PRIZM Segmentation

I would first like to say something about the PRIZM segmentation categories and how they relate to marketing. When I was in high school they were developing a new shopping complex near my house and one of the developers came to a community meeting that I was attending with my mom. I remember being very upset when they explained why a bookstore was not going to be put into the complex, because according to the guy, "People on the east side don't read." I realize now that they were probably using segmentation to come to this conclusion. I think where this man went wrong was that he didn't try to avoid offending (or probably didn't even realize that he did offend) the population he was talking to.

I think this is especially important when addressing issues in public health, as was made perfectly clear when we were reviewing the different PRIZM names in class, like Shotguns & Pickups and Bedrock America. However, I do see how this is of great importance in gaining useful information and targeting your groups. We started talking about this in our group work the week before, as we felt there were two distinct groups to target in our Garadsil campaign: young men who were in a relationship and those who were not. I think it is important to start brainstorming which message technique (high or low involvement) would be most appropriate for both groups. I realize that we would not truly know until we conduct a focus group, but I would postulate that the men in a relationship would be more highly involved and that the side-door approach would need to be used with those who aren't in a relationship.

yellow shoe

So this morning myself and some fellow health promotioners walked/ran (ok only Brian ran) the San Diego AIDS walk/run. It was really fun and interesting and surprisingly my legs hurt (yes from walking a 5k), but something stood out at the walk, that one of my fellow team mates pointed out. All of the print materials and signs had big yellow shoes on them. They were pretty weird looking and when looking at a shirt from the walk the year before they had the same ugly yellow shoe. I mean, I know it is a walk/run, and yes we wear shoes to walk and run, but why have a shoe as the symbol that you put on everything that says the San Diego AIDS walk/run on it? This yellow shoe made me wonder, first: who is their population they are trying to target with this yellow shoe; second: did they actually put time and money into figuring out if their population really loves this yellow shoe; and third: how do they think a yellow shoe will make people think of raising money for AIDS research. Big yellow shoe seen here:

http://www.miketidmus.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/yellow_shoe_425.jpg

So if I was their population, they would have failed. I am more confused with the yellow shoe than inspired to help with the fight against AIDS. I mean yes; shoes can mean walking/running, which can mean fitness and health which is an outcome of finding a cure for HIV/AIDS, but it seems like a long trail to get from the shoe to AIDS. I mean I felt as though the population that was participating in the walk/run was very diverse, which is probably a hurdle that many health communication professionals deal with on a daily basis........but a shoe? I felt as though the symbol of the AIDS walk/run should have something to do with helping find a cure for AIDS. Maybe I am being too critical because I don't know if I could come up with a better idea. I suppose HIV/AIDS is a hard concept to capture completely, and I guess they are making an effort to be more creative than just the red ribbon. Although, I feel as like more time and effort should go into the materials designing of the San Diego AIDS walk/run. I know budgets and time are not unlimited, but I feel as though the yellow shoe is a poor choice for representing such a great event. Who knows, maybe whoever their target audience is loves the shoe, so they did a great job. This class makes me more critical of communication every week, I blame Sheila, just kidding :).

Community Involvement

This morning when I was frantically searching for my health promotion peers at the AIDS walk I passed by groups with matching t-shirts and team signs and couldn't help but notice the various groups that were participating in the event. I read the team names and saw a few hospices, clinics, LGBT Groups, teams walking in "memory" of lost loved ones, MAC Cosmetics, Best Buy, and other student groups like ourselves.

I started thinking about the groups that came together for this event and the reasons why community members participate. It was clear to me that some groups would participate because of personal experiences or interest in the subject matter whereas others might partipate just because they like running "for a good cause." While there was a pretty good turnout for the event, it didn't appear that it was well advertised outside the Hillcrest area (I could be wrong about this!) and I can't remember if there is even a slogan or catchy phrase that goes along with the walk... While I'm sure that community leaders and gatekeepers were involved in the event planning, it wasn't clear to me that they used focus groups (to enhance participant turnout or make the event more educational or inticing to participants. Don't get me wrong, I participate in the AIDS walk every year and think it is a great event but it feels like it hasn't changed much in the last few years and formative research may be the thing that gives this event a boost!!!

As far as community involvement goes, I am dedicated to participating in these events because it is a fun, healthy, and easy way to participate in a good cause... I think it would also be cool if we, as MPH students participated as a group in more community outreach events (in between class, studying, work, internships, and novelties such as eating and drinking...) It would be fun and a benefit to the community and our learning if we could do things such as have a booth at this event to possibly give out health education materials etc... maybe it is something we can think about for next year (those of us who will still be here!)

The Wisdom of Whores

Looking over the environmental forces influencing a topic, such as socio-cultural and economic factors, reminded me of a book that I read called "The Wisdom of Whores," by Elizabeth Pisani. Despite the mildly vulgar name, it was very informative on formative research and qualitative analysis used to gather quantitative data. The book is written by an epidemiologist who studies the AIDS epidemic worldwide. As an epidemiologist she mentions how she initially disliked qualitative research because it seems so 'fluffy' and not based on hard numbers. But, for her work, she needed to figure out what type of programs would be most effective for the growing number of HIV infected persons, what programs had worked best in the past, as well as why HIV was spreading so quickly in some areas. An interesting point that she brought up, that I never had really thought of before (also because I was not yet super engaged in public health when I read it) was that HIV in Africa is spread differently than HIV in America which is spread differently than HIV in Asia. Pisani spends a lot of time in Africa and Asia talking to the locals, exotic dancers, prostitutes, brothel owners (madams), and many other gatekeepers throughout the two continents. She learns about how in Africa, younger girls are dating older men, who are more likely to have HIV than boys their own age. She also mentioned that many girls and boys more often have multiple partners at a younger age compared to a lot of other places, one of the reasons along with the former, that Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV. Contrary, in Thailand, a lot of travelers come through, and a lot of prostitutes are readily available. One of the reasons that there are so many prostitutes (there, as well as other places) is because sex sells...and sells well. And it beats working in a sweat shop for two cents an hour. Prostitutes are a populous vector for HIV.

After many pages of other differing ways that HIV is transmitted throughout the world, Pisani talks about a convention on HIV/AIDS that she attends addressing how to subdue the HIV virus. She talks about her irritation with the convention-because of her research, she knows that the epidemic cannot be addressed the same way in each country. Each country's intervention plan must parallel its own cultural beliefs. Religion even must play a big role: HIV programs worked best in communist and buddhist countries, while not so well in Christian and Muslim countries. Clearly, to combat such a disease in incredibly different countries, the same program will not work for all.

This lecture, as well as reading the mentioned book, really made me interested in qualitative research and evaluation. I am doing my thesis on exotic dancers, a topic that is mostly written about in a qualitative fashion, but I am analyzing it quantitatively, which is very interesting. Reading over the survey that was given, and looking at my results, I can now see how this research can be made more specific to health issues and risks that exotic dancers are exposed to, and what type of program could possibly help them.

Organ Donation

So, this morning GMA (that's Good Morning America, for all those who don't know) featured a news story this morning that turned on the proverbial waterworks. Basically, the story of two mothers meeting; one, a mother of a 13-year old girl, Tara, who died tragically in a skiing accident, the other, a mother of 2 children who received Tara's heart after her own had been failing for 5 years. You can click here to watch the full video, but essentially it ends with a tearful hug and Tara's mom asking to listen to her daughter's heart. After I had gone to the kitchen to blow my nose and wipe the stream of tears from my face, I asked myself, what would stop someone from being a donor after watching something like that? That's when it hit me, this is just such an instance when a focus group would be ideal for collecting qualitative data on people's beliefs, values, attitudes and knowledge about organ donation.

A few years ago, while volunteering at my high school, I sat in on a few presentations on organ donation. One was by a mother who lost her daughter in a car accident, but donated her organs. Another was by a woman who was waiting for a heart transplant. The third one was by a man who donated a kidney. They were all very interesting to listen to, but probably the most interesting was the kidney donation. It wasn't just because he donated a kidney. It wans't because he rode his bike from Philadelphia to San Fransisco a month after he donated (though this is very impressive). The impressive, interesting and compelling part of his story is that his kidney donation was completely random and voluntary. In other words, he walked into a hospital and said, "Hey, I have 2 kidneys, but I really only need one, so can you take one out and give it to someone else who really needs it?"

Going off of these two anecdotes, I think it would be interesting to get 2 types of focus groups together. Ones that would discuss reasons why people have a) decided to join the registry or b) decided to donate an organ, such as a kidney, bone marrow, or a part of their liver. Then compare qualitative results from these people with another set of focus groups that discuss people's reasons for a) not joining the registry or b) not donating when and/or if they have been asked to. For me it is a simple yes, if I can help multiple people's lives after I am dead, Seven Pounds style, I'm all for it. I just don't understand how some people can be so against it. I mean I do, but I don't. I think the key would be to target reasons why people who aren't deadlocked by religious beliefs and values choose not to, as I have a feeling that many of the reasons may be tied to misconceptions and lack of knowledge about organ donation and the process for doing so. If you're interested in becoming a donor, visit http://www.donatelife.net/.

What's on the top of your mind?

The thing that stuck with me the most this week was the idea of using top-of-mind perceptions in a focus group. I'm not sure why this is what is on the top of my mind, but it is. Could top of mind be used in an "HPV vaccinations for men" focus group? Maybe.

I think what's interesting to me is that the information that we would receive from a top-of-mind perception would be unbiased, completely from the opinion of the person. Real information. Not something I want to hear. Not something that I am expecting to hear. Real information that could be used to create a health campaign. "What do you think of when I say... 'HPV vaccination'?" or "Should men recieve HPV vaccinations?". I wonder what type of response I would get from a male aged between 19-26. Would he say "it's for women only"? Or maybe he would respond with "I know nothing about it". These perceptions could greatly help to creating a campaign because we would know what a person from our targeted audience genuinely thinks about our topic. If they know nothing about it, then we will use an low involvement campaign, maybe some testimonials. If they are highly involved and would like more information, then we could use a high involvement campaign, a fact sheet to hand out, perhaps. Whatever we decide to do will come from the information we learn during our focus groups. Maybe asking people what's on the top of their minds may help lead us in the direction of the perfect campaign.

Eat healthy. It's super trendy.

The Livestrong Cancer commercial that we watched in class last week was probably the saddest ad I have ever seen in my life. I literally almost cried, then wanted to donate to every cancer institute in the world. Hypothetically.

I never gave much thought to public health campaigns before, to be honest. Now I realize that, just like the readings from last week said, health promotion really is marketing. It's getting into people's heads, and getting them to listen to information, and then take action. Except the difference being that in business marketing the business owner profits with literal money, while in health promotion, we profit with that nice fuzzy feeling inside (darnit! Okay, I guess it's worth it). Well, also it is truly an investment in our future. When I first saw the "Theory at a Glance" reading again, I had a little bit of a pre-stigma against the lecture to come, but I never really thought about theory being relevant to health marketing/promotion before. It is actually really relevant! A new side of theory has been revealed to me! Lately I've been noticing myself noticing every marketing slogan, and trying to decipher who they are trying to reach, what type of theory it could stem from, how I can apply that to health promotion, and how effective I think it is (one of those things might not be true...). One that stood out to me, and I thought was relevant to the current diabetes epidemic was for the food store, Fresh and Easy. Their slogan is, "As cheap as being unhealthy." Simple. Memorable. Kind of funny. I want to shop there. Of course, I am a bit biased because I am in Public Health and generally a very healthy eater, but everyone is looking for cheap food! And nowadays, being healthy is pretty trendy and hip (esp in North Park, where I live), so that may be applicable to the people that aren't simply looking for cheap food. Often, when I tell people that I'm doing public health, they say, "oh like psychology?" And I always am confused and want to say, "um no, those don't even sound the same." Clearly, I have been mistaken, because health promotion and public health really do have a lot to do with psychology, and psychology has a lot to do with communication, a key component of public health.

Making a "Sticky" HPV Campaign

So, I'm really glad that we're able to talk about Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, because I read his first book Blink and loved it and when his next book came out, I thought, "Hey, I'll give this book a shot too." Being someone who has always had more of a biology background, I feel as though he takes subject matter that is usually a little difficult for me to understand and describes it in such a way with examples that makes it easier to understand. One of the key points that he refers to in The Tipping Point is the importance of the "stickiness factor" in the process of creating a social epidemic. You can create a message and spread it through the social network, but if it isn't a message that sticks with your focus group, then it was a failure. I think this really exemplifies the necessity of tailoring messages to your focus group. I believe that in his book he gives the example of the creation of Sesame Street. When it was first developed, the puppets we all know and love, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo and Cookie Monster (to name a few) did not interact with the humans, so the show had two separate world, basically and what they found was that kids were not retaining the knowledge. After some research they found that kids were paying more attention to the puppets, so they combined the two sections and basically tailored the show to the mindset of a child watching the TV rather than the adult and voila, it proved to be the beginning of an educational masterpiece. So, how does this related to our HPV campaign? The way I see it is that we are constantly bombarded with so many advertisements as it is. We became well aware of this while tracking health communication over a 24-hour period, so the key thing is to not only get our campaign out there, but to make it "sticky". Something that will attract the eye of our target audience (males 19-26) and something that will get them talking about our campaign and hopefully pass it along to their friends, but most importantly, something that's sticky enough to get them to go to Planned Parenthood and get their Gardasil shots.

It is because we want you to be healthy, not because we think you are "dirty", duh!!

So after the readings and lecture I feel as though I have a better grasp on the type of project my group will be doing. Since our topic is increasing Gardasil vaccinations in men 19-26, I feel for the most part that we will be dealing with a population that is not very involved with the subject matter. From working at Planned Parenthood I have talked with plenty of men who are unaware of HPV and the harm that it can cause. I feel like a lot of men see HPV as something that can only affect women, when in reality it affects us all. Men and women can get genital warts from certain strains of HPV, not to mention the guilt of giving a possible cancer causing virus to a loved one. Therefore we will have to find a way that will catch the attention of the target population and make them not only remember the ad, but also what we want them to do. Some of the ads that we watched in class touched a lot of emotions, but for some of them at the end I was thinking, "okay what am I supposed to do again." I think we will be dealing with a large range of "stages of readiness to change" in our target population. Some men could be at a Planned Parenthood clinic and see an ad about the Gardasil vaccine being available and just get it because it is not out of their way; but then others who have never been to a sexual health clinic and feel very shy about the topic or feel as though everyone will think they have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) if they do go to a clinic, will have numerous barriers to address. What comes to mind with our Gardasil campaign is "why would you not get a proven vaccine?" We have to get around the fact that some people see getting a vaccine for a sexually transmitted virus makes them think that other people will judge them, and think they are "dirty" or "promiscuous". I feel like this is always the battle with campaigns related to STIs. Our job is to make them feel like they need to get the Garadsil vaccine for their's and their partner's health, not because we think they are "dirty".

Another day, another sexual health battle.

It can happen to you and you and even you!

I feel like I'm "getting" health communication this week... but as I'm starting to observe advertisements with a critical eye and understand a few of the various pieces that play a role in health advertisements, I also have a lot more questions. I really enjoyed Setoo's presentation and learning about the "People and Places" model which, was a good reminder that we should not discount culture when creating our campaigns. I realize that we need to make our campaign group specific but wondering how we can reach our target population but also let them know that they aren't the only ones at risk. I feel like sometimes when a specific group is targeted there is a chance of others viewing the advertisement and saying "well, I'm not a part of this target group so I'm NOT at risk." In fact, maybe that is how young males feel when they see current HPV commercials focusing on women... that they aren't at risk. So... my question is- how do we create an advertisement that is catchy, informational, culturally sensitive, and target group appropriate and also broad enough that it doesn't look like we're saying that our target group is the only one at risk. I guess that is probably why we need to do more research, use a theoretical model etc. Okay...now I'm just confusing myself, not even sure if this makes sense! If I find a more articulate way to express my thoughts I'll fill you in later!

Hey HPV, wanna take it OUTSIDE??

The thing that hit me the most in today's class was the Livestrong campaign. It really hit home for me. The emotionality behind the message definitely made its impact. By having people both who have had cancer or who have known people who have had cancer, this campaign makes it easy to relate to. The point is that we have to all fight together, by asking "Hey cancer, wanna take it outside?". It's clever to personify cancer. In the Braverman article, the authors said that emotions and testimonials work well for people with low involvement. Since we're in the process of developing our own campaign, this tactic is definitely worth considering. I actually have a guy friend who gave his girlfriend HPV. If we could use their testimonial in our program, then we could definitely hit home with males. I know that my own boyfriend (after hearing our friends' stories) is definitely an advocate of the HPV shot for males. The testimonial worked for him so why shouldn't it work for others?
The other part of today's class that suck in my mind was the Grocery Store commercial. It really caught my attention because it turned to out promote something totally different from what I thought it was going to promote. Catching somebody's attention like that is definitely important. Our HPV group is considering making a video so watching these videos and getting ideas from them are definitely helpful. After watching the Grocery Store and the What If commercials, it seems as though the way to go about catching people's attention is by starting the ad with something eye-catching (such as "What if you bought a ticket to Prague?") and then ending it with the facts (such as "What if you got cervical cancer?"). If we could incorporate this method into our campaign, we might be able to make an impact as well. Perhaps start it out with something that could catch the attention of college-aged males and then hit them with the cold hard facts. Theses are all just thoughts for the time being, but HPV is a huge issue that needs more attention among college males. I'm just hoping that one days someone will be asking "Hey HPV, wanna take it outside?".

Health Campaigns...A Necessity

When this class started, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't realize that health communication was such an important part of health promotion. After the first 2 weeks of this class, I realize that there can be so many different ways to market health. Marketing is key to promotion. The ad campaign for MTV and Planned Parenthood is a good example of this. If a company like MTV can endorse such a huge campaign, then it is possible to get more people involved. I'm sure MTV's campaign has reached many young people who need to know the importance of testing and MTV's website even gives locations of where one can get tested. This is such a great idea! If my group and I can come up with a campaign to promote HPV vaccinations that will reach out to young men, then we could possible roll out the campaign and hopefully educate those who don't know that the shot is now available for men. I think overall this class will help me to be more effective in the marketing and the promotion of health campaigns.

Here it goes...

I have been contemplating this blog all day and for some reason, blogging makes me very nervous so...here it goes!

I had a bit of trouble understanding the Scholten article mostly because I know nothing about communication and the theories and terminology were foreign to me. After reading the article a second time and going through our class lecture notes, I realized that the article actually gave a good overview (sorry guys!) of the Information Processing model , the Elaboration-Liklihood Model, and Central and Peripheral routes. I'm still not sure that I understand the theories entirely but I'm sure they will make more sense as we continue throughout the course!

As for our group project, I think it is going to test our creativity to come up with a campaign that will target young men and I'm really excited for the challenge! Earlier today I googled "gardasil and men" and could not find any information besides controversial articles about the vaccine. I then watched the "Too late" commercial and some of the videos on the GYT website. Though I thought some of the videos on GYT were clever (specifically, Pigeon) I felt that the the one commercial that targeted males, "Donny Danger" was pretty dumb. Maybe I am not in touch with our target audience but I did show the video to Dane (my boyfriend) and he didn't think it was that funny either. It makes me angry that young men aren't being targeted for STI advertisements and sad to think that if you change your gender on hulu (thanks for the info Jen!) you won't be exposed to the same messages.... it seems like we have a long way to go (in Health Communication) for creating substantial advertisements for young men and our project is a great first step to learn more about how we can change this!

Gardasil for everyone.......ok ages 19-26

If this class has taught me anything so far, it is that communication is way more confusing than I previously imagined. The article we read was so far over my head, I think I finished only remembering: peripheral and .... something else. After lecture though I felt really excited to start our project. After choosing Gardasil for men as our sexual health topic, and our awesome blog title that sometimes is read incorrectly, our group is ready to get started. Just to clarify SexFXu = sex affects you, not the other way. Since I work at Planned Parenthood I am personally really excited about our topic because Planned Parenthood of the Pacific South West (PPPSW, which is the new name for the San Diego affiliate) is rolling out the Gardasil vaccine assistance program for men in the coming months. This is a big deal since this program makes the Gardasil vaccine affordable ($20 an injection) for women AND men ages 19-26. As far as I know PPPSW does not have a Gardasil campaign for men running in the clinics. I really hope that we do an awesome job on our project and PPPSW loves it so much that they want our campaign in the clinics.

What if...it's too late!

As we were talking about media campaign in class, there was one health commercial that stuck out in my mind. On Hulu.com (television website) they always have 30 second commercial breaks during shows, and usually the same one is shown throughout an entire episode (the Old Spice one was on this website, too). This particular one was about HPV. It starts out with ominous music and a girl's voice saying something to the effect of:

"What if you meet a boy...what if he likes you back...what if you get married...what if you want kids...what if it's too late..." Essentially, it is terrifying. Their scare tactics worked on me. In my excitement to show one of my public health friends, I tried to find it online, but instead came across a Hulu blog about the commercials they air. Everyone seemed a little heated that it was so intimidating. Personally, I don't really see the issue if it makes people feel more susceptible and encourages them to take a healthy action (Health Belief!). On the same site, someone had blogged that the commercials would stop coming up if you changed your gender on Hulu.com to Male instead of Female. This meaning that males are not getting the 'you are susceptible to HPV!!' message that the women are getting. Hmm...I was a little bit offended that the very people that are equally vectors of the virus are not also being given this information.

The commercial definitely used peripheral route processes. There may have been a little bit of information about genital warts and effects of the virus, but the part that I remember is the 'what if...' and the immediate emotional terror that it brought, right before I made an appointment at the doctor. This might be something to ponder while doing our campaign.

Week 2 Reflection: Time to Get Creative!

I was a little confused by this week's reading, as I felt it was a little out of my realm of study. However, when we started discussing it in class, I understood what it was talking about and how it can be applied to health communication, especially our topic of sexual practices. As a group we decided to focus on the new Gardasil HPV vaccine for men that is going to be available soon. Utilizing two separate ad campaigns that focus on central and peripheral routes of exposure, respectively, would ensure that we reach a wide variety of men. I think that central route campaigns are much easier to create, whereas peripheral routes require a lot more creativity and formative knowledge about your target audience. As far as theory goes, I think this was just a review of the importance of theory in guiding one's research, but it was also good to begin to be introduced to other theories that might be more readily applied to our topic, such as fear appraisal.