Working with the Media to Promote Teen Pregnancy Prevention

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Selecting a media optionOPTIONCONSIDERATIONSMAKING IT HAPPEN110News mediaRadioTelevisionNewspaperMagazinesSpecialty publicationsTeens listen.Advertising is expensive, hard to get coverage, goodfor saturating the community with a message.Credible place for program name and ideas to bementioned in editorials, news stories, advertising.Good for targeting specific audiences.Good for targeting specific audiences, may be interested inarticles written by program.Public service advertisingRadioTeens listen, advertising is inexpensive, audience reach isquestionable with donated air time.TelevisionGood for targeting a large audience, production is expensive,audience reach is questionable with donatedair time.InternetHard to measure impact, but popular with teens.Bus boardsHighly visible way to reach teens who use publictransportation, diffuse reach.BillboardsHighly visible.Public affairs work and special eventsSpeechesGreat way to reach audiences in person.Direct mailExpensive, low credibility for message work.Public workshops Great way to reach parents.Organizational workshops Great way to reach parents.FlyersInexpensive, little impact, best for specific events.EventsTake a great deal of work with uncertain payoff.Promotional items If cleverly done, can be useful in getting the message out.the slogan, “Pregnancy: It’s Notfor Me,” tested poorly among parents,but was very popular withteens. Abstinent teens interpretedit as a supportive message,and sexually active teens believedit was a credible reminder topractice effective contraception.Testing can also help you figureout how to reach multiple targetaudiences with variants on thesame core message.In Maryland, Campaign forOur Children has distinct messagesfor parents (“talk to yourteens about sex before theymake you a grandparent”) andteens (“you can go farther whenyou do not go all the way”),which reinforce the same
prevention goal of reducing teensexual activity.FOR MORE INFORMATIONON EVALUATION...See Chapter 16 (Volume 3),“Building Evaluation intoYour Work.”Some campaigns use focusgroups to test messages.Participants give immediatefeedback on potential messages,offer suggestions for changes,and even suggest where to runit or who would make a goodspokesperson. Other programsuse surveys, which can be moreexpensive. Still others haveongoing advisors.Not Me, Not Now, in MonroeCounty, New York, maintains ateen panel for message testing.Commercial marketers knowthat people remember messagesthat meet their needs or supporttheir values. Experts on teenssuggest that young people aremore receptive to positive messages.However, fear appeals area staple of public health PSAs—particularly in relation to AIDS,drugs, and drunk driving. Whilethere is some disagreementabout the use of fear appeals,research shows that they areeffective in limited circumstancesand when done very carefully(DeJong & Winsten, 1998).Create a system forongoing monitoringSuccessful media initiativesinclude ways to track theirprogress, evaluate whether theyhave successfully reached theirultimate goal, and find out whenthey need to make correctionsalong the way. Formal evaluationof media campaigns can bevery challenging, especially ifyou want to measure behaviorchange, but there are less expensiveways to track progress,including:• collecting press clips, listingthe audiences for presentations,and keeping track ofthe number of times a PSAhas run and where;• continuously testing the validityof messages with teenadvisory panels; and• conducting audience surveysto measure how far the messagehas reached, or whether,for example, parents are talkingwith their children aboutsex more since the campaignbegan.HOW TO BE AN EFFECTIVETEEN PREGNANCY PREVEN-TION COMMUNICATOR• create a buzz• keep the message out there• always have something newto say• convey a sense of urgency• inspire action111MEDIA
Page 4 and 5: MAKING IT HAPPEN102hours, confident
Page 6 and 7: MAKING IT HAPPEN104campaign to dela
Page 8 and 9: MAKING IT HAPPENkernel from which y
Page 10 and 11: Core message worksheetDesired Resul
Page 14 and 15: Working with the news mediaMAKING I
Page 16 and 17: MAKING IT HAPPEN114Using the tools
Page 18 and 19: FIELD NOTESMAKING IT HAPPEN116Getti
Page 20 and 21: MAKING IT HAPPEN118• Do not go
Page 22 and 23: MAKING IT HAPPEN120Florida’s six-
Page 24 and 25: MAKING IT HAPPEN122• Create a buz
Page 26 and 27: ConclusionMedia campaigns designed
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Page 30 and 31: TABLE 1 (cont.)MAKING IT HAPPEN128I
Page 32 and 33: TABLE 2Sample media messages for a
Page 34 and 35: TABLE 4Sample facts and stats sheet
Page 36: TABLE 4 (cont.)BRING “BEST BETS T

Working with the Media to Promote Teen Pregnancy Prevention

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