Workforce Language Services

Chi Town Daily News recently reported on the results of focus groups of young minorities and their perception of AIDS awareness campaigns.  The study found that minorities were distrustful of both the message and the medium used to convey the message:

Their attitudes demonstrated that AIDS awareness initiatives targeted at young people – and blacks, in particular – failed to resonate, says Anjanette Chan Tack, a doctoral student who worked on the study. A 30-second public service announcement bookended by sexually suggestive programming struck participants as ironic.

“They were saying, ‘OK, sure, you’ve got this flash on the screen for 30 seconds…but this in a sea of music videos where people are engaging in sex,’” she says. “You don’t see people using protection; all this stuff is glamorized, and in the middle there is a commercial telling you to protect yourself.”

Participants wondered how they could take the messaging seriously, Chan Tack says.

The article then moves on to describe how public health groups are using the lessons learned from these focus groups to create a message that resonates with minority populations.