PSI India Will Balbir Pasha Help

fight AIDS? (A)

Case Study

Submitted by:
Vikas Suman|| PGP/21/244
Section D
(i)Should PSI India go for a mass media campaign in its fight against AIDS? Why?

PSI India launched Operation LightHouse as their flagship mass media campaign to create targeted
behaviour change communication focused on high-risk male workers associated with the ports and related
industries supported by condom social marketing in each port. They received a grant of $20 million from
USAID to fully implement Operation LightHouse over 5 years.
Since, the main objective of the project was to bring behavioural change and reduce the incidence, so PSI
India should go for mass marketing as it is the best way to raise mass awareness due to following reasons:
a) Better Penetration: It would be tedious task for IPCs to reach people individually and raise mass
awareness regarding HIV/AIDS. Moreover, in this case the IPC can effectively target the sex
workers but the problem lies with men, who are not willing to use condom. So mass media campaign
though print and ads can be the best means to reach all strata of society, be it families, sex workers,
truck drivers, port workers and sailors and thus increasing penetration.
b) It can serve a medium to trigger public discussion of the disease among target populations and
facilitate understanding of the need for safe sex.
c) It can motivate people to access the HIV/AIDS help line and VCT services thus bringing behavioural
change.
d) Public Awareness campaigns can often be seen as preachy and sermonic in nature. A mass media
campaign effectively negates this perception and can engage the audience in a much more creative
manner. PSI was instrumental in increasing awareness in Zimbabwe through Studio 263 soap opera
where viewers were able to relate themselves to the positives and negatives affecting the characters.

(ii)Is the concept proposed by Lowe Lintas a fictional character named Balbir Pasha better for
generating AIDS awareness for highlighting particular barriers for condom use in the target
population (male migrant workers between 18-34)?

Balbir Pasha is a fictional character created by Lowes Lintas to represent all the target male population who
believes that they cannot contract AIDS. Balbir Pasha was placed in a number of high-risk situations and the
tagline Will Balbir Pasha get AIDS? was used throughout the campaign. The problem with the majority of
migrant port workers in the age group of 18-34 was that they relied more on believes rather than facts about
AIDS. The general perception that condom use is not necessary if the partner has few or no other sexual
partner does not force one to use protection during intercourse. Also, the lack of pleasure, loyalty to partner
and unavailability of condoms are some of the other hindrance in widespread usage of condom.
The character of Balbir Pasha would become an example of sorts. Situations showing the possibility of him
contracting AIDS will compel the audience to rethink on their belief that they cannot contract AIDS. It would
be an indirect way of creating awareness and telling the audience that they are at risk. Balbir Pasha mirrors
them; they can relate to the character and figure out things for themselves.
(iii)Assuming the mass media campaign is approved how should the ad budget be allocated between the
different media? (assume a campaign that runs for three months)
In order to make campaign a success, we need to take the specific mix of these media:
Assumption: For the first three months, mass media campaign is piloted for only 4 ports, i.e, Mumbai, Cochin,
Chennai and Kolkata.
Media Cost Duration No of Ads Total Cost
Television $300 35 seconds 180(6 ads per day) $54,000
Newspaper Ads $500 Per placement 30 $15,000
Billboards $1,200 Month 30 $36,000
Total cost/City $1,05,000
Total cost for all the 4 ports $4,20,000

Reasons for the mix:

1. Large Investment in Billboards:
Billboards are the most important area of coverage and we spend almost half of the allocated budget
towards it. Most of the high-risk segment comes under Truck drivers, Sailors and casual daily wage
workers. These individuals can be reached easily through billboards rather than TV ads or Newspapers.

2. Medium Investment in Television Ads and ads during Film intervals:

Television is the easiest mass media covering all segments of population and we focus of prime times
to address the risk segment. The advertisements are short and need to cater to all segments of the
society (children and adults) so that everybody is aware of the disease. Thus, Video Ads will be
effective in increasing awareness of people in the medium to high income groups.

3. Less Investment in Newspaper ads:

The high-risk group has a large proportion of illiterate population which means they will never read
newspapers. Hence, newspaper ads will never reach them and as a result, investing in print ads is
redundant. But we will advertise using print ads to ensure the general public is aware of such
campaigns.

Suggestions: Radio ads can be used as an alternate media to reach the targeted audience.