Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

The messages of mass media often significantly impact the health of an individual and society as a whole. Children in supermarkets ask their mothers to buy unhealthy sugary snacks after watching a TV commercial that has been shown during their favorite animated movies. This example shows that in recent years, mass media has become an inseparable component of important information campaigns for solving the health-related problems. The following research observes the impact of mass media and communication on the eating habits of people. It investigates the concept of food deserts and the possibilities of eating healthy in these areas. The research examines the influence of healthy cooking programs on the eating habits of people and observes the negative impact of fast food restaurants on different categories of society. The research is aimed at giving a clear understanding of such issues as campaigns for healthy eating and influence of mass media on the food choice of people.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

Key words: healthy eating, information campaigns, mass media campaigns, educational programs, food deserts, mass media.

Influence of Mass Media on Healthy Eating

Information campaigns often try to change the habits and behaviors of people. The major aim of media campaigns in the sphere of health care is to bring special messages that would impact the wide audience in terms of eating healthy and leading a healthy life style or vice versa. However, it is evident that media campaigns are not the only means of sharing information about health. Every day, people are overwhelmed by tens of messages concerning health. These messages come from different sources including news, entertainment programs, soup operas and innumerable commercials. The impact of such messages is not always positive. The studies on this matter have shown that Americans receive a great amount of information on health from mass media (Wallack 110). This creates certain problems as large amount of information often lead to negative outcomes. In this case, most information delivered to people does not improve the health of people, but rather causes harm to it. Many studies show that people indeed learn from the images created by mass media that have nothing in common with a healthy lifestyle (Thorndike 530).Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

When dealing with the impact of mass media on the health of people, it is important to examine such means of communication as entertainment programs, healthy cooking programs and commercials. The messages of mass media have both positive and negative impact on the audience. There are programs that are meant to encourage healthy lifestyle, such as healthy cooking programs. Other means of communication deliver messages containing opposite images and priorities. These messages have a reverse impact on people making them consume fatty and sugary foods and be careless regarding their health.

The objective of numerous studies on the impact of commercials of food products on the health of consumers is to investigate how these commercials influence children. The researchers have found out that advertisements of food products may have both positive and negative impacts on children and adults depending on the nutritious value of the advertised product (Wallack 113). Researchers have found out that TV commercials considerably affect the food preferences of children. However, the first place in making up the children’s menu is occupied by the preferences of parents, rather than what has been shown in the commercial. The adverse negative impact on the health of people is made by a great number of commercials related to low-calorie food products. As for the positive sides, it should be noted that the campaign of the Kellog Company that produced All-Bran products used the information from the National Institute of Cancer and was aimed at emphasizing the nutritious value and anti-cancer effect of products that are rich in fibers and characterized by low fat content. As a result of this campaign, people began to consume more fiber-rich and low-calorie food. People also got interested in the role of healthy eating in the prevention of cancer (Backer and Everett 190).Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

            Impact of Healthy Cooking Programs on Public Health

Many examples show that people are often guided in their food choice by what is shown on TV. Entertainment programs play a pivotal role in the choice of food by people. The objective of most studies dedicated to the issue of entertainment programs and their impact on public health is to investigate the role of TV-shows, music videos and cooking programs in the eating habits of people. One of the major aspects of studies on the impact of healthy cooking programs is a thorough investigation of their contents revealing the picture of the world from the perspective of mass media, especially television. It is claimed that the world shown on TV, especially in news and entertainment programs, drastically differs from the real world. Any doctor shown on TV has only a pair of patients with some physical diseases. Also, the TV world differs from the real world by the number of overweight people, although it is known that two of three Americans are overweight or suffer from obesity. It has been established that around 12% of TV characters have problems related to weight, while nowadays nearly 25% of adult population suffer from obesity in the whole world (Backer and Everett 151). This creates a paradox for the audience, as the majority of TV characters eats and drinks everything they want and still remains slim.

Some researchers claim that this paradox has caused the problem of bulimia because as a person suffering from this disease can eat and drink anything he or she wants staying thin. In recent years, the American standard of thinness and its impact on health has reached the remotest areas of the world owing the spread of television. In 2000, the Newsweek journal published an article about young girls from the Fiji Island where women traditionally tend to be overweight. These girls started rejecting to eat after the boom of western TV programs featuring slim actresses. The researchers agree upon the fact that this problem is caused not only by television. However, it should be taken into account that television is the central factor in this complex problem. The American Psychiatric Association conducted a research on the girls from the Fiji Island who considered themselves overweight, and two of the girls started consuming dietary food to get rid of unwanted kilograms (Brown, O’Connor and Savaiano 321). Furthermore, 15% of the surveyed girls told that they used vomiting as a means of weight control.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

Another research has shown that the amount of time spent by adults in front of the TV set is directly related to the problems with weight and metabolism (Backer and Everetts 150). It has been found that children watching TV on a regular basis tend to eat snacks between the meals more often than children who do not pay much attention to the TV programs. It is to some extent related to the cooking programs and other food-related entertainment programs as they are suggested to cause various disorders, such as bulimia. This disorder is characterized by uncontrolled consumption of large amounts of food during a short period of time. This episode ends with a person feeling physical discomfort, which arouses the feeling of guilt, depression and hatred towards oneself. After all this, the person takes measures to clean the stomach by means of vomiting or taking laxatives. Thus, the above facts show that entertainment programs including cooking programs have both negative and positive effects on the viewers. They may either bring benefit to viewers and improve their health, or cause various disorders including bad eating habits.

Impact of Information Campaigns on Public Health

Information campaigns on the problems of health use mass media for educational purposes making people more knowledgeable in the sphere of health care and healthy way of life. Such campaigns are regularly introduced all around the world. Some of them are successful, while others are not. For some reason, certain media campaigns failed to change the lifestyle of people, while others managed to do it. Some of them achieved a considerable positive effect, while other campaigns resulted in negative outcomes. Still others achieved incredible results. As has been shown previously, strict adherence to the principles of successful information campaign increase its chances for success. In many cases, the organizers of unsuccessful information campaigns did not follow one or several principles. For example, among the principles of successful information campaign is the analysis and understanding of the target audience. The intervention of media can achieve the desirable effect if the audience is properly addressed.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

There are several models of persuading people to take care of their health and lead a healthy lifestyle. The major aim of the risk model is to obtain new information about the threats to the health of a person and the appropriate behavior that can eliminate these threats. It has been found that the probability of choosing a healthy life style is increased by messages of four types. These messages show the painful outcomes of risky behavior; vulnerability to diseases; protective measures that decrease the chances of catching an illness and the self-effectiveness of turning to a healthy lifestyle. The models of persuasion lay focus on simple stimuli and links between a separate social group and behavioral patterns of a certain person. For example, the information campaigns for healthy eating show certain category of people with negative stereotypical features (overweight, obese, apathetic, etc.) that is compared to another category of people leading a healthy lifestyle (energetic, active, slim, good-looking, etc.). This leads to an assumption that information campaigns can change the attitude of people to their health and persuade them to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Different studies offer controversial information concerning the use of different means of communication. Some studies indicate that the most effective way of changing the eating behavior of people is information campaigns that combine the messages of mass media and channels of interpersonal communication (Krieger 601). Other studies claim that in order to change the eating behavior of people and their attitude to the problem of obesity, it would be enough to use mass media. The differences in the results can be referred to the significant differences between the campaigns themselves and the degree of adherence to the key principles of a successful campaign. A good example of information campaigns with different outcomes is information campaigns against obesity. Long-term campaigns for healthy eating in the United States led to the increase of mass media messages about the risks of obesity and other diseases associated with unhealthy lifestyle. However, these messages not always have a considerable impact on the young people and adults in terms of the unhealthy eating patterns.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

Campaigns for Healthy Eating in Food Deserts

Mass media and various means of communication directly influence the process of instilling healthy eating habits in youth and adults. With the growing rates of obese and overweight people, it is extremely important to enlighten the society about the health risks associated with unhealthy lifestyle (Dubowitz 90). It should be noted that it is especially important to solve this issue in the areas known as food deserts. These areas are characterized with lack of healthy products encouraging the increase of overweight people in the communities living in food deserts. This especially concerns Black population that has lack of opportunities to buy healthy products and take care of their health. The concept of health has a direct relation to the culture and history of certain social groups. Depending on the time and place in different cultures, the boundary between healthy and unhealthy lifestyles can be defined differently. Cultural realities of those living in food deserts influence the eating behavior of individuals dictating socially acceptable means of reacting. The investigation of the problem of health leads to an understanding that the influence of culture on the formation of human behavior should be taken into account. The culture of food deserts is very distinct and different from the culture of other regions. Various inner psychological and cultural realities in most cases define the eating behavior of an individual living in food deserts.

Investigating the impact of mass media on the society, the ideas of health and healthy eating should be taken into account. The value of health is instrumental as it serves as a condition that encourages the self-realization of an individual in different spheres of life. The impact of mass media on the health of individuals living in food deserts can be different. However, the messages and ideas about healthy eating emphasized by mass media are reflected in the everyday life of people living in the restricted regions. It especially concerns the Black communities. Studies show that excessive body weight is among the key threats to the health of people as it is associated with such diseases as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease (Cummins, Flint and Matthews 280). Existing researches demonstrate that people residing in low-income regions known as food deserts have little access to healthy products. And this poses a threat to their health preventing them from leading a healthy lifestyle. The effective strategies of dealing with this issue include the use of mass media and information campaigns for promoting a healthy lifestyle among the population even in terms of low-income neighborhoods. No matter where a person lives, he or she should be aware of the risks associated with the consumption of certain products and bad eating habits. This will enhance the knowledge of people living in food deserts about the ways of leading a healthy lifestyle even in the poor regions.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

It is evident that structural interventions in poor regions can significantly improve the access to healthy products. This should be the key element of recent initiatives in the United States. Among main initiatives is Healthy Food Financing Initiative that is a key element of a number of interventions encouraged by the government of the country (Dubowits 92). These interventions are grounded on the idea of encouraging stores and supermarkets to be introduced in low-income areas. This will lead to significant improvement of dietary habits of individuals and result in the decrease of health problems related to eating habits. This policy is aimed at introducing a wider range of food products to the low-income areas, so that people could start eating healthier foods and turn to a healthy lifestyle. It is evident that lack of access to full-fledged stores is related to poor dietary habits of people living in these neighborhoods and a risk of such diseases as obesity. This problem should be solved by means of information campaigns for healthy lifestyle and introduction of more grocery stores in these areas (Sonnenberg 255). This is considered one of the most effective strategies aimed at solving the problem of obesity and other chronic diseases that are widely spread among people living in food deserts.

However, there is no evidence that food access will lead to drastic positive changes in the eating behavior of individuals. That is why it is important to also promote healthy lifestyle among people living in low-income areas by means of mass media and information campaigns. In this regard, it should be noted that various means of communication can be used to encourage people living in food deserts to lead a healthier lifestyle and change their eating habits. This will make the population of food deserts healthier and will eliminate the risk of chronic diseases associated with poor eating habits. Furthermore, healthy lifestyle can be promoted in food deserts by means of eliminating fast food restaurants and turning to healthier options. This will encourage people to lead a healthier way of life.

Educational Programs on Healthy Eating

Backer and Everett (2005) have found that the implementation of media into educational programs against unhealthy lifestyle had a positive effect on the behavior of young people (p. 147). An experiment has been conducted in the course of the investigation. The educational program against unhealthy lifestyle introduced in educational institutions involved two groups of school children. One of the groups received information from mass media along with other means of communication. It became evident that the use of mass media helped to considerably change the behavior of young people for the best. Another investigation proved the effectiveness of media campaign against unhealthy food. As a result, the information campaigns led to the decrease of unhealthy food consumption among young people. In this way, educational programs used at schools prove to be effective in changing the behavior patterns of youth. The effectiveness of educational programs and media campaigns depends on the amount of taxes and other expenses spent on their implementation.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

One more tactics of educational programs involves fear of people in terms of health risks associated with unhealthy eating. Such educational programs are often used in the United States drawing the attention of the public. However, the impact of such campaigns on the behavior of people is still under discussion. There is evidence that the use of information campaigns and educational programs concerning the issues of health and involving the tactics of fear prove to be effective. The quantitative observation shows that such an approach brings a number of benefits changing the behavior patterns of young people and adults. It has been proved that the feeling of fear and determination to change eating habits positively correlate with each other influencing the behavior of people. Thus, it is clear that the frightening content of educational programs leads to positive outcomes encouraging changes of eating behavior among youth and adults. The quantitative analysis also demonstrated that fear and persuasion are interrelated aspects.

Sometimes educational programs are criticized for their position of “blaming the victim” similar to the position of mass media in covering the topic of human health. Such educational programs blame those who suffer from different diseases for their unhealthy lifestyle. Critics on this matter demonstrate that it is impossible to blame sick people who have been subjected to the attacks of commercials and mass media that instill bad habits and unhealthy lifestyle in people by means of promoting unhealthy food. Ultimately, it needs to be mentioned that media channels used in educational programs have distinct benefits over others. When choosing this or that channel for delivering messages to the public, those who organize information campaigns with the use of educational programs should evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of various types of mass media. There is a great amount of information about different characteristics of various types of media. However, the knowledge about the effectiveness of different means of communication in programs promoting health remains superficial an insufficient. Various researchers continue to shed light on this issue.Designing Health Communication Campaigns Essay

Conclusion

To conclude, the above research has investigated the ways of changing the eating behavior of people living in both high-income and low-income areas. The research has shown that eating behavior of people can be changed by means of mass media campaigns, information campaigns, healthy cooking programs and various educational programs related to the issues of healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits. The current research contains a number of examples of how eating habits of individuals living in food deserts and other areas can be changed. It is evident that mass media and means of communication play a pivotal role in promoting a healthy lifestyle among the population.

It should be noted that the research is based on the existing studies on the matter of healthy eating and promotion of healthy way of life. The research has given evidence that the most effective strategy to promote healthy lifestyle involves the use of mass media and various means of communication to deliver specific messages to the public. Thus, it can be concluded that information and mass media campaigns on healthy eating are effective in dealing with the health problems of youth and adults and changing their eating behavior. As for food deserts, health related problems in these areas can be solved by means of introducing more food stores and promoting healthy lifestyle with the use of mass media campaigns. Healthy eating in food deserts can also be promoted by means of eliminating fast food restaurants in these areas. Educational programs also proved to be as effective as information campaigns in dealing with the problems associated with poor eating habits and an unhealthy way of life.