Submitted by: Name: Hari Deepak M Roll Number: 021/1

PSI India Case: Analysis

The Problem: This case deals with the issue of choosing a suitable mass communication campaign strategy to be espoused by a Non-GovernmentalOrganization named Population Services International (PSI), India. The main aim of this NGO is to raise the awareness levels about HIV/AIDS among the vulnerable sections of society due to lifestyle behavior. They needed a differentiated campaign to connect with the target population at a wider and deeper level. The main issue which needs to be analyzed is whether the Balbir Pasha campaign as described in the case can make headway in PSIs fight against AIDS.

The Balbir Pasha Campaign: Balbir Pasha is a fictional character conceived by three persons who worked for PSI named Sanjay, Kaveeta and Shilpa. PSIs aim was to portray this character across various communication channels in intriguing scenarios, serving as a person with whom the consumers could relate and empathize. Balbir Pasha would deliver HIV/AIDS awareness messages to the target audience in an approachable and familiar manner. The campaign was launched in five consecutive stages as described below: 1. The Teaser Campaign: The teaser campaign depicted typical Mumbai lower/middle income men asking each other the question Will Balbir Pasha get AIDS? No further reference to HIV/AIDS prevention or treatment was made in these campaigns. 2. Theme #1, Alcohol: This theme used the message I often use condoms, but when I get drunk, I sometimes forget. To communicate the danger of alcohol and the lack of pre-planning for high risk sexual activity. 3. Theme #2, Non-regular Partner: This theme used the message I only have sex with this one person and hence I am safe to communicate the target audiences misconception about faith in regular partners. 4. Theme #3, Healthy Partner: This theme used the message If a person looks healthy, he/she must be free from HIV/AIDS to communicate the risk of an asymptomatic carrier.

5. The Final Stage, Saadhan Helpline: This campaign used the message I dont want to become Balbir Pasha. What should I do? and promoted the use of Saadhan Helpline and the use of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services. It can be seen from the above mentioned details that the campaign was very well planned and it also created the necessary suspense to keep the recipients interested. Also Balbir Pasha was a fictional caricature of their own persona, hence the audience could easily associate and relate with his messages. Balbir Pashas campaign was ranked amongst the top five most popular campaigns during its time, second only to the Pepsi campaign. On the flip side however this campaign also attracted a lot of criticism from organization like Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) and other NGOs. The main criticism of the Balbir Pashas campaign arose due to its use of female sex workers as a source of HIV. The use of the common name Manjula as Balbirs regular partner caused consternation among women named Manjula. PSI received a lot of flak from many organizations for the same reason. Another criticism of PSIs campaign was that it only tried to focus on the heterosexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and did not deal with issues like homosexual transmission of HIV and intravenous drug use. This campaign achieved a reasonable amount of success as signified by the fact that it was the second most recalled advertisement with 23% people voting for it, just behind Pepsi advertisement. However if you look at the theme-wise recall the Teaserline campaign was recalled by 73% of the respondents, while the final Saadhan Helpline campaign was only recalled by 19% of the respondents. This shows a steadily waning interest towards successive campaigns. PSI campaign is a classic example of the Social Learning Theory proposed by Albert Bandura. Social learning theory is based on three observations: y y y People can learn through observation. People can digest new information and develop new behaviors by observing other people. An individuals internal mental states are an essential part of the learning process. Just because an individual absorbs/learns new information, there is no guarantee that it will bring about the desired change of behavior.

The three models which facilitate observational learning are as follows: y y A live model, which may involve an actual person demonstrating a certain behavior. A verbal instruction model, which involves detailed descriptions and well conceived demonstrations of a certain behavior.

A symbolic model, which can be either a real or fictional character depicting certain behaviors through various communication channels like Posters, Television, Print Media, Books, Films etc.

It can be observed that the PSIs Balbir Pasha Campaign was a classic example of the symbolic instruction model, where a fictional character was used to communicate HIV/AIDS awareness messages. The target audience, which included the low-income groups of people of Mumbai, would intrinsically reinforce the safe-sex behavior, because it is associated with positive health benefits for them. However just learning and awareness about AIDS need not necessarily lead to safesex practices. The various stages involved in the observational learning process are: Attention, Retention, Reproduction and Motivation. Because Balbir Pasha campaign was launched in consecutive stages and the way it delivered the message on AIDS awareness was novel, it managed to successfully capture the attention of the target audience. Since the HIV/AIDS perceptions of the target populations were positively impacted it indicates that the target audience successfully managed to retain the communication message and reproduced the desired behavior. There is no clear indication of the Motivational aspect of the campaign as it is not clear as to how the target audience would reinforce the desired behavior in the long run. I would like to conclude by stating that PSI should make a minor change of renaming the woman protagonist in their messages to an un-offensive fictional name. But the overall structure of their campaign should be retained as it achieved significant success. They should launch it in other Port cities which were to be targeted. From region to region only the language of the messages will change, but the content should remain unchanged. Also the name Balbir Pasha should be changed on regional basis and a popular name pertaining to that particular region should be used as it is supposed to represent the alter-ego of the local target populace of that region.