The way the public is influenced is aided by technologies which facilitate messages to be spread at speed, and people trust the medias and or people who deliver the message often without question. They often sign up to follow their newfound friend who is now their trusted expert. People join groups and sign up to blogs and alerts and rarely question the bona fides.
They receive the messages regularly and start to believe without question what they see, read or are told on their phone, Instagram or WhatsApp or by e-mail. The messages are sent in simple language often with carefully chosen photographs which also re-enforce the messages.
If the message is vaping is good for you with a glamorised photo of a trendy teenager with a big smile happily vaping they believe it to be very safe. Or vaccinations can harm your child with a picture of an autistic child then these images are far more powerful than reading a long detailed published clinical study on the benefits of vaccines.
As Healthcare professionals who wish to deliver health promotion messages or take a holistic approach to we need over with the times, use all the media that people use, think outside the box, we need to comply with the law, however we need to embrace the new technologies, use pictures and short truncated messages, one minute video clips or our communication will be lost. Responsible People delivering GDP training to all staff within an organisation have to get the message across in the best media possible to the accounts clerk, the director and the Goods Inwards team at the warehouse door. They must have effective tools in their training toolbox and check the effectiveness of that training and revisit the key points as often as is required if the trainee is in a key role. We have used short video clips, workshops, games, different languages, pictures flow charts, quizzes and try to avoid “ Death by PowerPoint “.