TV Producers Say Soap Operas the New Weapon to Fight AIDS

A growing number of television and radio soap operas worldwide are incorporating HIV/AIDS into storylines in an effort to educate fans, but subtlety is key to delivering the message successfully. "We want people to discover these issues in a normal, very real context not beat them over the head with a stick," said researcher Kevin Kelly of the South African soap "Tsha Tsha."

"Tsha Tsha" character Viwe, the town's spoiled rich girl, struggles with a secret that the audience suspects could only be HIV/AIDS. For its time slot, the show boasts more than 50 percent of audience ratings -- a number that rises to above 70 percent when young people are surveyed, Kelly noted.

Daniel Montano, co-producer of Zimbabwe's radio show "Mopani Junction," said his team does extensive research to develop messages around real concerns of the audience, targeting specific beliefs and then having characters change those beliefs over time. "The message needs to be subtly woven so that over time people in the radio or television drama are shifting their previous orientation such as with condom use," said Montano.

In Cambodia, "Punishment of Love" television soap characters include "the middle class, sweethearts [and] a rural person who has come to the city to look for work and ended up in the sex business infected with HIV, which happens a lot in Cambodia," said Borima Chann, of Population Services International, the show's creator. In audience polling, "Viewers showed a more positive attitude to every single issue from AIDS stigma to women carrying condoms," said Borima.

Back to other news for July 23, 2004