Impact of Media on Health: Messages, Advertisements, and Portrayals

1. Chapter 16 Media Effects on Health

2. Research Findings • Media messages on health have had either: • Unintentional positive impacts on viewers • Unintentional negative impacts on viewers • Media messages have also been intentionally designed to promote healthier lifestyles.

3. Effects of Advertisements on Health • Focus on the health of individuals who use the products • 3 types of advertisements used: • Cigarettes • Alcoholic beverages • Foods

4. Effects of Viewing Cigarette Ads • Association exists between cigarette use among adolescents and watching stock car racing • In Australia, adolescents are attracted to brands of cigarettes that use “lifestyles” appeals in advertising. • Half the children studied did not read the warning labels on the tobacco product advertisement.

5. Effects of Viewing Alcohol Ads • Research has focused on: • Whether such ads entice adolescents to start drinking • Whether such ads cause increased alcohol consumption and, perhaps, drunk driving • Alcohol ads on television seem to encourage drinking among adolescents. • Correlation exists between exposure to alcohol ads, increased consumption of alcohol, and drunk driving.

6. Effects of Viewing Food Ads • Food commercials may have positive or negative effects. • TV food ads did affect the short-term and long-term food preferences of children. • Kellogg’s campaign during the 1980’s to stress the anticancer benefits of a diet high in fiber and low in fat helped educate people and encouraged them to eat high-fiber and low-fat foods.

7. Effects of Entertainment Portrayals on Health • Entertainment portrayals sometimes have powerful effects upon the health of audience members. • Suicidal behavior portrayed on mass media may have frightening effects.

8. Entertainment Portrayals on Health: Telelvision • World portrayed on television is very different from real life in: • Matters related to health • Its numbers of overweight characters • Studies have shown that time spent watching television is a good predictor of weight problems in adolescents. • Smoking has almost disappeared from television and illegal drug use is rarely shown.

9. Entertainment Portrayals on Health: Television (Cont’d) • A 1983 study found that television characters drank alcohol more than any other beverage. • Sexual content has steadily increased; 68% of the programs in the 1999-2000 contained sexual content, compared to the previous season’s 56%. • Few sexual scenes show the use of contraceptives or the practice of safe sex.

10. Entertainment Portrayals on Health: Films • Effects of sexually explicit films- male college students tended to trivialize rape as a crime and showed more sexually callous attitudes toward women after viewing such films. • Two-thirds of children’s animated feature films have included at least one character who used tobacco or alcohol.

11. Entertainment Portrayals on Health: Music Lyrics and Music Videos • Emphasize physical sex, violence, and violent sexual encounters • Negative effects on teen health: • Teenage pregnancy, suicide, substance abuse, and sexual assault • Different adolescents interpret videos differently, according to their age, race, gender, and previous experiences and attitudes.

12. Effects of Health News • Two types of studies on health-related news: • Those that measure the impact of news media as sources of health information • Those that compare public opinion regarding a health topic to news media coverage of that topic

13. Characteristics of Media Coverage of Health Issues • Contains information about biomedical research, medical hardware, and drug treatments • “Victim-blaming” attitude • The victim or patient is responsible for their own health problems • Emphasis on reporting health concerns that affect mainstream America • Do not offer information about symptoms for diseases, risk-reducing factors, and treatment facilities

14. Health Communication Campaign Effects • Campaigns can have unintended effects that may be positive or negative. • A combination approach has a greater chance of getting positive results. • The scare tactic or fear appeal can be rather successful. • Certain media channels are more effective than others.

15. Other Types of Mediated Health Education • Two new educational strategies • Edutainment • implanting health messages in entertainment content • Media advocacy • activities by public health agents that focus mass media attention on health issues at the social or public policy level, rather than at the individual level

16. Edutainment • Many daytime soaps contain embedded health messages. • Instances of edutainment and their effects on audiences have not been studied extensively.

17. Media Advocacy • Differs from other types of media communication campaigns: • Relies on community organization for its base of support • Use of agenda setting and framing • Treats the individual or group members as potential advocates who can help promote social change • Helps public policies • Focuses on media access to the news desk

18. Other Important Tools for Health Education • Journalism education • Critical viewing skills • Media literacy training • Interactive communication technologies

19. Recent Research and Future Trends • Unintended and intended messages from health-related communications and their negative and positive effects • The effects on individual health and health policy after the introduction of health information on the Internet • The Internet as a source of health messages • The effectiveness of media literacy programs