Laura Wake-Ramos The Pennsylvania State University
CAS 302
September 20 th , 2012 SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT Many issues could occur when people dont exercise. Serious health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity can occur from inconsistent physical activity. Current studies have shown that thirty-six percent of U.S. adults are considered obese (CDC). A lack of exercise not only harms physically, but also at a psychological level. Researchers examined the exercise habits of a group of elder adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is a lung disease that kills 120,000 people every year in the U.S. The participants completed a 10-week rehabilitation program, which consisted of a home exercise program to follow. When the 10-weeks were completed, the participants were given a series of tests. All of the study participants showed gains in cognitive function, psychological function, and physical endurance by the end of the initial session. Participants even continued the home exercise program on a regular basis, and maintained those benefits. Those who stopped or exercised less frequently lost what they had gained (Wagner).
PROBLEM ANALYSIS The reasons why individuals break routines vary person to person. From a recent trend, the problem comes down to the idea that the average American is lazy. The responsibility and commitment for exercise comes down to an individuals lifestyle, personal values, and attitudes on SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 3 exercise. A popular reason is not enough time today or its too much of a commitment. However, one doesnt need to be a world-champion athlete to gain the benefits of exercise. Studies show that a lifestyle of activity can reap the same lifetime benefits. Activities, such as sweeping or mopping the floor, vacuuming, polishing furniture, carrying and putting away groceries, cleaning out closets, washing woodwork, raking leaves, pulling weeds, and walking the dog are all great and manageable ways to exercise everyday (Rynk). Walking 15 min per day, 5 days a week in sufficient to increase life expectancy. If we can change peoples attitudes towards exercise, making exercise a social and desirable daily commitment, this would be a start for a healthier lifestyle and country.
GOAL STATEMENT The goal of the campaign is to encourage daily time commitment for exercise among college students in order to promote a long, healthy lifestyle. This goal would be considered a reinforcement of a behavior. The purpose of this campaign is to encourage students to stay committed to daily exercise routines, and remind the long-term and short-term benefits of maintaining a regular exercise routine. The majority of students know the consequences of inactivity, however, for students with a busy college lifestyle, certain factors can demote exercise to the bottom of the priority SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 4 list. This campaign is to remind students to maintain good current exercise behaviors, or start an achievable routine.
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS The target audience is college students, ranging between 18 to 23 years old. However, to analyze explicit results within this large population, this campaign will be targeted towards the 3 rd -year Penn State Architecture class, of about 60 students. This is a workable size to manage a campaign and analyze the results. In terms of audience analysis from interpersonal literature, targeting an audience of 3 rd -year Architecture students should minimize variance in results and enhance prediction responses to messages. Architecture students have the reputation for consistent all-nighters, and continuously working, drawing, rendering, modeling in studio for project deadlines. For this reason, the Stuckeman Family Building, home of the Architecture and Landscape Architecture studios, is open 24-hours. In those 24-hours, the lights are never off, except perhaps one hour before sunrise. A lifestyle of demanding work, and sacrificing hours of sleep are convincing factors to break an exercise routine for five years. Analyzing and marketing to students of the same year, major, and course schedules will be more effective strategy to encourage time management and creating daily exercise commitments. SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 5 Marketing concepts can help target strategies to achieve campaign goals based on the interpersonal evaluations. This data can help break down distinguishing characteristics of an exercise campaign that will be desirable and successful among architecture students. Based on the audience analysis, architecture students with approaching deadlines could prefer to exercise in smaller, frequent increments at a time. Also, students that have been sitting for hours at a time could enjoy the break away from work for a few minutes to unwind, and even socialize with friends. An activity students would enjoy best would be a short activity, which everyone would be comfortable in participating. The type of involvement could be considered outcome-relevant involvement and impression-relevant involvement. The outcome-relevant reasoning would be that a lifetime of inconsistent physical inactivity could lead to detrimental health consequences in the future. However, the main reasoning for this campaign could be considered impression- relevant involvement. The goal of the event is to remind students that exercise can be social, fun, and tailored to personal daily agendas and interests. Students will want to be involved in the campaign, if the benefits offered are for personal betterment and a social opportunity. After all, human beings are social animals. Even if the opportunity is a way to develop time management skills, revitalizing attitudes towards exercise, SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 6 and prioritizing personal values, these are not the initial reasons someone would be convinced of participating. This analysis assesses that the audience would be in favor of this campaign. In stressful weeks, architecture students look for ways to unwind. Nothing is better than a short walk with a friend to get the blood moving, and chatting about anything but architecture. When students return to their desks, they find themselves with an improve mood and better concentration. These opinions were formulated based on a small survey of the 3 rd -year class, and on first-hand experience as an architecture major. SOCIAL CAMPAIGN PROBLEM LAW 7 References: 2003. Exercise; Daily Activity May Benefit People without Regular Exercise Habits. Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week, 18. 2009. Time Management. Probate and Property, 7. 2010. Most Americans Don't Get Daily Exercise. U.S.News & World Report. 2012. Adult Obesity Facts. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2012. Exercise and Life Expectancy. The Lancet, 379 (800-801). Farris, D. 2002. Time Management: An Exercise in Self-Awareness. Rural Telecommunications, 21 (48). Rynk, P. 2003. Daily Exercise Matters. VibrantLife, 19, 4-7. Wagner. 2004. Lack of Exercise Causes Psychological as well as Physical Setbacks. Medical News Today.