Young people's comparative recognition and recall of an Australian Government Sexual Health Campaign

Megan Su Cheng Lim, Judy Gold, Anna Louise Bowring, Alisa Edith Pedrana, Margaret Elena Hellard

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3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In 2009, the Australian Government s National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program launched a multi-million dollar sexual health campaign targeting young people. We assessed campaign recognition among a community sample of young people. Individuals aged 16?29 years self-completed a questionnaire at a music festival. Participants were asked whether they recognised the campaign image and attempted to match the correct campaign message. Recognition of two concurrent campaigns, GlaxoSmithKline?s The Facts genital herpes campaign (targeting young women) and the Drama Downunder campaign (targeting gay men) were assessed simultaneously. Among 471 participants, just 29 recognised the National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program campaign. This compared to 52 recognising The Facts and 27 recognising Drama Downunder. Of 134 who recognised the National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program campaign, 27 correctly recalled the campaign messages compared to 61 of those recognising the Facts campaign, and 25 of those recognising the Drama Downunder campaign. There was no difference in National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program campaign recognition by gender or age. Campaign recognition and message recall of the National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program campaign was comparatively low. Future mass media sexual health campaigns targeting young people can aim for higher recognition and recall rates than that achieved by the National Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Program campaign. Alternative distribution channels and message styles should be considered to increase these rates. ? The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)398 - 401
Number of pages4
JournalInternational Journal of STD & AIDS
Volume26
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015

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