R. Craig Lefebvre's Social Marketing Blog
News and commentary on social marketing, health communications and social/political change enterprises.

 



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  Wednesday, September 14, 2005


Social Marketing in the News 

 

This edition of the News includes a preview of what is billed as the largest campaign in the US to prevent sexual violence among teenage men; the approval of over the counter emergency contraception in India (timely given the current fiasco with the FDA); an encouraging note about the increasing demand for condoms in Uganda; the possible involvement of Coke and Pepsi in condom distribution efforts in India (could it be a real public-private partnership that addresses the distribution problems of many different types of  social marketing programs); and another report of local programs to target crystal meth use among gay men, an issue that has been receiving increasing attention in the mass media as well as more targeted publications.

 

 

The Largest Effort of its Kind, Campaign's Non-Traditional Strategy Aims to Empower Young Men, Curb First-Time Perpetration

 

The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) today unveiled a cutting-edge multi-media and outreach campaign to prevent sexual violence in California that targets young men aged 14-18 and engages them as part of a solution to prevent first-time

Perpetration.

 

As the largest campaign of its kind in the United States, The MyStrength campaign centers around the theme, "My Strength is Not for Hurting," emphasizing healthy relationships and empowering young men to maintain their strength and masculinity without using coercion, intimidation, force or violence.  As a complement to CALCASA's more than 30 years of work and programs that urge young women to protect themselves from sexual assault,  myStrength takes a unique, non-traditional approach by encouraging men to play a vital role in creating a safe environment for their relationships and reinforces that men can put an end to sexual violence in California.

 

The campaign includes a variety of education and sexual violence prevention elements, including:

 

     * Statewide Advertising Campaign

     * MyStrength.org and MiFuerza.org

     * Rape Crisis Center Training: CALCASA is providing California's rape

       crisis centers with extensive social marketing training, education and

       materials to increase awareness and the prevention of sexual violence

       in their communities.

     * Local Market Grassroots Campaigns: After a competitive review process,

       six "pilot markets" were chosen to receive grants for additional

       training, education and marketing events on sexual violence prevention

       in their cities. 

 

 

Now Over the Counter

 

The [Indian] government today allowed sale of emergency contraceptive pills, which can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sexual exposure, as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug.

 

Ramadoss said that there was a need for emergency contraception as a lot of women in India die during unsafe abortions and a number of them suffer unwanted pregnancies.

 

Two 0.75 mg pills of Levonorgestrel can prevent pregnancy in 95% of cases. They sell at Rs 30-35, but health secretary P K Hota said government wants to bring the price down to Rs 5 through social marketing.

 

The government is following an ABC - advocacy, building capacity of service providers and creating awareness –– approach for emergency contraceptives. In China, they are available on vending machines.

 

 

Condom Demand Rises

 

Following a sharp increase in the use of condoms, the [Ugandan] health ministry is distributing 20 million emergency condoms, state minister Capt. Mike Mukula has said.

 

He said the ministry had increased annual condom importation from 80 million to 120 million to meet the increasing demand.

 

With funds from the Global Fund, the ministry has ordered 55 million pink lifeguard condoms.  "This brand name has been borrowed from MSI Uganda for one year as the ministry develops another brand name for the public sector condoms. About 25 million blue Lifeguard condoms will be made available for social marketing under the Global Fund," Mukula said.

 

 

AIDS campaign to piggyback on Pepsi, Coke

 

Multinational soft drinks giants Coke and Pepsi may soon become part of the Indian government's efforts to reach out to people in far-flung areas to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS and promote the use of condoms.

Where social marketing efforts have failed in reaching supplies of condoms, the idea is to reach out through the soft drinks firms that have managed to set up a marketing network estimated at over one million outlets across the country.

"Realising their reach, we have appealed to the cola companies PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to allow us to piggyback on their advertisement, including possible slogans on their soft drinks bottles," a senior health ministry official said.

"We have also asked them to help us with the distribution of condoms through their outlets in remote areas," the official told IANS.

The requests have elicited encouraging response from both the multinationals.

 

 

Crystal Meth Support Group Forming: MAPP Seeking Funding for All-out Media Campaign

 

In response to the crystal meth epidemic, the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project is joining with Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center to create the first support group for people who want to stop using the drug.

 

And, thanks to an Arcus Foundation matching grant, MAPP is on the way to beginning a state-wide social marketing campaign to discourage people from starting…The name of the media campaign will be "Crystal Myth." Once funding is secured, "We will be doing print advertising in all of the gay publications," Covey said. "We will do interviews and use as much free media in terms of news stories and press releases as possible, we'll make ourselves available for radio and TV interviews, and also create other promotional items that could range from matchbooks to cocktail napkins to whatever we deem effective to reach our community."

 

Figures on crystal meth use point to the need for these programs. A 2004 survey done by MAPP revealed that in Michigan crystal meth use had jumped to nine percent of men who have sex with men; more than double the number of users reported by a 1997 survey. Ten percent of meth users were HIV positive, as opposed to nine percent of the overall population.

 

 


11:02:59 AM    


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