Posted 11 months ago Comments

Problem Resolution

If we traced the lives of many people it would reveal that they have experienced traumatic events (Ruscio, 2008).  One trauma experienced by many children and adolescents is bullying.  Approximately, 1.6 million of America’s children fall victim to being a prey of bullying at least once a week (Ericson, 2001).  When searching for research on the topic of bullying there are plenty of studies that have been conducted but the information lacks in substance.  Thus far the research has taught two things.  First, bullying is not a subject matter to be dealt with nonchalantly and that more severe cases are continuing to occur.  Second, victims of bullying suffer from long and short term emotional and psychological effects.  What the research fails to offer are valid resolutions to combat the problem.

            One resolution to combating bullying is through the creation of national bullying campaigns.  These campaigns would include billboards, commercials, print ads, radio and after school television specials.  Public service announcements are an effective way to deliver messages and create awareness for the school faculty, children, parents and the rest of the community.  A public service announcement serves three purposes: preventing behaviors, discontinue behavior or to encourage a new behavior (Thesenvitz, 2001).  The advantages of the public service announcements would be to create public recognition, inform the public of possible health problems, social influences (Thesenvitz, 2001) and encourage others to learn more about the issue of bullying.

            In order for the PSA’s to go over effectively a focus audience has to be chosen.  The focus audience would be children ages ten to seventeen because these are the age groups that maybe more vulnerable to bullies.  The message the public must retain is that bullying is wrong, examples of bad bullying outcomes and legal consequences suffered by the bully.  Incentives either positive or negative must be given in order to persuade the change of behavior.  Thesenvitz, (2001) mentions the following negative psychological incentivess such as a reduction in grades and concentration, guilt, making bad decisions and lack of self-respect could help prevent a bully from emotionally damaging a victim.  When negative appeals or incentives are being made the audience must feel that the outcome of the consequences will be severe (Thesenvitz, 2001). 

            The viewer must also feel the messages are crediable, accurate and valid (Thesenvitz, 2001).  The purpose is to create or use a figure that the audience can relate to such as an expert or celebrity in order to help the delivery of the anti-bullying campaign make a bigger and better impact.  All messages must be age appropriate for either elementrary, middle or high school age children.  The PSA’s will have the same overall content but delivered in a way that each grade level can comprehend.  When, what,where and how to display and relay the messages is also important.  To be effective the PSA’s should be seen at child friendly times on avenues that are heavily explored by youth such as on Nickelodeon, PBS, Disney, Cartoon Network, VH-1 or MTV. 

            The disadvantages to public service announcements are the different types of media used such as print, electronic or television.  Some media is used more frequently than others and if the wrong media is used it decreases the effectivness of the campaign.  Time and location can also be disadvantages if the PSA’s are not displayed in areas or played on stations during hours children are awake and viewing.  The figure used to promote the campaign can be a disadvantage if they have gained a bad reputation and if the kids do not think the person is creditable there will be little hope for a anti-bullying campaign.  The campaign needs to be culturally friendly so that all children and adolescence can connect and find the information informative, motivational and useful.

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