I have experienced the ineffectiveness of information campaigns through programs such as D.A.R.E and prosocial television ads which often lack target audiences and have unspecific objectives.
The media often has a reputation for displaying images of violence, drugs, and sex that are said to go against society’s core values. Why then do the methods implemented by big media companies clearly have a larger impact than those implemented by education programs that seek to display prosocial behavior? Information campaigns are campaigns that seek to influence society to adopt prosocial behavior as opposed to being influenced by the negative effects of the media. However, these attempts often fail. Advertising spots are difficult to find, and are usually at night when the target audience (children and teens) are often asleep. The focus of the programs are usually vague, and lack a target audience. Teens often joke about the exaggerated affects displayed by the educational program, and occasionally the campaigns can be even worse than ineffective. Another problem with information campaigns is that unlike commercials that aim to sell products, they aim to immediately and directly change people’s values as opposed an overtime build up of values.
D.A.R.E. was a drug educational program that was implemented in my elementary school along with many others. Many problems that plague information campaigns were also prevalent in D.A.R.E. The progam lacked focus, aiming to prevent drug use, gang involvement, and violence all at once. It also attempts to scare children about drug use by making it seem much more prevalent than it actually is. As a child, programs like D.A.R.E. often made me believe that ALL teenagers smoke cigarettes and that I needed to use any means possible to avoid them. While I did take away the harmful effects of drugs, I also saw the portrayal of drugs as commonplace to make these effects seem less damaging. Information campaigns such as D.A.R.E are at times ineffective and even can even have negative effects on viewers.
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