HIV Rises Prompt $10 Million Plan
The Australian federal government would target gay men under a $10 million sexual health campaign being considered in response to big national rises in HIV notifications in recent years…
"I think one of the missing parts of our response is social marketing on mainstream media, as the gay men and lesbians' lives have become more mainstream of the last ten or 15 years, we need to be putting HIV messages to gay men on mainstream media," Baxter said.
What Works in Africa?
With a mixture of self-interest and moneymaking zeal, private businesses are combating one of the world's most intractable problems: the scourge of disease in Africa. Some of the efforts are working, some not, and the keys to success seem to be honesty, sound science, and, of all things, the profit motive. Here's a look at three programs, all poorly understood, if known at all, by the public: attempts to combat malaria by global corporations, efforts to fight HIV/AIDS by pharmaceutical companies, and a low-cost approach to providing essential medicines…
Western aid contractors have promoted the idea of "social marketing" - that is, selling, at subsidized prices, products such as bed nets treated with insecticides to ward off malaria. It's a sensible notion: people value things they buy. But aid agencies really know little about commerce. They promote products where people either have no money or are not truly interested in what's on offer.
Instead, what Africa needs is its own business solutions-for-profit solutions…
Overrated Career: Advertising Executive
The Appeal
It looks glamorous on TV, coming up with brilliant commercials and then watching them come to life in broadcast programs or print campaigns.
Reality
Many ad agency employees spend a lot of time trying to win business from competitors or catering to demanding clients. The inventive part of the job is fun, but many creative types find they're nagged by the reality that their biggest success is simply persuading people to buy Charmin instead of Northern.
Alternative
Social Marketing. A few ad agencies work to persuade people not to buy–cigarettes, drugs, or that last drink before you get in the car to drive home.
via Spare Change
Teens Getting the Word Out: Defy Drugs
…Students participated in a ''Social Marketing Challenge,'' wherein they created ads for dissemination not just through the usual channels of TV, radio and magazines, but through popular websites such as FaceBook and MySpace.
The high-schoolers worked in teams to create mock social marketing campaigns to promote DFYIT's mission. They pretended to be a public relations firm with DFYIT as its client…
Groups who manage to enact their campaigns in their schools and communities will be recognized at DFYIT's awards ceremony at the end of the school year.
''These students have the power to make incredible changes,'' said DFYIT executive director Barbara Zohlman after the event. ``It says a lot about them, we often don't give them enough credit.''
Comments