Best Laid Plans

Cultural Entropy and the Unraveling of AIDS Media Campaigns

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology, Sociology
Cover of the book Best Laid Plans by Terence E. McDonnell, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Terence E. McDonnell ISBN: 9780226382296
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: August 18, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Terence E. McDonnell
ISBN: 9780226382296
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: August 18, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

We see it all the time: organizations strive to persuade the public to change beliefs or behavior through expensive, expansive media campaigns. Designers painstakingly craft clear, resonant, and culturally sensitive messaging that will motivate people to buy a product, support a cause, vote for a candidate, or take active steps to improve their health. But once these campaigns leave the controlled environments of focus groups, advertising agencies, and stakeholder meetings to circulate, the public interprets and distorts the campaigns in ways their designers never intended or dreamed. In Best Laid Plans, Terence E. McDonnell explains why these attempts at mass persuasion often fail so badly.
            McDonnell argues that these well-designed campaigns are undergoing “cultural entropy”: the process through which the intended meanings and uses of cultural objects fracture into alternative meanings, new practices, failed interactions, and blatant disregard. Using AIDS media campaigns in Accra, Ghana, as its central case study, the book walks readers through best-practice, evidence-based media campaigns that fall totally flat. Female condoms are turned into bracelets, AIDS posters become home decorations, red ribbons fade into pink under the sun—to name a few failures. These damaging cultural misfires are not random. Rather, McDonnell makes the case that these disruptions are patterned, widespread, and inevitable—indicative of a broader process of cultural entropy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

We see it all the time: organizations strive to persuade the public to change beliefs or behavior through expensive, expansive media campaigns. Designers painstakingly craft clear, resonant, and culturally sensitive messaging that will motivate people to buy a product, support a cause, vote for a candidate, or take active steps to improve their health. But once these campaigns leave the controlled environments of focus groups, advertising agencies, and stakeholder meetings to circulate, the public interprets and distorts the campaigns in ways their designers never intended or dreamed. In Best Laid Plans, Terence E. McDonnell explains why these attempts at mass persuasion often fail so badly.
            McDonnell argues that these well-designed campaigns are undergoing “cultural entropy”: the process through which the intended meanings and uses of cultural objects fracture into alternative meanings, new practices, failed interactions, and blatant disregard. Using AIDS media campaigns in Accra, Ghana, as its central case study, the book walks readers through best-practice, evidence-based media campaigns that fall totally flat. Female condoms are turned into bracelets, AIDS posters become home decorations, red ribbons fade into pink under the sun—to name a few failures. These damaging cultural misfires are not random. Rather, McDonnell makes the case that these disruptions are patterned, widespread, and inevitable—indicative of a broader process of cultural entropy.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Temporary Kings by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Beethoven for a Later Age by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Air's Appearance by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Tangled Diagnoses by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Social Knowledge in the Making by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Start-Up Poland by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Hegel, Heidegger, and the Ground of History by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Science from Sight to Insight by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Who Governs? by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Maps with the News by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Conditions Handsome and Unhandsome by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Transition Scenarios by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Rising Up from Indian Country by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Bill Veeck's Crosstown Classic by Terence E. McDonnell
Cover of the book Sites of the Unconscious by Terence E. McDonnell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy