1. Entertainment Education
COMT 480/580

2. Overview
Definitions
Background
Examples
Lessons Learned

3. Definitions What is entertainment education?
The synergy of entertainment and education consists of deliberately combining the joy of entertainment with the empowering potential of education to achieve social progress for all.
The International ee 2000 Event The Third International Entertainment Education for Social Change September 17-23, 2000 Arnhem and Amsterdam, the Netherlands

4. Definitions
Entertainment education—also termed enter‑educate, pro‑social entertainment, pro‑development entertainment, edu‑tainment and infotainment—is defined as:
the process of putting educational content in entertaining formats and messages in order to:
increase knowledge
create favorable attitudes
change overt behavior concerning an educational issue

5. Methodology
Role modeling (Bandura’s Social Learning Theory – We learn by identifying w/ characters and modeling their behavior when we see it’s rewarded)
Positive role models
Transitional characters
Negative role models
Efficacy
Individual
Collective

6. Programs Population Communication International www.population.org
Tinka, Tinka Sukh (Happiness Lies in Small Things) 1996
Radio soap opera in India
Against child marriage
Gender equity
Against dowry
Girls education
Self-development
Family planning
HIV prevention

7. Tinka Tinka Sukh Village like Lutsaan Messages:
Progressive & traditional
Characters identified with
Messages:
Dowry
Poonam, bride, is beaten by her husband & in-laws (negative role models) for not providing adequate dowry. She is sent back to her parents after incorrectly being accused of infidelity, and then commits suicide.
Child marriage
Kusum is married at 18, gets pregnant, & dies.
Efficacy
Sushma is left by her husband & starts a sewing school (positive role model)
Sunder, a drug addict, gets clean and finds a job.
Villagers construct a new hospital

8. Effects Tinka Tinka Sukh Poster-letter from Village of Lutsaan, India
Vowed to oppose dowry
Shyam Club supported girls’ schooling
Endorsed family planning as a cost-saver
Claimed emotional involvement with characters –
tailor id’d w/ Ramlal (pampered son who becomes a development officer) as a transitional character
Limited media access (only 60 radios for pop. 6,000)

9. How or why effective? Tailor & Post-master Parasocial interaction
Opinion leaders
Diffusion of innovations (Everett Rogers)
Interpersonal communication
Transitional role model
Parasocial interaction
Tailor’s shop

10. Untapped Potential Entertainment media 3 reasons it should be tapped
Most pervasive genre
Tells us how to think, speak, dress
3 reasons it should be tapped
Development problems are huge, resources scarce
Leisure & entertainment is mega-trend
Media access growing worldwide
Positive audience reception to social messages on entertainment

11. Resistance Entertainment degradation programs
Lots of sex & violence
Little media deals w/ consequences
Boredom education programs
Entertainment education
Sesame Street, PBS
Cognitive learning skills
Archie Bunker (negative role model for bigotry)
Embedded messages (Winsten, 1999)
Designated driver campaign on 77 shows, e.g. LA Law

12. Lessons learned
Entertainment education can be used to educate youngsters
Start-up costs high
Formative research crucial
Balance creative & communication research
Can be transferred across cultural boundaries
Economies of scale
TV content shaped by eco & political realities

13. Ethics of Entertainment-Education
Ethics in the field of Entertainment-Education should:
Participation
Encourage full and informed participation of all stakeholders, including audiences.
Information
Based on appropriate information
Design
Culturally tailored messages
Include careful design and monitoring of implementation processes
Monitor
Monitor effects & societal consequences

14. Research
Goals:
conducting and sharing research to the development of the Entertainment-Education field
fine-tuning of current research methods
new and more comprehensive approaches for formative, monitoring, and evaluation research
set a research agenda that includes study into the role of performing artists, their involvement in social subjects, and intended and unintended effects

15. Sustainability
expand professional expertise through continuing pre-service and in-service training and education in related professional fields
promote sound business practices that will support sustainability, including branding and marketing, to optimize cost-effectiveness with a fair and equitable financial return to all participants

16. Collaboration
The organizing parties of the International ee 2000 Event committed to:
develop a network of associates that will facilitate the exchange of information and materials
sustain this network, establishing and coordinating a Web site, developing a global distribution system for existing Entertainment- Education materials, and other initiatives.
plan for future meetings amongst our organizations and with other interested parties
establish awards to recognize excellence in the Entertainment-Education field

17. Background
E-E 2000 E-E 2000 took place from September 17-23, 2000 in the Netherlands.
The E-E 2000 Event will consist of five days of interactive programs with plenary sessions, multimedia presentations, expert panels, and "real life" clusters.

18. Haiti: "Zanmi" Music Video
The Youth Reproductive Health project, Sept. 1995
Target = youth between the ages of in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince.
Goal = to promote reproductive health issues among youth
Context = The project was designed during a period of political unrest and financial crisis in Haiti, during the 1995 UN tightening of the embargo imposed on the country. It is the first project of its kind in Haiti.

19. Formative research One-week message & materials development workshop
Fondation de Santé Reproductive et d'Education Familiale (FOSREF),
Center for Development and Health (CDS)
Johns Hopkins University Population Communication Services (JHU/PCS)
Members of target audience

20. Message development
During the workshop the young participants developed the following materials:
a sexual responsibility game
a song for a music video
three radio spots
three photonovelas
a poster
a general information leaflet

21. Messages (cont’d)
Zanmi A song and music video were products of the Youth Reproductive Health Project. Their themes are:
protecting and respecting yourself and your relationships and
Sexual responsibility
Both the song and the video were produced by King Posse, a well known rap group in Haiti
with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and technical support from ASPHA (Haitian Public Health Association).

22. Rap song
Lyrics (translated from Creole) Let's take care! Let's control ourselves! When we are ready, So as not to have any regrets! You love me, I love you! Let's take care! You love me, I love you! Let's control ourselves! You love me, I love you! When we are ready!

23. Success?
“The video continued to be played on commercial TV in Haiti and the song was heard regularly on the radio. It is an excellent example of the ‘enter educate’ approach because the song is perceived by the Haitian public as just another song by King Posse and not as a song with a health-related message. Everybody, particularly adolescents, knows the lyrics of the song.” – JHU/CCP web site.