Towards Spreadable Entertainment-Education: How Transmedia Storytelling and Social Influencers Contribute to Effective Health Interventions

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session III
  In Interactive Poster Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Entertainment-Education (EE) is a communication strategy that uses popular entertainment media to communicate with audiences on topics such as condom use, vaccination, or mental health. Recently, changes in the media landscape have enabled audiences to create and share content themselves. This offers opportunities to reach and engage with target audiences in new ways. Health organizations have experimented with new approaches in order to go viral, but reap mixed results. With spreadable EE, this paper provides an alternative approach that strives to meaningfully embed storytelling in the technical, economic, and social contexts in which audiences consume, create, and (re)circulate media. We advocate collaborating with new creative professionals and influential audience members to create multiplatform story worlds that fit the cultures and preferences of the target audiences and allow for a sustainable kind of audience involvement. As such, this article contributes to the design of spreadable EE interventions.

Authors

• Roel Lutkenhaus, Center for Media & Health, Gouda; Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Jeroen Jansz, Erasmus Research Centre for Media, Communication and Culture / Erasmus U Rotterdam

• Martine Bouman, Erasmus U Rotterdam