A Proposal
DH, I really like your suggestion for a poster campaign. Having a picture of a father carrying his dead child may be problematic for a couple of reasons here though. First, I think it would offend the sensitivity of those who have lost children to the disease. In Tanah Karo, I could see those posters potentially exacerbating resentments. I agree the message has to clearly demonstrate what's at stake, though. And I would suspect that the messages from the U.N. are going to err on the side of square and bland. I hope not, but their role is already so cautious that I don't imagine they'll take many marketing risks.
The campaign to get people to report outbreaks via SMS is really smart. Cell phones are as ubiquitous as backyard chickens here.
I was brainstorming with my girlfriend a couple of days ago about the media campaign.
We thought there must be a way to take advantage of the widespread animist beliefs and myths without offending the local culture.
Certainly it would be inappropriate to actually try to convince people that sick or dying chickens are possessed by demons or haunted by spirits. But you can bet if that were the case, children would stay away.
So there's this television phenomenon here called Sinetron. It's a huge industry of cheesy action soap operas that often include sorcerers and (badly animated) giant snakes and often end with traditional Muslim morality messages. They're widely popular, but they're not taken too seriously.
We would like to see a Sinetron version of a PSA for bird flu. I think it would get people's attention.
Perhaps some children are wandering in the village, and they see a sick bird. One reaches out to touch it, but a giant ghost zombie scorpion rises out of it, and
traps the children with its tail. It breathes green fire that's full of angry monkeys. The children scream for help. A band of villagers rush out with torches, but can't manage to kill the beast. Then a magic Islamic elder emerges, and conjures a Javanese warrior. He drives the scorpion away with his flaming kris and martial arts skills (and maybe some soap and water).
Then a short message about why we don't touch sick chickens, and how we wash our hands around birds. The bird flu monster must be defeated. Only you can help.
posted by Chad at 9:03 PM
4 Comments:
Chad, you have some very good ideas. Effective advertising campaigns must be developed from inside the culture and, in the case of Indonesia, there are clearly subcultures delineated at least by religion. The subcultures may require different campaigns, but hopefully not, since it would add to the cost.
I would guess that in our lifetime, Indonesians will continue to raise backyard poultry, so I would guess that the best thing to push is how to do it safely and what to do when birds get sick.
Another campaign should be aimed at health care workers -- doctors, nurses, traditional healers and leaders in the community. It's quite clear that health care workers are misdiagnosing the symptoms as typhus, dengue, etc. There should be some posters for heath care workers explaining simply how to tell bird flu from diseases with similar clinical presentations and who to contact when confronted with a confusing case.
Chad, you have some very good ideas. Effective advertising campaigns must be developed from inside the culture and, in the case of Indonesia, there are clearly subcultures delineated at least by religion. The subcultures may require different campaigns, but hopefully not, since it would add to the cost.
I would guess that in our lifetime, Indonesians will continue to raise backyard poultry, so I would guess that the best thing to push is how to do it safely and what to do when birds get sick.
Another campaign should be aimed at health care workers -- doctors, nurses, traditional healers and leaders in the community. It's quite clear that health care workers are misdiagnosing the symptoms as typhus, dengue, etc. There should be some posters for heath care workers explaining simply how to tell bird flu from diseases with similar clinical presentations and who to contact when confronted with a confusing case. The campaign to health care workers is not rocket science and should not even be expensive to do as long as there is a decent delivery mechanism like snail mail. I can't imagine why at least this part isn't being done.
i agree with your thoughts and with what dh says. must find a way to say it without SAYING IT. the truth must be given a little pizzazz. a fine line there.
To me more accurate your magic islamic elder should be ineffective as well, and some representative of western-style medicine should be the one to vanquish the monster.
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