Lessons of the day...

There were some really great points we touched on in todays class. First of all I really enjoyed this weeks article on "Hard-to-reach" groups. It made so much sense and I appreciated the fact that it put the blame on the researchers. I think labeling a group as "hard-to-reach" is a perfect excuse for researchers, program implementers, etc. to not be innovative in their communication tactics. I feel its so valuable to now have this new perspective that there is no "hard to reach" groups but rather "we" are doing a good job of reaching them. On the opposite side of the spectrum are those that are trying desperately and innovatively to get at their target audience. Case in point Sprite, MTV, Nike, etc. I couldn't help but feel that no matter how they market their products for teenagers teens are still made out to be suckers. Companys try to say in their ads that we care about you, and what you think. But lets face it all they care about is how can they make you believe all that even though they just want your money. Or in the case of teenagers, their parents money. Despite my pessimistic view on the marketing tactics seen in the video we watched I do see the silver lining; get to know your audience so you can best communicate reciprocally between you and them. Which brings me to last great lesson of the day, that is to follow top industries to see what they are doing in terms of marketing and apply that to health promotion campaigns. Again, as with the article it makes perfect sense and without this class I don't think I would have thought of that or at least thought that it could work in health promotion.