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Mass media: An educational tool
MASS MEDIA: AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL
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Nutrition educators have been vOlcmg concern for a number of years about television advertising that predominantly features foods high in sugar, fat, and! or salt. By comparison there are very few ads for high nutrient dense foods. Suggestions have been made that as a remedy for this situation there should be equal time provided for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about alternative food choices not normally advertised. The premise is that these PSAs would provide a balance of nutrition information. Television, as almost everyone knows, is a communications medium with tremendous appeal and acceptance. Programs and advertisements reach an incredible number of people in a very short time. One 30-second spot on prime time (roughly 8-11 p.m.) in a large population center probably reaches more people than a clinical dietitian can see in a lifetime of practice. The Federal Trade Commission recently held a workshop on PSAs regarding nutrition information which I had the opportunity to attend. In preparing for the meeting I reviewed the state of the art of PSAs about nutrition. In a study under direction of the Society for Nutrition Education, researchers found that a number of nutrition educators developed PSAs within their communities, organizations, and associations in the .past few years; but little is known about how effective those PSAs were, or how frequently they were used. Aside from the fact that many PSAs are produced on an almost zero budget with volunteer personnel-which is poor competition for the multimillion dollar budgets for other food advertising-presently available PSAs leave much to be desired as teaching tools. Many announcements have no clear message to help people establish good nutrition practices. Some PSAs try to pack a full course in nutrition within 30 seconds of air time. Other PSAs are so vague and general there is no message. Most PSAs we reviewed appear to have been developed as onetime ventures with no follow-up. The review indicates that often a group or organization had an idea that a . 30-second announcement would be helpful in providing a positive nutrition message, but often only one or two spots were made and little was done to assure that they were used on TV stations. As a result, it appears presently available PSAs on sound nutrition fall very short of the "reach and repeat" effectiveness of advertising. Scheduling of PSAs on radio and TV stations is irregular and undependable. Often the PSA designed for children is aired at 2 a.m., and a PSA aimed for adults appears on a children's show. Since local activities have priority for public service time on television,
LETTERS SNE School Lunch Recommendation Challenged In its comments on proposed school lunch regulations, the Board of SNE opposed the restriction of eggs to three per week, stating that "there is sufficient research to show that dietary cholesterol plays little, if any, role in the raising of serum cholesterol levels. "
100
Journal of Nutrition Education Vol. 10
No.3
locally produced or circulated PSAs are often more frequently used. There is some evidence that a mass media program can be successful if it is carefully planned as part of a total community intervention strategy. In other words, it is a component of a whole range of nutrition education actions. There can be carefully delineated objectives, such as the successful pilot project of the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program which resulted in changes in practices in the city where mass media was emphasized. Local mass media resource people-including those working in radio, television, and publishing, such as special interest newslettershave to be approached and involved in the nutrition information dissemination program. And remember, in the case of radio and television stations, they have an obligation for PSAs as a part of daily programming. If mass media are to be effective aids for nutrition education, you have to plan carefully to place your information where it can be most effective. Before you do that, be sure you have the knowhow to prepare, or at least review knowledgeably, the PSAs you will submit to the mass media. If you lack the basics of working in mass media, seek out courses to help you learn to write releases, radio spots, and basic TV production. Then you will be better able to utilize the power of mass media. Radio, TV, and publications are very effective in bringing the audiences' attention to one fact, one product, or one message. One at a time, successively, the mass media are effective. That's why they have survived and grown and prospered. However, those facts, products, and resources need to be emphasized in many ways as a part of a total coordinated program of nutrition education to bring about any effective change of behavioral practices. All of this means that nutrition educators need to learn media production techniques and also become knowledgeable about marketing and behavior modification techniques and evaluation of them. It's a big order but a necessary one if nutrition educators are to move out of the classroom and begin to compete for the attention of the viewing, listening, and reading audiences. And we must move out of the classroom into the communities with the communication environments of radio, television, and publications. We must provide nutrition messages to compete with the other messages about "food and nutrition." When more nutrition educators become nutrition communicators, then we become more effective. Are you ready to meet the challenge? Helen D. Ullrich
This statement is at odds with the conclusions of expert committees of the American Heart Association, the InterSociety Commission on Heart Disease Resources, and a number of scientific organizations abroad. It also contradicts the views of the SNE membership: last year, members adopted a resolution supporting Dietary Goals jor the United States, a report which advocates restriction of cholesterol intake. We are aware that a few recent publications report negative effects of dietary July-September 1978
cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels. However, these three studies are insufficient to reverse the fmdings of at least twenty experiments in which dietary cholesterol caused a significant rise in blood cholesterol levels. Two of the negative studies (1, 2) lack assurance of adherence to the diet, as the populations were free-living subjects choosing their own meals. No data on the saturated and polyunsaturated fat intake of the subjects were sought. (continued on page 102)
E
D I T
o
R
I A L
L E T T E
R S
Nutrition educators have been vOlcmg concern for a number of years about television advertising that predominantly features foods high in sugar, fat, and! or salt. By comparison there are very few ads for high nutrient dense foods. Suggestions have been made that as a remedy for this situation there should be equal time provided for Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about alternative food choices not normally advertised. The premise is that these PSAs would provide a balance of nutrition information. Television, as almost everyone knows, is a communications medium with tremendous appeal and acceptance. Programs and advertisements reach an incredible number of people in a very short time. One 30-second spot on prime time (roughly 8-11 p.m.) in a large population center probably reaches more people than a clinical dietitian can see in a lifetime of practice. The Federal Trade Commission recently held a workshop on PSAs regarding nutrition information which I had the opportunity to attend. In preparing for the meeting I reviewed the state of the art of PSAs about nutrition. In a study under direction of the Society for Nutrition Education, researchers found that a number of nutrition educators developed PSAs within their communities, organizations, and associations in the .past few years; but little is known about how effective those PSAs were, or how frequently they were used. Aside from the fact that many PSAs are produced on an almost zero budget with volunteer personnel-which is poor competition for the multimillion dollar budgets for other food advertising-presently available PSAs leave much to be desired as teaching tools. Many announcements have no clear message to help people establish good nutrition practices. Some PSAs try to pack a full course in nutrition within 30 seconds of air time. Other PSAs are so vague and general there is no message. Most PSAs we reviewed appear to have been developed as onetime ventures with no follow-up. The review indicates that often a group or organization had an idea that a . 30-second announcement would be helpful in providing a positive nutrition message, but often only one or two spots were made and little was done to assure that they were used on TV stations. As a result, it appears presently available PSAs on sound nutrition fall very short of the "reach and repeat" effectiveness of advertising. Scheduling of PSAs on radio and TV stations is irregular and undependable. Often the PSA designed for children is aired at 2 a.m., and a PSA aimed for adults appears on a children's show. Since local activities have priority for public service time on television,
LETTERS SNE School Lunch Recommendation Challenged In its comments on proposed school lunch regulations, the Board of SNE opposed the restriction of eggs to three per week, stating that "there is sufficient research to show that dietary cholesterol plays little, if any, role in the raising of serum cholesterol levels. "
100
Journal of Nutrition Education Vol. 10
No.3
locally produced or circulated PSAs are often more frequently used. There is some evidence that a mass media program can be successful if it is carefully planned as part of a total community intervention strategy. In other words, it is a component of a whole range of nutrition education actions. There can be carefully delineated objectives, such as the successful pilot project of the Stanford Heart Disease Prevention Program which resulted in changes in practices in the city where mass media was emphasized. Local mass media resource people-including those working in radio, television, and publishing, such as special interest newslettershave to be approached and involved in the nutrition information dissemination program. And remember, in the case of radio and television stations, they have an obligation for PSAs as a part of daily programming. If mass media are to be effective aids for nutrition education, you have to plan carefully to place your information where it can be most effective. Before you do that, be sure you have the knowhow to prepare, or at least review knowledgeably, the PSAs you will submit to the mass media. If you lack the basics of working in mass media, seek out courses to help you learn to write releases, radio spots, and basic TV production. Then you will be better able to utilize the power of mass media. Radio, TV, and publications are very effective in bringing the audiences' attention to one fact, one product, or one message. One at a time, successively, the mass media are effective. That's why they have survived and grown and prospered. However, those facts, products, and resources need to be emphasized in many ways as a part of a total coordinated program of nutrition education to bring about any effective change of behavioral practices. All of this means that nutrition educators need to learn media production techniques and also become knowledgeable about marketing and behavior modification techniques and evaluation of them. It's a big order but a necessary one if nutrition educators are to move out of the classroom and begin to compete for the attention of the viewing, listening, and reading audiences. And we must move out of the classroom into the communities with the communication environments of radio, television, and publications. We must provide nutrition messages to compete with the other messages about "food and nutrition." When more nutrition educators become nutrition communicators, then we become more effective. Are you ready to meet the challenge? Helen D. Ullrich
This statement is at odds with the conclusions of expert committees of the American Heart Association, the InterSociety Commission on Heart Disease Resources, and a number of scientific organizations abroad. It also contradicts the views of the SNE membership: last year, members adopted a resolution supporting Dietary Goals jor the United States, a report which advocates restriction of cholesterol intake. We are aware that a few recent publications report negative effects of dietary July-September 1978
cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels. However, these three studies are insufficient to reverse the fmdings of at least twenty experiments in which dietary cholesterol caused a significant rise in blood cholesterol levels. Two of the negative studies (1, 2) lack assurance of adherence to the diet, as the populations were free-living subjects choosing their own meals. No data on the saturated and polyunsaturated fat intake of the subjects were sought. (continued on page 102)