Embedded Health Messages in Entertainment-Education Television Programs

The traditional health communication strategy these days are unproductive because of their obvious aim and abundance. Entertainment education (E-E) is the format in which social messages are embedded into entertainment programming with a purpose to influence attitudes and behaviors. Television is a persuasive medium for disseminating information on a plethora of topics on health messages. Stakeholders should take advantage of television’s potential for reaching audiences with healthrelated messages. This paper investigates youth perceptions of an HIV-AIDS message embedded in commercial television programming. The respondents were exposed to the episode of entertainment program ‘Sanjivani’-A medical boon which was aired on Star Plus television channel. These data indicate that youngsters are receptive to HIV-AIDS messages within television episode. Much more research should be done in order to generalize these findings to other audiences, episodes, programs, and healthrelated messages. Health message was identified by majority of viewers and it was not intrusive in enjoyment of the program. The results of this study suggest that audience involvement with E-E programs is multifaceted and important to the outcome of exposure to this programming. Embedded health message entertainment education model is proposed for the cost effective dissemination of health messages.