I was very interested in the conversation we had in class
yesterday about breast cancer, public misconceptions, and the media. It got me
thinking about a few related topics we discussed in a persuasion course I took
last spring. These have to do with the effectiveness of awareness campaigns and
the impact of television dramas on people’s perceptions of medical issues.
The professor teaching the class, Dr. Susan Morgan, had very
strong negative opinions about awareness campaigns. I understand that they can
help to some extent with attitude change, especially in reversing stigma. The
advertising saturation about breast cancer has no doubt normalized it and
perhaps reduced some stigma associated with it. But I am in agreement that
awareness campaigns, in general, are less effective (even at attitude change)
than other approaches. I wonder how many people have purchased merchandise
related to breast cancer believing that at least some of their money would go
to research. In my personal experience, I know many people who were surprised
to find out that this was not true. (The chart is from a 2013 Business Insider article at http://www.businessinsider.com/small-amount-of-money-from-pink-nfl-merchandise-goes-to-breast-cancer-research-2013-10)
Additionally, this normalization may cause
people to be less concerned about it in general, and perhaps less likely to
enact preventative behaviors.
But what I was more interested in with this discussion was
the idea of entertainment’s impact on perceptions of breast cancer. There is
something called the “CSI Effect” that touches on this concept.
Research is being
done that demonstrates how people’s perceptions of criminal investigations is
very strongly shaped by watching shows like CSI (Schweitzer & Saks, 2007; Shelton, Kim, & Barak, 2006). Juries’ decisions about
evidence in actual trials is impacted by having viewed these shows. The same
concept is also applied to medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy or ER. People’s
expectations about how the medical system works, how doctors should relate to
them, and how different illnesses progress are impacted by these shows.
Referencing back to Dr. Morgan’s class, in her research
about organ donation, they found that the number one barrier to people
registering as organ donors was that they had seen television shows depicting
bad things happening to organ donors (such as doctors letting them die so they
could use their organs) (Morgan et al., 2007). I know I have talked about entertainment education in
a previous blog, but I think it is so important to recognize the influence
entertainment has on health beliefs.
Perhaps when thinking about non-communicable diseases, this
is a place to start in thinking about interventions. How is the disease
portrayed in the media and on television? How does this shape public opinion
about the disease? The organ donation campaigns were much more effective when
they targeted increasing knowledge in the specific areas where media had
created misconceptions.
Morgan, S. E., Harrison, T. R., Chewning, L., Davis, L., & DiCorcia, M. (2007). Entertainment (mis) education: The framing of organ donation in entertainment television. Health Communication, 22(2), 143-151.
Schweitzer, N. J., & Saks, M. J. (2007). The CSI effect: Popular fiction about forensic science affects the public's expectations about real forensic science. Jurimetrics, 357-364.
Shelton, D. E., Kim, Y. S., & Barak, G. (2006). A Study of Juror Expectations and Demands Concerning Scientific Evidence: Does the'CSI Effect'Exist?.Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law, 9, 330.
I found this topic very fascinating as well! I personally didn't know the extent of the problem, and I am even in a health related major. I personally feel like the majority of people definitely don't realize the degree of the issue. The breast cancer and NFL example makes me wonder if people would continue to be as supportive of these campaigns if they truly knew where every dollar was going! I think that it is great that these movements bring awareness to the important issues, but it is unfortunate that people are misconceived about where their donations are headed.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, Helen. I'm thinking about shows where a protagonist has gone through breast cancer and immediately Parenthood comes to mind. In it, Kristina, a beautiful blond woman, goes through breast cancer and survives. The quick and clean portrayal of her struggle on the show is nothing like what my friends have experienced. I have two friends with Stage 4 breast cancer and a friend with Stage 4 stomach cancer. Many of their struggles do not revolve around losing their hair; in fact, my friend with stomach cancer did not lose his hair through chemo. My friends have alternately been extremely bloated, they feel like they're walking on pins and needles, they have HORRIBLE hot flashes and cold spells. Their appetites wane, they lose their fingernails because they are so brittle. My male friend shrunk to barely recognizable. One of my female friends swelled to being unrecognizable. None of these are side effects that are shown on shows like Parenthood. The really nitty gritty physical implications and the psychological toll that disallows people from even getting out of bed in the morning (or in the middle of the night, as the meds mess with biological clocks) are largely absent from representations of cancer in media. And it's almost always breast cancer. How often have you seen a TV show or movie that represents a lesser-known cancer? I wonder if the general public would demand more funding for research and not "awareness" if a true representation of the day-to-day (shown in long-term narratives, not essentially episodic ones) existed in media.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting one Helen. Despite that the Breast Cancer problem has been normalized here in USA , it still a major problem world wide. Women in developed countries know a lot a bout Breast cancer and screening method through allover this campaigns and adds. But still some women in minorities populations here and world wide did not have that much information women had here. they are still struggle in applying simple preventive measures and early detection techniques like Breast self examination and regular mammography. As a global non-communicable disease, and a leading cause of death world wide, Breast cancer still did not have that much attention in developing counties and need a more global programs to deliver the importance of this problem in their culture context.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post and comments here. The question about awareness is again how are we spreading the message. As we have learnt in class, the context of message and the context of source, the context of receiver, the context of the medium, the context of methods...all matter. And it should not be awareness alone but a larger connection with the other mechanisms that have been built to advance the initial awareness. EE is not a silver bullet nor is a well meaning, well designed awareness campaign. As per the Pink ribbon, it is a very shoddy campaign and by the nature of its design and execution far removed from the field realities. I wish it could be like the March of Dimes!! Anyway, we should always consider awareness as a very first step in our communication campaign.
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