Prof: Local health campaigns not reaching adults with ...( WEST LAFAYETTE Ind. - Many Americans a...),Health

"Often our health campaigns try to reach the growing number of unhealthy Americans with public service announcements or by planning activities to attract local media coverage," says Mohan Dutta-Bergman, an assistant professor in Purdue's Department of Communication who studies social marketing. "It isn't working. Yes, a story in the local newspaper or on the nighttime news reaches people, but that audience, for the most part, already engages in a healthy lifestyle.

"If we want to reach the at-risk American population, we need to target the sources of their information - soap operas, situation comedies and sports programs on television, as well as entertainment magazines."

Dutta-Bergman's research shows that healthy adults who eat well, exercise regularly and don't smoke, get their information from newspaper stories and evening news. Young adults also are less likely to read a newspaper, and this is a crucial age for people to develop healthy habits, he says.

His research is based on analysis of two surveys, the 1999 DDB Needham Lifestyle Study conducted by Market Facts and the 1999 HealthStyles Data by Porter Novelli. Both surveyed more than 2,000 adults. Dutta-Bergman's analysis of the first survey appeared in the August Health Communication journal, and his second publication, "Reaching Unhealthy Eaters: Applying a Strategic Approach to Media Vehicle Choice," will appear in November's Health Communication journal.

"While some public campaign strategists might argue that getting the information about frequent exercise, healthy eating habits or drunk driving out there is all that can be done with limited budgets, my research shows this approach is not reaching the at-risk p
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Contact: Amy Patterson-Neubert
apatterson@purdue.edu
765-494-9723
Purdue University
30-Sep-2004