Assignment

Prabhav Gupta ( PGP17187)

Kaustubh Jadhav (PGP17173)
Depanjan Chowdhury (PGP17019)
Sayantan Pal (PGP17138)
Ratul Sarkar (PGP17194)

Should PSI India go for a mass media campaign in its fight against AIDS? Why?

After going through the case it can be concluded that PSI need instant action to stop the
HIV/AIDS before it gets worse, so mass media could be effective way to reduced HIV/AIDS in
India at this time.

Operation Lighthouse had the mass campaign as one of its primary communication strategies.
This project was aiming specifically the post communities across India. Operation Lighthouse
Project is a five-year national HIV/AIDS awareness program launched in 12 major port
communities across India. Mass media, having tremendous outreach, is the most suitable
option to increase awareness regarding HIV/AIDS amongst the citizens of the country, which has
millions afflicted by the ailment. The mass media campaign is the best way to spread awareness
because of the following reasons:

 Primary Target Consumer: PSI India has identified male migrant workers between 18 and
34 as the primary target consumer that are most vulnerable to the risk of HIV/AIDS. It
was important to reach out to the people who were otherwise difficult to access.

 Discussion of the disease publically and safe sex can best be triggered by mass media.

 Men coming from dispersed location who were visiting brothels were increasing in
number, thus creating a challenge for IPCs to successfully contact them.
  Not only prevention is important but the need to destigmatize public discussion of the
disease and promote safe sex, talking about which is nearly prohibited in India

Following table the risk status of people for HIV (Exhibit 8)

Group Size HIV Risk Status

Formally employed Port 60,000-80,000 Low
workers
Casually employed port 1,00,000-2,00,000 High
workers
Sailors 20,000 High
Port Security 4,000 - 5,000 High
Truckers 2,00,000 High
Sex Workers 70,000 High

Is the concept proposed by Lowe Lintas a fictional

character named Balbir Pasha better for generating AIDS
awareness for highlighting particular barriers for condom
use in the target population (male migrant workers
between 18-34)?

Yes, as the campaign spoke the language of the common man, it was possible for people to
connect with Balbir Pasha and if the execution is done right, it can lead to increased awareness
and better understanding of disease.

The main aim of using Balbir Pasha’s name (a fictional character) was to cover a lot of risk
situations that could lead to AIDS/ HIV to common people without naming any real person and
thus damaging his/her reputation.

If not this, the other alternative was increasing number of IPCs, increase in spending on the
training of IPCs and improving the study materials. All this was feasible but would need a lot of
time and may not provide significant results at least a year in the budget proposed.
Assuming the mass media campaign is approved how
should the ad budget be allocated between the different
media? (Assume a campaign that runs for three months)
In order to make the campaign a success, following conditions should be addressed:

 The amount of population that are under high risk of getting HIV
 The segment of population under high risk of attracting AIDS
 The mass media that can reach these population

Different mediums available and their price:

Media Cost($) Duration

Television 300 35 seconds
Newspaper ads 500 Per placement
Bill boards 1200 Month

Therefore, according to the above mentioned cost table we can see that Television is the
costliest among all but still the reach is more compared to the others. We have to follow a
specific mix of these media to make the campaign a success

Media Ads per month Allocation

TV 210 Highest
Newspaper
advertisement 30 Lowest
Hoardings 30 Moderate

Reasons for the mix:

 Large Investment in Hoardings:
 Hoardings are the most important area of coverage and we spend almost half of the
allocated budget towards it. Most of the high-risk segment comes under Truck drivers,
Sailors and casual daily wage workers. These individuals can be reached easily through
billboards rather than TV ads or Newspapers.

 Medium Investment in Television Ads and ads during Film intervals:

Television is the easiest mass media covering all segments of population and we focus of
prime times to address the risk segment. The advertisements are short and need to
cater to all segments of the society (children and adults) so that everybody is aware of
the disease. Thus, Video Ads will be effective in increasing awareness of people in the
medium to high-income groups.

 Less Investment in Newspaper ads:

The high-risk group has a large proportion of illiterate population, which means they will
never read newspapers. Hence, newspaper ads will never reach them and as a result,
investing in print ads is redundant. However, we will advertise using print ads to ensure
the public is aware of such campaigns.