More ramblings

Well I got a job finally..so this has been a good week..even with an assignment and a biostats test..This weeks class was awesome...I loved the video about breaking the clutter and watching ad campaigns from ages ago...It's amazing to see how much work goes into the making of a commercial..and I guess when it's a health communication campaign segmentation becomes even more important.

Here is an awesome ad that I feel deals with the whole prejudice of HIV in a different way..that's it for now

Week 4...I think

Ok..first of I was so interested in this class that I actually joined the entertainment and media class and now what I learned in both the classes seem to be kind of muddled in my head..

This week's class was nice...I finally realized how important it is to research your topic before you actually go into doing a campaign...I also totally loved the presentation on presentation skills..I hate watching boring presentations and when I thought about it I figured most people hate watching my boring presentations too...so from now on it's less words and more of other stuff...will post more as soon as I figure what the other stuff is...

Theoretizing Campaigns

Another week of class and it gets even more interesting. This weeks class we dealt with the theory of dual process persuasion. Especially in advertising it's amazing how much emphasis is placed on the heuristic thinking of people rather than the systematic side. It seems to me that most advertisers seem to assume that the audience they are targeting does not really have the intelligence to think too hard about any ad. While this might work for normal advertising while promotion health communication messages I feel that any campaign should probably start off heuristically but the campaign needs to eventually appeal to the systematic thinking of people to have a long term impact.

I also found the lab interesting. Before this my only experience with 'lab' work has consisted of smelly gases and broken beakers:-) I found it a relief to actually be doing a lab that involved planning a campaign for seniors to promote physical activity. The approaches based on what type of audience really gave me an insight into how different each campaign needs to be to appeal to that specific target audience. Creativity is definitely the key here...and i'm loving every moment of it...

Totally unrelated to this here is an awesome ad a friend did to prevent female infanticide--a HUGE problem in India

Blog Pressure

Ok...So I didn't have any plans for blogging for another week at least but thanks to the fact that suddenly everyone I know wants to know more about my not-so-interesting life, here I am again. It's a nice long weekend and in normal circumstances I would have a lot to do, places to be, things to see (ok..maybe not all of those - but at least I would have a plan). But being in a new city with new people and not knowing anyone can certainly be quite a setback. So my plans for the labor day weekend - read, read, read...It's time for Terry Pratchett to enlighten me with his take on life - since right now mine doesn't seem so funny...

changing face of health

During my first class of health communication I saw a film by the CDC. What really interested me about the film was the fact that there was a changing spectrum regarding the illnesses mentioned. For example -first there was small pox, then there was smoking hazards and then HIV/AIDS. One thing that really scared me after watching the film was that there always seems to be some new disease or health problem that crops up just when we think we have beat the worst one...

I guess that's just nature's way on keeping us in check. However the positive side to this is the fact that people do seem to be waking up - thanks largely to the people in the public health field - who seem to have the knack of getting people to listen before it's too late.

More ramblings when I can think of them...

lonely hitchhiker

It's been almost a month since I came to San Diego from good old Chennai and this place still seems as alien to me. I had my first class on Monday and that was when Dr Engelberg said that all of us need to keep a blog as part of our course on health communication. I am not a blogger - I never have been and right now i'm not sure if I will stay one after this semester. This is my first post just to get a hang of it...i hope by the next one I'll no longer be the lonely hitchhiker...