\

;I

!

I

IArvind Si~gh~' and Everett M. Rogers (1991). Hum Log Story; From Concept to After-Effects.Communication lOOOAD, New Delhi; Indian Institute of Mass Communications, pp. 17-25.

HUM LOG STORY FROM CONCEPTTO AFTER-EFFECTS

HUM WG represented nothing but a truly Indianlifestyle, wrote Abhinav Chaturvedi, who playedthe role of Nan he in Hum Log, in his personal diary,December 1985.

THE purpose of the presentarticle is to analyse India's

experience with Hum Lo g (WePeople), a television soap opera whichconsciously auempted to combineentertainment with education. We in-vestigate the nature of theentertainment-education strategy inmass communication, and trace thehistorical roots of Hum Log.

The reasons for Hum Log' spopu-larity are'discussed, and the direct andindirect effects of Hum Log areanalyzed. Theentertainment -educationstrategy is highly versatile; it has beenutilized in television. radio, rock music,the print medium and theatre.

The strategy

A needless dichotomy exists inalmost all mass media content: Thatmass media programmes must eitherbe entertaining or educational (Singhaland Rogers, 1989a; 1989b; 1989c).National governments in many ThirdWorld countries often feel obliged toproduce educational programme forbroadcasting. Such programmesusually require a heavy investment.are perceived by audiences as relativelydull, and receive very low audienceattention. Nor are such programmespopular with commercialadvertisers.

Arvind SinghalAsslstant Professor at SCliool of interper-

sonal Communlcat1on • College ofCommunlcat1on. OhIo Unlverslty

andEverett M. Rogers

Walter H. AnnenbergProfessor of Communication. AnnenbergSChool of Communlcat1on. Unlverslty of

South California

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On the other hand. entertainmentprogrammes like feature films andtelevision setials generall y obtain high~dience ratings, and hence are popularwith commercial sponsors. So why notuse entertainment programmes to edu-cate viewers?

This approach of combining en-tertainment with education to influenceviewers' attitudes and behaviours in asocially desirable direction is calledtheentertainment-education strategy inmass communication (Singhal. 1990).

Historical roots

While the roots of theentertainment-education strategy goback many thousand years to whenstorytelling originated. the first majormass media experience with theentertainment-education strategyoccurred accidentally in 1969 with thebroadcast of the television soap operaSimp/ememe Maria in Peru.

Simp/emente Maria told the rags-((rriches story of Maria, a rural-urban

. migrant to Lima from the Andes Moun-tains, who was employed as a maid ina rich urban household, and depicted inthe television series as hardworldng,idealistic, and a positive role model forupward mobility. Maria asked heremployers for free time in the eveningto enrol ih adult literacy classes, and

17

Silver Jubilee Commemorative Volume (199]), New Delhi:Indian Institute of ~l<lSS COTIununication.

achieved a high socio-economic statusbecause of her sewing slcills with aSinger sewing machine (Singhal andRogers, 1988).

Simplemente Maria achieved veryhigh television ratings in Peru in 1%9,and throughout Latin America.Wherever Simplemente Maria wasbroadcast, housewives reported thatyoung maids employed in their housesshowed a sudden interest in learninghow to sew, and requested time in theevenings to participate in literacyclasses.

The Singer company astutelybought advertising time onSimplemente Maria. Sales of Singersewing machines increased sharply, asdid the number of young women whoenrolled in sewing classes. In gratitude,the Singer company presented Ms SabyKamalich, who played Maria. with asmall gold Singer sewing machine.

Sabido's so~p operas

Miguel Sabido, a brilliant writer-producer 4rector at Televisa. the Mexi-can national television system, closelymonitored the audience success of Sim-plemente Maria in Mexico. Sabidohad previously produced, with a highdegree of audience success, fourhistorical-cultural soap operas forTelevisa. Simplemente Maria'saudience popularity and ensuing effects(such as encouraging young women tolearn sewing) convinced Sabido thatthe soap opera fonnat was ideally suitedtoperfonn an educational~evelopmentfunction in Mexican society.

Soap operas were highly popularin Mexico, achieved spectacularaudience ratings,and commercialsponsors were willing to underwriteproduction costs.

Soap operas in Mexico typicallyreached viewers for half an hour fivedays a week, for about one year, pro-viding massive exposure to aneducational-development message.The melodrama in soap operasrepresented a ~nfrontation of "good"

18

against "bad", offering a uniqueopportunity to promote "good"behaviour, and dissuade "bad"behaviour.

TABLElMiguel Sabklo's entertalnment-educatlonsoap operas broadcast In Mexico

Year Tille Theme

1. 1967 La Tormeflla The French(The Storm) invuion of

Mexico2. 1968 lAfCaJJdiJJos The Mexican

(The Leaden) struggle forindependence

3. 1969 La CoruliluciOfl Principles(The Constitution) underlying the

drafting ofMexico'scoostinnion

4. 1970 ElCarruaje Story of Benito(The Carriage) Juarez, a hero of

Mexico'sfreedom

5. 1975-76 Veil Collntigo Adult educa-(Come With Me) tioo

6. 1977-78 Acompaname FlIIIIily(Come Along planningWith Me)

7. 1979-80 Vamos JUIIlos Responsible(WbenWe Are parenthoodTogether)

8. 1980 ElCombau Adult educa-tioo andliteracy

9. 1980-81 CamUwrtos Sexual respo-(Let's Walk nsibilityTogether) amoog

teenagen10. 1981 Nosotras las SWUSlX

MlIjuu (We the womenWomen)

11. 1981-82 PorAmor Family(For Love) planning

12. 1990 Sangre JO'HII Family pI&nn-(Young Blood) ing,AIDS,

drug abuse,and teenagesexuality.

SOfUCe:&lSed ill part all Tdevw'61IUlillileforCOnInIIUIicalioft RuetUcn (1981).

For four years, from 1970 to 1974,Sabido' worked with his sister, IreneSabido (also a television producer atTelevisa), creating a methodology fordesigning commercial soaP operas foreducational-development purposes.Between 1975 'and 1982, Sabido pr0-duced seven entertainment-education

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soap operas for Televisa, each a spec-tacular success (fable 1). Sabido'sbest-known soap operas are VenConmigo (Come with Me) andAcompaname (Accompany Me).

Ven Conmigo promoted adult lit-eracy in Mexico, which in 1975 had 80lakh illiterate adults (about half ofMexico's labour force). Thesoapoperareinforced values of adult education,self-teaching (encouraging illiterateadults to study), and social solidarity(encouraging literate adults to help theilliterates to study).

Ven Conmigo achieved averageaudience ratings of 33 per cent (higherthan the average ratings for other soapoperas on Televisa), reaching an !llidi-ence of 40 1akhpeople just in the met-ropolitan area of Mexico City. BetweenNovember 1975 and December 1976when Ven Conmigo was broadcast,8,39,943 illiterates enrolled in adulteducation classes in Mexico,representing more than nine times thenumber of enrolments of 1975, andtwice the number of enrolments of 1977(when Ven Conmigo was no longerbroadcast) (TeIevisa's Institute forCo1TU7WllicationResearch, 1981).

Encouraged by the success of VenConmigo in 1975-76, Sabido designedanother entertainment-education soapopera. Acompaname(Accompany Me),which promoted family planning.Broadcast by Televisa between August19n and April 1978, Acompanamewas highly popular with Mexicanviewers, achieving average ratings of.29 per cent (Rogers & AntoLa, 1985.)

33% increase

The broadcasts of .4.companamewere supported by the infrastructure offami! y planning clinics of the MexicanHealth Services. The availability ofsuch infrastructurn1 services is cruciallyimportant so that an individualmotivated by television to perfonn acertain behaviour is not frustrated.

When Acompaname was on theair, 5,62,464 Mexicans visited

'"

",

government family planning healthclinics in order to adopt contraceptives,an increase of 33 per cent over theprevious year. Some 2,500 Mexicanwomen registered as voluntaryworkers to help implement theMexican National Plan for FamilyPlanning, an idea promoted byAcompaname (Tele visa ,slnstitUleforCo171l1WllicaiionResearch 1981).

After Acompaname ended,Sabido produced severalen tertainmen t-education telev isionsoap operas in Mexico until 1982,each promoting a particulardevelopment theme (such as the stainsof women, sexual responsibilityamong teenagers, and childdevelopment). While the Mexicanexperience with entertainment-education soap operas was highlysuccessful, Sabido's soap operamethodology was unknown in othercountries.

And then, in 1984, came alongthe Indian television soap opera HumLog (We People), representing thefirst non-Mexican use of Sabido' s soapopera methodology.

Hum Log story

"David Poindexter, President ofPopulation Communications-International (PC-I), headquartered inNew York City, played a key role inthe international diffusion of theMexican entertainment-educationsoap opera experience to India. TheHum Lo g story goes back toSeptember 19n when Poindexterfrrstmet Miguel Sabido in Mexico City.Poindexter (then Director ofCommunication at the PopulationInstitute) was searching for aneffective means to utilize mass mediacommunication to promote familyplanning, and Sabido was having greatsuccess with Acompaname.

As Sabido achieved success aftersuccess with his entertainment-education soap operas, Poindexterbecame increasingly intrigued and

impressed by the idea of usingentertainrtent soap operas to addresseducational-development problems inThird World countries.

Poindexter's interest in transferringSabido's soap opera methodology to Indiawas sharpened when, in March 1980,Emilio Azcarraga, President ofTelevisa,told Poindexter about his desire to meetthe Indian Prime Minister, Mrs IndiraGandhi, in order to tell heraboutSabido' sentertainment-education soap operas.

Borlaug's suggestion

In September 1980, Poindexterarranged a meeting between EmilioAzcarraga and Kurt Waldheim, Presidentof the UN General Assembly, in NewYork.' A 45-minute videotape featuringexcerpts from Acompaname was viewed.During this meeting, Azcarraga toldPoindexter that he should accompanyMiguel Sabido (instead of himself) toIndia. But then, for a year or so, nothinghappened.

In September 1981, Dr. NormanBorlaug (Nobel Peace Prize Winner for

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his role in breeding the miracle wheatvarieties that set off the GreenRevolution) and Dr M. S.Swaminathan, India's top agriculturalscientist, had a coffee breakconversation at a populationconference in Oslo, Norway.Swaminathan expressed thedifficulties involved in implementingIndia's family planning programme.

Borlaug, who was familiar withPoindexter's understanding ofSabido's entertainment-educationtelevision soap operas in Mexico,suggested that Swaminathan invitePoindex ter to India in December 1981for a forthcoming conference on theenvironment.

Sabido's presentation

Later in Septem her 1981 the topicof the Mexican entertainment-education television soap operas wasput on the programme of theInternational Institute ofCommunication (IIC) meeting inStrassbourg, France. Sabido made apresentation, showing a videotapefeaturing a collage of Acompanameand a segment about the theory andmethodology of entertainment-education television soap operas.

Some 80 media offic.ials attendedSabido's presentation; the discussionwas generally favourable, but concernwas expressed about the soap operasbeing too powerful. What if a Hitler-like political leader utilized theentertainment-education strategy formanipulative purposes (Brown andSinghal. 199O)?

The closing session for the lIeconference on Friday morning waschaired by Inder Gujral, who,Poindexter learned, had previouslyserved as India's Minister ofInformation and Broadcasting (I&B).Poindexter learned that Gujral wouldvisit New York in two weeks.

Gujral had" not seen the Sabidopresentation the previous Wednesday,and so Poindexter showed him the

19

'~.:..

Teievisa videotape in his office in. New York. GujraI was impressed bythe videotape, and agreed to set up ashowing of the videotape in his NewDelhi home in December 1981 (whenPoindexter attended theSwaminathan-led conference on the environment).

In December 1981 about 20 Indianmedia and public health officials metfor dinner at GujraI' sNew Delhi home.The United States Information Ageocy(USIA) in New Delhi provided a videocassette player, and after dinnerPoindexter showed the 45-minuteAcompaname collage videotape,leading the ensuing discussion.

Vision of failure

Poindexter felt that the receptionto his ideas was not very enthusiastic,and left directly for Palam airportcatching his flight back to New York,and feeling that he had failed in hismission to India.

A few weeks later, Jyoti ShankarSingh, Chief of the Information andExternal Relations Division of theUnited Nations Population Fund(UNFP A), New Yorlc, told Poindexterthat he may have misread the reactionto the Televisa videotape inNew Delhi,as high-level Indian civil servantsseldom show much enthusiasm for anew idea. .

. Indeed, in April 1982 Poindexterwas back in New Delhi to give a two-day workshop, invited by S B LaI,Secretary to the Ministry of I&B.About 20 top Indian radio .andtelevision scriptwriters and producersparticipated.

The. ' reaction towardsentertainment -educational soap operaswas skeptical, but Lal designatedManzurul Amin, the number twoindividual at Doordarshan, to explorefurther the idea of a family planningsoap opera. In June 1982 Amin andPoindexter travelled to Mexico Cityfor a briefmg by Miguel Sabido.

When Amin left Mexico City,Sabido said he would come to India.

20

But Sabido's trip was postponed twice:fIrst, because of the Asian Games in NewDelhi in November 1982, and then due tothe New Delhi conference of the Non-Aligned Nations in early 1983.

Sabido visits India

In May 1983, the long-delayedSabido trip to India occurred. Sabidopresented a fIve-day workshop onentertainment -education soap operas heldat Akashvani Bhawan, New Delhi. Aproblem arose when Sabido insisted thata television soap opera needed to bebroadcast five times a week (as is thecustom in Latin America) in order tohave its desired effects. Indian officialsinsisted they had only enough resources(equipment, studios, funds, etc.) for asoap opera to be broadcast once a week.

During this India visit, Poindexterand Sabido met Prime,.Minister IndiraGandhi. She was quite enthusiastic aboutthe idea of an entertainment-educationfamily planning soap opera.

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In September 1983, Poindexterreturned to New Delhi to meet S. S.Gill, who was by then appointedSecretary to the Ministry of! & B. Gillhad many questions for Poindexterabout entertainment-educationtelevision soap operas.

In November-Deceffiber 1983,Gill called a meeting of 25 writers,joumal-ists, producers and directors tosuggest changes for improvingDoordarshan's programmes in thewake of the impending satellitetelevision expansion in India Gill'sidea of promoting family planning andother sociall~ desirable values in Indiavia a television melodrama (Sabidostyle) received a negative reaction frommost participants. One individual whowas intrigued by Gill's proposal wasManohar Shyam Joshi, a Hindi novelistand editor of the Weekend Review.

Joshi commissioned

In December 1983, Gill deputedRajendra Joshi, media officer in theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare,to attend a lO-day training workshopon entertainment-education soapoperas at Televisa. In January 1984,Gill made a quick trip to Mexico Cityin order to be briefed by Sabido. Backin New Delhi, he set the ball rolling forHumLog. Gill hired Manohar Shyam .Joshi as Hum Log's scriptwriter, andfound him a small office in MandiHouse, Doordarshan's headquarters.

Based on his knowledge of theSabidotelevision soap operamethodology (even though Joshi hadnever met Miguel Sabido), Joshicranked out Hum Log's storyline, itscharacter sketches, and a summary ofthe fIrst 39 Hum Log episodes in arecord 40 days. Doordarshan lackedthe resources to produce and sustain aseries likeHumLog, soShobha Doctor,'a Bombay-based advertiSing agencyowner, was called in. She could, it wasargued, sell the programme toC<?ffimercial sponsors. Satish Garg,Controller of Programmes at

~. \,.

til,I" -t

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Log' stremcndous audience popularity(Singhal and Rogers. 1989a).

1. Timing : Hum Log wasbroadcast at a time when Doordarshan,the government national televisionnetwork, was experiencing anunparalleled expansion due to thelaunch of the Indian National Satellite(INSAT-IB) in 1983, which greatlyincreased public access to televisionin India

2. Novelty : Hum Log wasDoordarshan's ftrst long-running soapopera, a novel programming genre forIndian audiences.

3. Audience identification : HumLog centered on three generations of alower -middle class joint family. Manycharacters seemed real-life, andmillions of, Indians identified withthem, creating a type of para-socialinteraction.

Para-social interaction is theseemingly face-to-face interpersonalrelationship which can developbetween a viewer and a mass. mediapersonality (Horton and Wohl,1958).For instance, Badki, a protagonist forfemale equality, was mobbed onseveral occasions by young collegegirls,' who said they had also rebelledand she should advise them what to donext

4. Audience involvement: Massmedia communication is usually one-way. from one or a few sourceindividuals to many audienceindividuals. Hum Log was unusual inthat audience feedback via viewers'letters actually helped write and rewritethe storyline, suggesting new twists tothe plot

Some 4,00,000 viewers' letterswere received in response to HumLog. For instance, three avid viewersof the Hum Log television series wrotea joint letter to scriptwriter Joshi:"Please have mercy on Samdar (thepolice inSpector who lost his eyesight).Poor fellow has got all the bad thingsin life .... Give back his eyesight,please." Joshi restored Samdar'seyesight!

(1) personal interviews .withkey officialswho were involved in Hum Log, (2)content analysis of Hum Log scripts, (3)'field survey of the television audience inIndia, (4) content analysis of a sample ofviewers' letters written in response toHum Log, and (5) a nlaiIed questionnaireto a sample of our letter-writers.

Content analysis

Doordarshan, was appointed as' theexecutive producer of Hum Log and PKumar Vasudev its director.

For the next several monlhs, workprogressed at breakneck speed on Hum-Log. Actors and actresses were hired,scripts were completed, productionschedules were made, and a privately-owned modem television studio wasleased in Gurgaon, 25 miles south ofNew Delhi. Finally, on July 7, 1984,Doofdarshan began broadcasting HumLog.

Hum Log was broadcast for 17monlhs in 1984-85, a total of 156 half-hour episodes. At the close of eachepisode, film actor Ashok Kumarsummarized the episode in an epilogueof 60 to 90 seconds, and providedviewers with appropriate guides toaction in their lives (Singhal andRogers, 1988).

ThefirstHumLog episodes earneddisappointing ratings. Viewerscomplained of too-violent dramaticsituations, didactic sermons aboutfamil y planning, indifferent acting, anda story line that was too slow indeveloping. After the first 13 episodes,Hum Log was given a mid-coursecorrection. The family planning themewas diluted, and themes such as thestatus of women, family harmony, and Our content analysis of Hum Log'snational integration were widely episodes indicated that the televisionpromoted. series addressed,' to varying degrees,

A sub-story addressing important educational-developmentunderworld activities and political themes: Family harmony, the status ofcorruption was also added, which, women, alcoholism, national integration,while popular with the audience, family planning, health, problems ofdetracted from the soap opera's major urban life, and public welfare servicespurpose (Singhal andRogers, 1989c). (Singhal and Rogers, I989a; Singhal,Hum Log rose rapidly in popularity. 1990).When it ended on December 17,1985, . Hum Log was highly popular withthere was widespread sentimental Indian audiences, comrnandingaudienceprotest from many Hum Log vie- . ratings from 65 to 90 per cent in Northwers. India (a predominantly Hindi-speaking

The present authors used a variety area), and between 20 and 45 per cent inofmethodsandcollectedmultipletypes the main cities of. South India, whereof data to determine the effects of Hum Hindi language programmes are lessLog. Five types of data were gathered: popular. Several factors explain Hum

Mid-course correction

TABLE 3Extent or learning rrom Hum Log

about pro-social issues

Pro-social WII6 P u ce1ll of SIiTlIe]

respondenu whosaid the] /uznudfrom HIIl1I Log(N = 1.170)

1. Women should have equal opportu-nities 70%

2. Women should have the freedom tomake their personal decisiOl\l in life 68%

3. Family size should be limited 71%4. Family harmony should be promoted 75%5. Cultural diversity should be respected 68%6. Women's welfare programmes should

be encouraged. 64%

SaUTee: Singhal and Rogers (l989a)

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family planning, and so on), despitestatistically controlling for severalsocio-demographic variables (Singhal.1990).

Exposure to Hum Log was foundto be positively related to behavioursindicating freedom of choice forwomen. While statistically significant,the effects were all quite small (Singhal,1990).

Behavioural effect

While mass media programmes,by themselves, rarely lead to directovert behaviour change on the part ofaudiences, our content analysis ofviewers' letters suggests that at leastcertain Hum Log viewers werebehaviourally affected in the intendeddirection: The president of the LegalAid Centre for Women in New Delhi,in her letter to Asholc Kumar, said:"Your encouragement on Hum Logboosts our organization's morale.During June-July 1985 (when Hum Logwas being broadcast), a record numberof women's cases (152) were handledby our office, out of which 56 werenew."

The president of a youth club inChandigarb in his letter toAshoIcKumarsaid: "Mter getting inspiration fromthe Hum Log television series abouteye donation, we the members ofChandigarh's Youth Club havelaunched a campaign to enrol 5,000prospective eye donors in the next onemonth ... To date we have enrolled 982members." While organ donation isextremely rare in India, Hum Logspurred several eye donationcampaigns.

In addition to its direct effects, atleast three indirect impacts of HumLog occurred :

1. Commercial sponsorship:Hum Log launched the era ofcommercially-sponsored programmeson Doordarshan. The successfulexperience of Hum Log's commercialsponsor, Food Specialities Limited,convinced many other advertisers that

attitudes (I) towards freedom of choicefor women (for example, women shouldhave the freedom to choose their careers,their husbands, and soon), and (2) towardsequal opportunities for women (forexample, women should have equal sayin decisions about household spending,

TABLE 2Tbe bierarcby or media effects andthe sources or possible data about

these effects

Cuntuh:ztiv~ uv~/ ofM~dia SOIlTC~SofPossib/~Efftcts Data

1 Exposure to TV ratings for examplethe message(s)

2 Awareness of the Content analysis, audiencemessage(s) survey

3 Being informed Content analysis, audiencesurvey

4 Being persuaded Content analysis, audiencesurvey

5 Intending to Audience surveychange behaviour

6 o.anging Audience survey, point-<>fbehaviour referral clinic data, coodom

sales data, and case studiesof behaviour change

7 Maintaining Audience survey, point-<>f-behaviour change referral monitoring, and

case nudies of behaviourchange.

• This table is adaptedfrom McGuire (1981).

Intended effects

5. Asbok Kumar's epilogues:Asholc Kumar's epilogues endearedHum Log to many viewers. Learningfrom elders is a highly cherished Indianvalue, and Asholc Kumar, a fatherfigure in India, doled out words ofwisdom in his epilogues.

6. Hindi language: In writingHum Log's dialogues, scriptwriterJoshi creatively used Khadi Bali. amuch-used and highly popularderivative of the Hindi language. Acombination of Khadi Bali andconventional Hindi served as thelowest common denominator for manyHum Loi viewers.

We considered McGuire's (1981)classification of the hierarchy of effects(Table 2) in conceptualizing HumLog'seffects. WeexfXXtedHumLogto create widespread audienceexposure and widespread awarenessand information about the messagecontent. Exposure to Hum Logbroadcasts was less likely to changethe audience's attitudes (about such~ssues as the status of women), andeven fewer individuals were eXfXXtedto change their overt behaviour. Ourfinding about Hum Log's modesteffects fit well with ourconceptualisation of the hierarchy ofmedia effect (McGuire, 1981).

On the average, about 5 crarepeople watched aHum Log broadcast,and the television soap opera achievedSfXXlaCularly high ratings (up to 90per cent in Hindi-speaking areas). Soa very high proportion of the televisionaudience in India was exposed to theHum Log broadcasts .

Eighty-three per cent of our 1,170respondents watched at least oneepisodeofHumLog. Ahighproportionof ourrespondents (between 64 and 75per cent) were aware and informedabout the message content of HumLog (Table 3).

Further, exposure to Hum Logwas found to be positively related to

22

,.,

television programme sponsorshipcould be an attractive investment.Commercial sponsorship boomed atDoordarshan thereafter.

2. Serials come of age: HumLog's commercial success led to aproliferationofdomestically-producedtelevisionserialsonDoordarshan. Themain lesson from the Hum Logexperience was that indigenous soapoperas in India could attract largeaudiences and big profits.

At any given time, at least onesoap opera reigned supreme on Indiantelevision: frrst it,was Hum Log (in1984-85),thenBuniyaad (in 1986-87),thenRamayana (in 1987-88),and thenMahabharata (in 1989-90).

3. Delhi-Bombay marriage :The proliferation of domestically-produced serials on Doordarshanspurred Bombay fllmmoghuls to rushto Delhi to get their programmes onDoordarshan. . "It is a marriage ofconvenience between Bombay andDelhi", said Harish Khanna, formerDirector-General of Doordarshan(Jain, 1985, p.25).

Expansion of TV audience

In sumHum Log ushered in anewera on Indian television, which wasaided by the simultaneous expansionof the television audience in India viasatellite transmission.

While there is little doubt thatHum Log was a big success with bothits audiences and advertisers, itssuccess regarding the achievement ofits educationaI-development goals isnot so clear cut. However, there isenough research evidence to suggestthat Hum Log met at least some of itseducational-development goals.Certainly, various worldwideen tertainmen t-education effortsderived useful lessons from India'sexperience withHum Log.

The creation of Hum Log is ofparamount historic importance in thatit broke the temporary logjam in theinternational diffusion of

entertainment-education soap operas,representing the ftrSt non-Mexican useof the entertainment-education strategy.

When Hum Log was created in1984,nineyearshadpassed since MiguelSabido frrst utilized his entertainment-education soap opera methodology tocreate Ven Conmigo in 1975. The HumLog experience in India showed thatanother nation could successfully followMexico's lead, encouraging Kenya andother countries to follow suil

Kenya's first family planningtelevision soap opera, Tushauriani("Let's discuss") was broadcast during1987-88. Tushauriani became the mostpopular programme ev.er on Kenyantelevision.

A radio soap opera UshikwapoShikimana (''When given advice, takeit") was broadcast between 1987 and1989. BothTushauriani and Ushikwapo

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ShiJdmana were based on Sabido'ssoap opera methodology.

In India, another entertainment-education soap opera, Sooth Sooth("Together together"), based onSabido's methodology, was created.Produced by Roger Pereira, a formeradvertising official in Bombay,SaalhSaalh was entirely a private effort.

Sabido in Mexico is alsoproducing a family planning/AIDSsoap opera, Sangre Joven ("Youngblood"), which will be broadcast in1991throughout Latin Americaand inthe U.S.A.

Other media

Sabido's accomplishments withthe entertainment-education strategyin television Jtave inspired severalentertainment-education projectsworldwide which utilizeotherpopularmedia such as rock music,radio, print,and theatre (table 4). Officials of theJohns Hopkins University'sPopulation Communication Serviees(JHU/PCS), at present a leadinginstitution in implementingentertainment-education projectsworldwide, were highly influencedbySabido's work.

When Patrick L. Coleman, atpresent Director of Johns HopkinsUniversity' sPopula tionCommunication Service (JHU/pcS),served as a Peace Corps volunteer inEl Salvadoc in the 19708,he regularlyviewed Sabido's television soapoperas, and observed theirtremendousaudience effects. Sold on the idea ofcombining entertainment witheducation (so as togain theadvantagesof each), Coleman pioneered inutilizing this approach in rock musicfor promoting sexual responsibilityamong adolescents in Mexico (withsingers Tatiana and Johnny) and thePhilippines (with singerLeaSalonga), .forpromoting responsible parenthoodin Nigeria (with singers King SunnyAde and Onyeka Onwenu), and invarious other projects. The relative

23

l'l

i I

Poindexter's stromhelp launch1iLshawiant (ontelevision) andUshlkwapO Shikfmane(on radio) in Kenya

PoindexterpersuadesMigUel Sabkloto create SangreJoven in Mexicoand Indian offictalsto create &lath Saath.

Population Institute's DavidPoindexter meets MigUelSabidoin Mexico City\ and is convincedabout the potential of the Sabido-style soap operas in the ThirdWorld Co.untrles.

Poindexter's efforts helpslaunch Hum lAg on IndianTelevision .

Karina andCharU'ssongs inMexico

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~In a lightermood. in Nigeria

Inspired by the audiencesuccess of Simplemente Marta,Miguel Sabido, a TelevisionProducer-Director, createsseven entertainrnent-education soap operas in ~Mexico from 1975 to 1982,one each year.

/

Slmplemente Maria is broadcast in Peru

Inspired by Sabldo's soapoperas, Johns HopkinsUniversity PopulationCommunication Services'~HU /PCS) PatrtckColeman launches several..entertainment -education

~jects'l' .

..Tatiana and 'Johnny's Songs .in Mexico .

..' The Phllippine" .young people's

music project

.Sunny Ade and. Onyeka Onwenu'ssongs in Nigeria

" Severai ot.h~r\lliU /PCS,;. eIitertalrinient -Education

projects are presentlyunderway worldwide.

Major entertalnment- educatiqn projects worldwide, and how each was influenced by Its 'predecessors.Source: : Stnghal(l990)

1986

1989

1988

1990

1987

TABlE 4

1985

1983

1984

1980

1982

1981

1979

1978

1976

1977

1975

1973

1974

1972

1970

1969

1971

Year

,IJj

"i:1! ~

I~I1I

III!

i

I 24I,ij'-

•~.

"

G,:I.~;:ccssO~J~ ;nlertainment-educalionstralCgy in rock music, television, radio,and the print medium has made it highly

II' ':,ular with audiences, policy-makers,Ifl,.dia officials, and commerci<1.!

i sponsors.Ii, Content crucial

As mass media audiences continueto expand in Third World countries,the content of media programmingbecomes a crucial factor in determiningwhether the m?"" media will advancenational deve;opment goals or jusl beused .for entertainment purposes. Theentertainment-education strategy inmass communication represents onepossible means of accomplishing a

1. Brown,William J. and Arvind Singhal(1990). Ethical Dilemmas of ProsocialTelevision, COmmwUcatiOfl Quarterly, 38 (3):268-280.

2. Horton, David and R.R. Wahl (1958).Mass communication and Para-Socialinteraction: Observation on Ifllimacy at aDistQIICt, Psychiatry, August: 215-229.

3. McGuire, William 1. (1981). Thtoretu:alFolUldatioflS of Campa igfIS, in Ronald E. Riceand W. J. Paisley (Eds.),Publu:Communu:ationCampaigflS. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

4. Jain Madhu (1985. Be India, see Indian,SWlday, April 14-20: 1O-1!.

country's educational-developmentgoals.

NOTES

1. The present article draws uponSinghnl (1990); Singhnl and Rogers(1989a, 1989b,and 1989c);Singhnl andRogers (1988); and the authors' personalinterviews with Manohnr Shyam Joshi(1986, 1987 and 1988), S. S. Gill (1986),Salish Garg (1986),InderGujral(1986),ShoMo Doctor (1986), Harish Khnnna(1986 and 1987), Abhinav Chnlurvedi(1986,1987and 1989),DavidPoindeXler(1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989), MiguelSabido (1986, 1988 and 1989) and otherofficials who were involved inHum Log.

References

5. Singhal, Arvind (1990). EfIIerlaUtmLfI/-Education Communication Strategies forDevelopment. Ph.D. Thesis. Los Angeles:University of Southern California, AnnenbergSchool for Communication.

6. Singhal, Arvind and Everett M. Rogers(1989 a ), India's Information Revolutian. NewDelhi: Sage Publications.

7. Singhal, Arvin<! and Everett M. Rogers(1989). Prosocial Television for Developmtflt inIndia, in Ronald E. Rice and Charles Atkin (Eds.),Pubt icCommunication CampaigflS, Second Edition(pp.33 1-350). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

g. Singhal, Arvind and Everett M. Rogers

2. Prior to Hum Log short,en ten a i n me n t-ed ucat ion -typetelcvision scrials wcre produced andbroadcast by the Space ApplicationsCenter (SAC) in Ahmcdabaa to raiseconsciousness and to initiate localdcvelopment programmes in Gujarat' sKhcda District

For example, during India'sfamous Satellite InslructionalTelevision Experiment (SITE) in 1975-76,a 20-partseries called Chnlur Mota(Wise elder) was broadcast in KhcdaDistrict (SITE Winter School, 1976).

Another 40-pan enlCrtainment-education-type scries called Nari luNarayani (Wom~n you are powerful)was also broadcast by SAC to raise thestatus of women .•

(I989c). Educating Through Television, Populi,16(2): 38-47.

9. Singhal, Arvind and Everett MRogen(1988). Tele virion Soap O~rasfor Dewlopmutlin India, GaUlle, 41(3): 109-126.

10. SITE Winter School (1976).Ahmedabad : Space Application Centre.

II. Te1evisa 's Institute fOf Conununieat.ionResearch (1981). Towards tM Social Use ofSoap O~ras. Paper~ented to the InternationalInstiuJle of Commumcation, Strassbourg. Fnmoe.

12 Ragen, Everett M. and Livia Antola.(1985). TtletWvelas in Latin America: A SIICCUSStory, Journal of ComntJIIIication, 35 (4):24-35.

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