EDUTAINMENT: THE KEY TO CHANGING THE WORLD?
Population Media Center is quietly changing the world through entertainment, one serial episode at a time.
It’s not every day that you meet someone that is truly changing the world. Today, there is so much emphasis on celebrity. While the world undergoes unparalleled challenges, we are focused on the latest drama in the life of a reality star. But there are people who are quietly making such a grand impact, their efforts will be felt for generations.
Dr. Kriss Barker and the team at Population Media Center, headed by William Ryerson are such people. Rather than giving lip service about the changes they’d like to see in the world, they have created a way that has statistically impacted some of the world’s biggest problems.
It wasn’t backdoor political maneuvering or even mass media and social media campaigns. No, it was entertainment, and specifically using a technique called the Sabido method. Population Media Center has found a way to make massive change by educating third world countries through radio and television serials in ways that the most savvy politician could only dream of taking credit for. And it hasn’t ended there, they have expanded closer to home by creating the Emmy nominated Hulu show, East Los High.
I had the opportunity to connect with Dr. Barker about her work and what Population Media Center has in mind next.
You’ve created quite a bit of success with your radio serials internationally. What are your thoughts about creating such a radio program in the United States. Would it work?
We’re open to it if it was the right project: the right audience, issues, and media partners. We did a radio show in a Jamaica that was targeted for teens and everybody told us ‘forget it, nobody's going to listen to you, teens don’t listen to dramas on the radio’. But we timed it perfectly for the morning commute and young people listened to it. And once they heard it, they loved it and kept tuning in.
Let’s talk about the Sabido method, one of the keys to your success. What is it exactly?
First of all, the format is critical – it has to be serialized drama. The length of the serial is important because you need time for the characters to change. You need at least a season. And in radio, that means at least one year, 52 weeks, twice a week. If you’re trying to promote change, you need that time for characters and audience to bond and to make the show realistic. Can you imagine if you were doing a show about quitting smoking and in six episodes your chain smoker magically is going to the gym and running marathons? That’s just not going to happen and you lose all credibility with your audience.
One of the reasons why the Sabido method is effective is because it’s about good and evil. Serial drama allows you to share a message without being too preachy. Look at the world’s most popular sport, soccer. That too is about good versus evil – depending on which team you support.
In the Sabido method, you have a negative character and a positive character, good versus evil, and they’re both fighting over what we call a transitional character. Kind of like the angel and the devil on your shoulders. The transitional character represents our target audience. If the change that you want to happen is to immunize kids, who's responsible for that? Not the kids. It’s the moms. So, our transitional character in that serial drama would be a mom.
Telenovelas, serial dramas on TV, are huge in Latin America and they used to target domestic workers who were home during the day. Miguel Sabido, who created the Sabido method, realized that by using this form of entertainment to bring education and knowledge to the lowest socioeconomic groups, like domestic workers, would truly change the world.
Your serials have become wildly popular. What new programs do you have in the works?
We’re working with the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York on a possible domestic TV program. This would be our second TV program in the US. Our current drama, East Los High on Hulu,has experienced tremendous success, including three Daytime Emmy nominations and more than 27,000 visitors to Planned Parenthood through its website in its first month of broadcast. One of the main issues addressed in season one was teen pregnancy and we’re now in its third season, which airs on Hulu this summer. The New York project is in the early discussion phases.
Internationally, we have three new countries we’re exploring. In Papua New Guinea, domestic violence is a big problem and we think we can make an impact with our serials there. We’re also looking at the Philippines and India. We also try to continue working in countries where we have already worked because behavior change takes time and we prioritize countries according to need. So, we are continually evaluating our current countries for opportunities for new or follow-on projects continuing to address high need issues.
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