Entertainment Education

In agreement with KDH, I too am convinced that popular culture is the most effective health educator tool. I thought the Sex in the City clip was a great way to work in a smoking message without being too preachy. I am a fan of the show but have always been bothered by how much they have the main character smoke. I thought her date's simple question of, "You smoke?" was very effective in addressing the impact that smoking can have on others. I think a smoker watching the show might reflect a little on their own lives... for example wonder if that was the reason they never heard back from the cool person they went on one date with... or maybe their friends are bothered by their smoking habit but are afraid to say something. I realize its a fine balance to work in the education component into a popular TV show, however, I think with a little creativity it can be done more often. I know I have experienced a negative health effect by watching a show, for example, thinking how good the cold beer looks that the characters are drinking and wanting one myself. As prevalent as the adverse health messages are, I think the creators (with some help of public health professionals- of course), could come up with simple ways to work in positive health choices. For example, they could have a character from the Grey's Anatomy cast do a work out to burn off some stress or have one of the Desperate Housewives give a little nutritional advice to a friend. I'm wondering though, how much do people really take in when they are in the "suspended disbelief" realm of enjoying their TV time and reserving one hour of the day to not worry about anything? If the message is processed through their peripheral mode of thinking, does it have any effect on them, or do they just gloss over when anything informative comes on? I guess that is where selective perception takes into account... as public health students, more attuned to health messages, we are going to pick up more health info, based on the existing importance we place on health... which means, if we are creating the messages, we may think they will be more effective than they actually end up being. I bet Professor Engelberg would say, "That's why we need to do formative research!!"