Entertainment-Education

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Entertainment-Education on the spectrum Development-Entertainment Continuum.png
Entertainment-Education on the spectrum

Entertainment-Education (EE) is a communication strategy that aims to alleviate a social issue or educate the public through a custom-tailored piece of entertainment. It is defined by a set of techniques and methodologies which all aim to use various levels of mass media to communicate social and behavior change.

Contents

On the impact-entertainment spectrum, EE is balanced between social impact entertainment (SIE) and social and behavior change communication (SBCC). The primary distinction that can be drawn to SIE is that in Entertainment-Education, the "impact issue" usually comes first; the characters and story are built around the issue. In SIE, the story usually originates projects, and impact issues are woven into or extracted out of an existing narrative.

As of 2009, Entertainment-Education is defined as: "a theory-based communication process for purposefully embedding educational and social issues in the creation, production, processing and dissemination process of an entertainment program, in order to achieve desired individual, community, institutional, and societal changes among the intended media user population." [1]

History

In 1950, the UK-based radio soap opera The Archers broke ground by being specifically designed to educate the British people about farming issues and to help increase productivity in the postwar era of rationing and food shortages. [2] It is the longest-running Soap Opera in the world, and is still broadcast today with millions of listeners.

Miguel Sabido, a Mexican TV producer, further formalized the field. [3] He initially called it "Entertainment with a proven social benefit" in the 1960s, which Everett Rogers re-branded as "Entertainment and Education" in 1979, and Patrick Coleman simplified as "Entertainment-Education", which is the presently used term. [4]

Miguel Sabido (center) being honored by the Population Media Center (PMC) and Population Communications International (PCI Media) with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the SBCC Summit 2018. Patrick Coleman, who coined the term "Entertainment-Education", is on the left. Miguel Sabido being honored by the Population Media Center (PMC) and Population Communications International (PCI Media) with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the SBCC Summit 2018.jpg
Miguel Sabido (center) being honored by the Population Media Center (PMC) and Population Communications International (PCI Media) with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the SBCC Summit 2018. Patrick Coleman, who coined the term "Entertainment-Education", is on the left.

While the field has evolved in the last 50 years, it is still strongly based on Sabido's specific approach. Nowadays, many practitioners in Entertainment-Education come from a background of public health, health communication and behavior change communication.

Sabido pioneered his method in 1967 by leveraging the Mexican tabloid Casos de Alarma to encourage readers to join the social security system of Mexico. The release of the Peruvian telenovela Simplemente María (1969) validated his assumptions about using mass media for social change, as the sale of sewing machines increased dramatically after the telenovela aired. [5] Sabido went on to produce Ven conmigo , which was widely successful with a 32-point share and resulted in a million people enrolling in the adult education system of Mexico after the series' 1-year runtime. [6] [7] The Sabido-produced, family planning-themed telenovelas Acompáñame , Vamos juntos , caminemos and Nosotros los Mujeres followed soon after in the 1970s, which collectively resulted in a 34 percent decline of the population growth rate of Mexico. [8]

The United Nations awarded Mexico with their Population Prize after that run; United States Agency for International Development's Thomas Donnelly wrote: "The Televisa family planning soap operas have made the single most powerful contribution to the Mexican population success story." [9] David Poindexter of Population Communications International saw great promise in this approach, and introduced him to US-American psychologist Albert Bandura. Bandura was able to explain some of Sabido's enormous impact through his social learning theory and later went on to publish many papers on the effects of serial (radio and television) dramas.

In a series of strategic meetings in the 1970s and 80s, Poindexter invited Sabido to teach his method world-wide in India, China, the Philippines, Egypt, and the Netherlands. Together with Sonny Fox, the president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, they then organized so-called "Soap Summits" that brought together the CEOs of large American broadcasters, as well as introduce American TV writers to the methods of Entertainment-Education.

Over 1,200 attendees came to the 2018 SBCC Summit, where Entertainment-Education was a main topic among Social and Behavior Change Communication professionals. SBCC Summit 2018 Crowd in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.jpg
Over 1,200 attendees came to the 2018 SBCC Summit, where Entertainment-Education was a main topic among Social and Behavior Change Communication professionals.

Since the early days in the 1980s, a number of organizations have flourished, led by Poindexter-heritage non-profits PCI Media and Population Media Center on the actively producing side, jointly having made 140 shows that reached more than 2 Billion people [10] [11] and had enormous impact on prevention of HIV/AIDS, family planning and women's rights. [12] [13]

In an effort to systematize health communications in Hollywood content and under leadership of Sonny Fox and Norman Lear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention teamed up with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, jointly creating Hollywood, Health and Society. HH&S advises Writers Guild of America West writers in the inclusion of health-related topics in mainstream television and film.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Bandura</span> Canadian-American psychologist (1925–2021)

Albert Bandura was a Canadian–American psychologist who was the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University.

Social learning is a theory of learning process social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behavior, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious reinforcement. When a particular behavior is rewarded regularly, it will most likely persist; conversely, if a particular behavior is constantly punished, it will most likely desist. The theory expands on traditional behavioral theories, in which behavior is governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various internal processes in the learning individual.

Braulio Castillo Cintrón was a telenovela actor in Latin America. His two sons, Braulio Castillo, Jr. and Jorge Castillo, are also actors. He was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

Everett M. "Ev" Rogers was an American communication theorist and sociologist, who originated the diffusion of innovations theory and introduced the term early adopter. He was distinguished professor emeritus in the department of communication and journalism at the University of New Mexico.

Population Media Center (PMC) is an entertainment organization dedicated to women's rights and empowerment, population stabilization, and the environment.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Fox</span> American game show host and television personality (1925–2021)

Irwin "Sonny" Fox was an American television host and broadcaster who was the host of the children's television program, Wonderama. Through his career, he had hosted other children's educational and entertainment shows including Let's Take a Trip,Just for Fun and On Your Mark, in addition to family shows including The $64,000 show. Fox was also a producer of movies including And Baby Makes Six, Mysterious Two and Brontë. He served as the chairman of Populations Communication International, a non profit advocating for a change in attitudes toward family planning.

Hum Log is an Indian television soap opera and also the first serial drama series in Hindi. It began telecast on Doordarshan, India's national network on 7 July 1984, then the only television channel of India. It is the story of an Indian middle-class family of the 1980s and their daily struggles and aspirations.

Social learning is learning that takes place at a wider scale than individual or group learning, up to a societal scale, through social interaction between peers. It may or may not lead to a change in attitudes and behaviour.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social cognitive theory</span> Theory in psychology

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social and behavior change communication</span>

Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), often also only "BCC" or "Communication for Development (C4D)" is an interactive process of any intervention with individuals, group or community to develop communication strategies to promote positive behaviors which are appropriate to their settings and thereby solving the world's most pressing health problems. This in turn provides a supportive environment which will enable people to initiate, sustain and maintain positive and desirable behavior outcomes.

Las momias de Guanajuato is a Mexican telenovela produced by Televisa and transmitted by Telesistema Mexicano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social impact entertainment</span>

Social Impact Entertainment (SIE) is "all storytelling that is self-aware of its potential impact on its audiences and incorporates that knowledge to effect positive change at the individual, local, or global scale on one or more social issues", as defined by the SIE Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel Sabido</span> Mexican telenovela producer

Miguel Sabido is a producer, writer, researcher, and theorist, known for pioneering Entertainment-Education, developing the "Theory of the Tone", and producing a number of commercially successful telenovelas for Televisa in the 1970s.

David Poindexter was the founder of Population Communications International, a Methodist minister, and a TV producer.

Arvind Singhal is an Indian-born American social scientist and academician. His academic research has focused on diffusion of innovations, the positive deviance approach, organizing for social change, the entertainment-education strategy, and liberating interactional structures. He currently holds the positions of Samuel Shirley and Edna Holt Marston Endowed Professor of Communication and Director of the Social Justice Initiative in Department of Communication at University of Texas at El Paso since 2007, William J. Clinton Distinguished Fellow at the Clinton School of Public Service since 2010 and Distinguished Professor 2 in the Faculty of Business Administration, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, since 2015.

References

  1. Wang, Singhal, Hua, Arvind (2009). "Entertainment-Education Through Digital Games" (PDF). University at Buffalo.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. Donovan, Paul (1991), The Radio Companion. London: Grafton; p. 8.
  3. "History of the Sabido Methodology - Population Media Center". Population Media Center. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  4. Desmon, Stephanie (2018-04-30). "A Conversation with Miguel Sabido, Entertainment-Education Pioneer". Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
  5. A, Singhal; EM, Rogers; R, Obregon (1994). "Simplemente Maria and formation of the entertainment-education strategy".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. CRIDER, JEFF (1987-09-20). "Adult Literacy, Birth Control Addressed in Dramas : Third World Soaps Tackle Social Problems". Los Angeles Times. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  7. Yount, William (2010-08-15). Created to Learn: A Christian Teacher's Introduction to Educational Psychology, Second Edition. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN   9781433672811.
  8. "History of the Sabido Methodology - Population Media Center". Population Media Center. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  9. "The Population Institute". www.populationinstitute.org. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  10. "PMC Impact - Population Media Center". Population Media Center. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  11. "Who We Are". PCI Media Impact. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  12. "PMC Impact - Population Media Center". Population Media Center. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  13. "What We Do". PCI Media Impact. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2018-04-19.