control her body? (If) she doesn't decide when, where, how and with whom to have sex?" she asked.

New Health Marketing Project Launched

Local communities [in Uganda] will have more access to health care products at subsidised rates following the launch of a new health social marketing project, AFFORD… [the]project would boost growth and development of a market for health products and services like HIV/AIDS prevention and prophylactic treatment, malaria drugs and insecticide treated nets.

AFFORD is a five-year USAID funded initiative, using innovative marketing and communication to enhance commercial distribution of health products and services to empower individuals, families and communities to take an active role in maintaining their own health. "This is the first social marketing initiative in Uganda."

Media to Work with HIV/AIDS Unit

The HIV/AIDS Unit [St. Kitts & Nevis] is calling on the media for its collaboration to fight their deadly pandemic and to reduce stigma and discrimination…“The Ministry of Health has taken the approach of educating the public by using the ABCD, which is abstinence, being faithful to one partner, consistent condom use and do not abuse drugs and alcohol.

“We do realise that the four of these contribute to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and we need to look at all four areas. Some other areas we’re looking here at the ministry are testing, which is encouraging persons to get tested and know their HIV status. We’ve embarked on our voluntary counselling and testing campaign.

“We did that in the square last year and we’re hoping to do it again this year, going to various communities to climax with the big national testing day. We’re also concentrating on condom social marketing, behaviour change, stigma and discrimination, as well as care, support and treatment,” she said.

Technorati Tags: Abstinence, Health Education, HIV/AIDS, Social Marketing

Sustainability: Edens Lost & Found

A series on sustainability efforts in four American cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles & Seattle) begins this week on local PBS stations.

This four-hour PBS series highlights practical solutions to improve the environment and quality of life in cities, for ourselves and future generations. The centerpiece of a multimedia program and outreach initiative, this special broadcast will showcase extraordinary community activists as well as forward-thinking professionals and governmental officials who are transforming their urban environments. [Home Page]

The site contains links to action guides for each of the cities profiled in the specials, a companion book and DVD, a teacher's guide and the rankings of 25 major US cities on quality of life and sustainability indicators. Here's the link to local listings.

[via WorldChanging]

Technorati Tags: Edens Lost and Found, Sustainability, Urban Renewal, Quality of Life

Unlocking the Mysteries of Congressional Power

Ever wonder why your state or congressional district gets the shaft rather than 'bridges to nowhere?' Who you should REALLY see if you want to advocate for action? Why do some causes get more attention and resources than others? What The K Street Gang already knows?

Then the Power Rankings are for you. Each member of Congress is rated on 15 power indicators including Position, Influence, Legislative Activity and the "SizzleFizzle" factor [as in, "don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle"]. Not that it will solve all of your problems, but it beats having no map at all.

[via The Washington Post]

Technorati Tags: Advocacy, Congress, K Street Gang, Power Rankings

AGs Call for Limits on Alcohol Advertising

Unleashing a fresh attack on alcoholic beverage advertising, 20 state attorneys general are urging the Federal Trade Commission to limit alcohol ads to media in which only 15% of the audience is aged 12 to 20 [Ad Age].

Currently, the industry's voluntary standards limit advertising to media that is seen, read or heard by an audience that is at least 70% adult (ages 21 years or older). However, the AGs believe that this still allows too many young people to be exposed to the ads.  They note that studies have linked exposure to alcohol marketing practices and drinking behaviors among youth. Link here for a recent review.

The article goes on to note that: A 15% standard could have potentially far-reaching effects on alcohol advertising, sharply limiting its access to sports programming. It could also affect radio and Internet ads as well as some magazines.

This action comes just as the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University released a study noting a 31% decline in the number of alcohol advertisements in magazines read by youth from 2001-2004, although this age group still sees more alcohol ads on a per capita basis than adults [link to full report here]. The press release announcing these results goes on:

Federal Trade Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, speaking for herself and not on behalf of the Commission or any other Commissioner, commented, “I am pleased that the overall exposure rate of youths to alcohol ads in magazines has dropped significantly. I am disappointed, however, to learn that 22 brands apparently are responsible for most of the continued exposure of our nation's youth to alcohol ads. I have encouraged those in the business of advertising alcohol to go the extra mile to ensure that the industry's 70 percent  standard is met—even if that means aiming for an even higher standard, such as an adult audience of 75 percent or more. Underage drinking causes serious problems for young people and for others affected by their drinking."

See also a related CAMY fact sheet on the 33% increase over these same three years in alcohol ads seen by youth on television. A shift in the media mix rather than socially responsible behavior by the industry?

Technorati Tags: Alcohol Advertising, Attorneys General, CAMY, FTC, Magazines, Television

The Global Obesity Market

An analysis by American Demographics of WHO and US Census Bureau data finds that 1/3 of the world's population over the age of 15 years is overweight or obese and nearly 23% of those who are obese reside in the US [Source: Advertising Age. Free subscription required]. Click here for the charts.

Technorati Tags: Global Health, Obesity

Drug Prevention Programs in Schools

The LA Times has an excellent review of the controversies and concerns that surround drug prevention programs in the nation's schools - notably that many don't work.

The few programs shown to be successful are often not the ones used in schools. In a 2002 study from the North Carolina University, researchers looked at a national sampling of drug-prevention programs at public and private schools. They found that although 82% of schools used some kind of program, only 35% of public schools and 13% of private schools were using one that researchers had found effective.

Usual suspects such as DARE (on which up to $1 billion dollars are spent by schools each year) are profiled and their supporters get their turn in defending their use. And in a 'you have to love it' moment, reporter Marnell Jameson writes:

Some educators and parent groups insist that even programs not labeled as effective can work. They point to how much kids have learned about drugs by the end of the program and indications that students, parents and teachers liked it.

But the only criterion that matters, scientists counter, is behavioral change.

While there are lists of approved programs (i.e., those that have a certain amount of evidence-based support for their efficacy), ideologies, preconceptions, biases and 'feel good'  programs usually trump the science when making decisions on choosing drug prevention curricula for schools. Sorry kids - and parents!

Why not create a national marketing program, with a budget that could be even a small percentage of the total dollars spent on DARE, to start moving the needle on how many schools are adopting and using programs that are tailored to their students' needs AND have demonstrated efficacy?

Technorati Tags: DARE, Drug Prevention Programs, Marketing, Schools

Xtreme Media Immersion

I loved 16-A the instant I saw it. I closed the door, slipped into a low-slung leatherette seat and surveyed the all-you-can-eat tech feast, which includes VHS and DVD players, satellite and regular television on a Toshiba set, PlayStation 2, Lineage II and a Compaq computer loaded with software, all the relevant downloads and hyperspeedy Internet. In the nearby library were thousands of comic books, magazines and novels. On the desk was a menu of oddball snacks, like boiled egg curry and hot sandwich tuna.

Welcome to the latest trend in Japan - Grand Cyber Cafes (with media immersion pods) pitched to various segments of teens and young adults covered by the NY Times (graphic by Yuko Shimizu). The mind reels at the possibilities.

Technorati Tags: Media Immersion, Pods

Web Conferencing for the Rest of Us

The public health and nonprofit environments in which most social marketing and advocacy campaigns are planned and carried out are notoriously resource poor. This becomes especially evident when groups are trying to jointly plan county or state (let alone national or international) initiatives and just the time and money for the travel to get together becomes a major hurdle. Online conferencing has been an (unaffordable) dream for many, but perhaps Vyew is an opportunity to change all of that.

Imagine up to 20 members of your team being able to simultaneously review and comment on formative research studies, environmental scans, marketing plans, creative concepts and products, and all those other aspects of planning a social marketing program that involve 'seeing' as much as 'hearing.'

And there's more...

• Upload documents and photos (.doc, .jpg, .xls, .ppt, etc.) and annotate them in real-time.
• Use VyewStorage to store up to 25MB of data
• Instant text chat with other meeting room members
• Create photo slideshows and set them to a MP3 track
• Share Google searches
• Pull up a Yahoo! Maps in your VyewBook
• Save and email annotated pages
• Send email invitations to guests
• Enjoy persistent sessions – Vyew remembers where your meeting left off at, so creators can resume their sessions even after logging off and logging back on.
• Talk to your meeting participants with a free voice conference call service offered through freeconferencecalls.com

Vyew is a browser-based conferencing and always-on collaboration platform that provides instant visual communication without the need for client downloads or installations. And while it's still in beta - it's free.

I'm trying to get a few colleagues to use it as we finish planning a workshop we'll be doing together at the USF Social Marketing in Public Health conference. Let us know how you make out with it.

[BTW - Have been using Sphere it! and the bookmarklet is a great tool for finding blogs on topics that you're reading about and for monitoring reactions to news stories on other news sites and blogs.]

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for the Vyew tip!

Technorati Tags: Collaboration Platform, Online Conferencing, Social Marketing Conference, Sphere, Vyew

The Best Activism Sites on the Web

The Webby Awards recognize excellence in web design, creativity, usability and functionality from nominations in over 65 categories. The winners were announced this week. In the Activism category the nominees included:

Feed Me Better Campaign for Healthier School Meals

Help Your Community.org Web Site

Remember Segregation

The Global Fund

You think!

Congratulations to The World Bank for their Webby Award for You think! and POKE for The People's Voice Award for Feed Me Better.'

Five sites for study and inspiration. Find the rest of The Best of the Web here.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Web Sites, Webby Awards