Situations, Problems, and Model Development to Solve the Problems Associated with the Radio Broadcasting Advertisement of Health Products in Sisaket Province - สถานการณ์ ปัญหา และการพัฒนารูปแบบแก้ไข ปัญหาโฆษณาผลิตภัณฑ์สุขภาพ ของสถานีวิทยุกระจายเสียงจังหวัดศรีสะเกษ

Abstract

         The objective of this study was to assess situations and problems regarding the advertisements of health products through radio broadcasting in Sisaket Province; and to explore solutions to the problems with an emphasis on stake holders’ participation. The study was undertaken in 2 phases. The initial phase was aimed to study situation and problems associated with health product advertisements, and the sources of data were 98 community radio stations in the province. The second phase was to develop a model for the solution of the problems identified in the phase 1; and the samples were entrepreneurs of community radio stations, community leaders, local administrative organizations, teachers, public health volunteers from villages, and public health officials. The total number of samples in the second phase was 230. Data were collected by voice recording, case record forms, accuracy assessment form, and the report forms. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, paired t-test and content analysis. It was found that the broadcasting time of the Sisaket Radio Stations was 1,458,908 seconds. The time spent for advertisements was
288,245 seconds (19.76% of the total broadcasting time); and 42.51% of the advertisement timing was on health products. There were altogether 2,704 advirtisements, and 1,192 of them (44.08%) were on health products. High percentage (68.88%) of inappropriate health products advertisements were observed; and they were related to food, medicines, and cosmetics, accounting for 84.63%, 55.66%, and 56.64, respectively. The major form of advertisement was radio spots (88.00%). The most common illegal advertisements were on medicines through interviewing people experiencing the drugs. Foods were advertised through radio spots, and cosmetics were advertised by radio presenters. The most illegal drug advertisements were related to providing wrong information or over-claims on drug quality (34.00%), which were similar to the food advertisements (74.60%). The most illegal cosmetic advertising, 43.40%, was to convince consumers that products could relieve, cure, or prevent diseases. Measures to control
health product advertisement through radio broadcasting included training, providing knowledge, changing attitudes, enhancing awareness, making appropriate advertising agreements, building networks to monitor advertisement messages, establishing centers to monitor health product advertisements in districts and communities, and systematic and continuous information sharing and reporting. Comparing the outcomes on knowledge, attitude and awareness among the studied samples, significant improvement in all three variables were observed (p<0.05).
Key words: situations, advertising format, health products, broadcasting radio station