Using psychological theory and evidence, consider the efficacy of health promotion campaigns within a variety of media sources (e.g. television, internet, social media).

This essay will firstly outline what media campaigns are, their intended purpose and give clarity over why they are important to the public if their attention is drawn to them. It will then establish if there has been any success with any health campaigns in the past. Several issues need to be considered, such as, the potential of media in promoting health strategies. Subsequently, this will explain with evidence and theory how effective they are in a modern health campaign. The last section will focus on how health campaigns can be improved in the future.

Encyclopaedia of Communication and Information (Schement, 2002) states, public health and how it is promoted is essential in society. There are many diseases that can be prevented such as, heart disease, cancer and AIDS. Theory in addition to practice is required in promoting public health. If the public consciousness can be reached, then harmful behaviour can be prevented and positive behaviour implemented to prevent disease. The target audience are the specific group of people needing their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge altered for them to live healthier lives. These people could be heavy smokers who could lead healthier lives by renouncing their smoking habits which long term could save many lives if achieved (Schement, 2024).

When discussing health campaigns, it is often in the context of what interventions can be made to educate target audiences in addition to engaging with the public with social marketing programmes. However, Zhao (2020) explained that there are essential purposes associated with health campaigns which encompasses the objectives of the campaign, message strategies and using the correct communication channels to distribute the message, assessing campaign activities by

systematic research. These primary purposes can be reduced to smaller steps (Zhao, 2020).

World Health Organization (WHO) (2024) highlights that there is also a sequence that allows a shift from the target audiences awareness of a health issue to a motivated behaviour that has the desired outcome. The way the community contributes to promoting health also needs to be considered to make the health campaign effective.

Bugshan et al. (2022) point out public health is a multidisciplinary field that improves worldwide health by using psychological theories and evidence that underpin what drives people to make negative decision making that impacts their behaviour. Morbidity and mortality can reduce with behavioural modification. Mass media platforms allow health campaigns to be conducted easily. More research is required in the future to understand how health campaigns assist public health (Bugshan et al., 2022).

Tench & Bridge (2021) discuss that some health campaigns can compete to deliver the same message and mass media means it is difficult to reach a target audience when the message is distributed to the public on a global scale. Tench & Bridge (2021) further explain three of the most widely used theories are, the theory of planned theory, the elaboration likelihood model and the extended parallel process model. However, all three models place emphasis on the importance of reaching a target audience.

A BBC news article (November 2018) questions whether public health campaigns are working. It quotes the then Health Secretary Matt Hancock to make better choices around alcohol, sugar, salt and fat intake while getting more exercise.

Hancock promised to spend more on public awareness initiatives to prevent obesity. However, his was the latest in a long line of campaigns over the years. A graph of obesity and overweight adults showed a steady increase between 1993 and 2016; Clearly health promotion campaigns have not convinced the public.

Parr et al. (2021) reported that a public health England NHS weight loss 12-week plan showed a drop off between downloading the plan and starting it. They drew attention to the high proportion of female users. This indicates that psychologically females were more concerned about weight gain. In addition, most participants were over indicating that the plans advertising did not reach all age groups even though a user-friendly mobile app was available. Talbot and Bradley-Bell (2021) provided an in-depth analysis of reactions to the UK government’s better health campaign that used tweets to message the population. They found the campaign to be problematic with a lack of consideration for mental health and societal factors that contributed to obesity. Talbot and Bradley-Bell (2021) further outlined that the campaign could exacerbate mental health capabilities for individuals with eating disorders and its perceived fat shaming approach.

A World Health Organisation draft report (2023) on decision making and planning considerations of health care campaigns, concluded that these campaigns can be successful strategies leading to increased efficiencies and accelerate health goals achievement. However adequate planning, high commitment and strong co-operation needed to be in place.

Barik et al. (2019) explain promoting health in a digital era has seen the use of e-health and m-health however, traditional means of transmitting potentially life altering or saving information is still transmitted to the public eye by simply a poster or leaflet.

A study on the effectiveness of leaflets and posters produced positive results become successful being used additionally to other media forms (Barik et al., 2019).

Pascoe (2021) argues, entertainment such as television can be both harmful or when used correctly promote better heath. Mental illness can lead to much stigma due to the way it is represented. Suicide rates increased in America by 28.9% after the release of a Netflix series called 18 reasons why. The creators of a popular show reboot used information Hollywood health and society. In the aftermath 12% of females consulted a doctor to discuss breast cancer, 13% talked about the BRCA gene with a friend and 17% searched for online information. However, TV shows can be a strong method for public health campaigns (Pascoe, 2021).

Social media is also a wide-reaching means of health promotion however Reeves (2020) explains assessing its effectiveness is complex as isolating its effects take less effort. Health campaigns on social media need to align with stages of behaviour.

Media is expected to be truthful, spark debate amongst people and make the government accountable for their decisions and give anyone the freedom to report what is occurring in their lives this is called civic journalism. Sometimes existing media must often compete with powerful social norms, pervasive product marketing and addition driven behaviour (Reeves, 2020).

An article on the potential for social media in health promotion (Ghahramani et al., 2021) concluded that evaluating the performance of social media campaigns to promote health behaviour was a complex process. Current research concentrates on social media providing an opportunity to create social awareness of health issues. Such a measure requires less effort to be effective. The article by Ghahramani et al. (2022) suggests that there is a need to evaluate the approaches of promotion

campaigns rather than only creating awareness. Wakefield et al. (2010) article in the Lancet draws attention to the idea that mass media campaigns are widely used to expose a high proportion of the population to the routine use of television, radio, and newspapers to their health behaviour message. The authors highlight the challenges that health behaviour campaigns have in competing with product marketing, powerful social media norms and behaviour driven by addiction or habits. Wakefield et al. (2010) concluded that campaigns such as the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs can produce positive changes in health behaviour. The WHO (2022) reminds us that media outlets such as TV and radio can give people information to improve health; also, the WHO points out that health and health emergencies should be reported in a way that is responsible and honest. They further reported that social media and digital platforms can help to improve public coverage of health issues.

Stellefson et al. (2020) highlight the evolving role of social media in health promotion and outlined updated responsibilities for health education specialists. They concluded that health education has become more deeply rooted in internet-based programming and that health education specialists need to be competent in computer mediated contexts. The authors maintained that the method used to create health information is both actionable and impactful for diverse audiences.

A World Health Organisation news release (2023) argues that public health campaigns can be dry and hard to understand and that they strike a near impossible balance of being catchy and informative at the same time. The news release draws attention to many youth organisations that use innovative ideas such as podcasts, social media challenges and short videos to make public health issues accessible and fun. The WHO news release gave an example of the run up to World Blood Donor Day, when students were challenged to donate blood and to take a selfie and

tag in their friends. By doing so the WHO news release (2023) argues that by the student’s simple action, one can increase awareness and call for more lifesaving blood donations by others. The WHO news release also listed an example where a student led podcast “All thing mental health” from the UK that explored young people’s health and wellbeing. There is growing awareness that the media in all its forms be it traditional such as, leaflets or newspapers or modern digital forms such as, social media and podcasts will now and in the future, play a significant role in promoting health awareness campaigns.

Perceptions, attitudes can all be altered by health promotion campaigns (Krawlec et al., 2021). Understanding the publics needs can be accomplished by both human centred approaches and digital Technologies. In the United States targeted public health campaigns are being acknowledged for their importance. Despite many health campaigns using digital technologies there are few that use technology to its full potential. Research supports that there are three steps (Krawlec et al., 2021). The first is to segment an audience by their behavioural characteristics such as, interests, opinions, habits and lifestyles. AI can identify behavioural patterns and hidden sediments. The second step is to personalize the message being delivered to the target audience by partnering with culturally relevant influencers and using digital interventions alongside behavioural theories. The last step impact by imploration by conducting testing, deciding and combing modern and traditional metrics (Krawlec et al., 2021).

Elwell-Sutton et al. (2020) explain the UK government is also committed to improving the public's health. By 2035 the biggest goal they have is for everyone to live at least five more years. The government decided to abolish Public Health England so a new health system must be required to face new challenges to come such as another

pandemic. A new system should have the correct, structure and resources and be regulated carefully.

In 2020 over 530 health campaigns were organised for 26 different interventions representing 13 diseases and 105 countries (Elwell-Sutton et al., 2020). Due to covid, many campaigns were cancelled or suspended leading to many people being curable to unvaccinated diseases. Because of their return there is an opportunity to improve them for effective impact. (Elwell-Sutton et al., 2020).

To conclude many aspects of health campaigns have been discussed such as their purpose, importance, success what they are and how they can be improved and better implemented in the future to improve public health. It would be beneficial to rethink public health campaigns in the post covid era (Jafari et al., 2021).

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