Lessons learned from public health mass media campaigns: marketing health in a crowded media world
Randolph, W.; Viswanath, K.
Annual Review of Public Health 25: 419-437
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0163-7525 PMID: 15015928 DOI: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.25.101802.123046Document Number: 384019
Every year, new public health mass media campaigns are launched attempting to change health behaviour and improve health outcomes. These campaigns enter a crowded media environment filled with messages from competing sources. Public health practitioners have to capture not only the attention of the public amid such competition, but also motivate them to change health behaviours that are often entrenched or to initiate habits that may be new or difficult. This chapter describes the ways by which public health mass media campaigns attempt to succeed in a world crowded with media messages from a myriad of sources. The conditions that are necessary for a media campaign to successfully alter health behaviours and alter outcomes in the long term are discussed. Some lessons that can be learned from previous campaigns and applied to future efforts using mass media to promote public health are summarized.