ACADEMIC PAPER

Impact of Karnataka government  
advertisements: An evaluation

A study spread over several districts revealed a surprising variety in media taste and advertisement impact, says Dr B P MAHESH CHANDRA GURU

What is India News Service
14 March 2005

The concept of development has acquired significance especially after the World War II.  The world’s poorest countries show no signs of catching up with the developed countries, despite the promised benefits of globalization.   Progressive redressing of these inequities remains an important challenge in the new millennium. India is prominently a rural society.  About 75 per cent of the people reside in the rural areas.  The importance of rural development forming the core of national development strategies is being increasingly recognized.

The vastness of the rural population living in rural areas of Karnataka State makes decentralized development communication services imperative in all development endeavors.  Many area-specific and target-group specific programmes have been implemented throughout Karnataka to achieve integrated development in both urban and rural areas.  There are certain limitations and drawbacks on the part of various communication media from the point of view attaining sustainable development.  The mass media channels can break down at many points due to various reasons.  Therefore, these media need support from government media, non-government media, folk media and new communication technologies at various levels.

Planning for better development communication both at urban and rural areas has until now been a rather haphazard process.  Especially, the rural areas still remain malnourished from development communication point of view.  New approaches call for procedures, which systematically identify and select relevant policy instruments, communication resources, media intervention programmes and widely participatory networks in relation to development communication system in Karnataka State in particular.  The intervention of the state government in planning and executing meaningful and purposeful development communication programmes assumes new significance in the present times.    

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION

The Department of Information and Publicity was started as a microscopic wing of the Karnataka State Government.  It has now been renamed as 'Department of Information’.  The Department has different branches like press and news, photo and film, exhibition, commercial publicity, song and drama, which are responsible for disseminating development information through publicity, advertisement, propaganda and other tools and techniques.

The Information Department covers the entire State of Karnataka, which has 175 talks, 26,800 villages and 4,37,63,691 population 1991 (census report).  The department has been functioning like a bridge between the government and media on the one hand and between the government and people on the other hand.

The specific objectives of the department include:

• To disseminate information about the policies, plans and programmes of the State Government.

• To enlist the active participation of the people in developmental projects and activities.

• To build image for the State Government through publicity, propaganda, persuasion advertising and other packages and programmes.

• To collect the feedback from the people and facilitate meaningful changes and modifications in the systems and operations of the State Government.

            The department employs various multi - media namely Press Release, Pamphlet, Brochure, Poster, Periodical, Song, Dance, Slide, Film Show, Photo, Exhibition, Seminar, Conference, Public Meeting and so on.  The Minister of State heads the Department.   There is a Director who supervises all the activities of the department.  Joint Directors, Assistant Directors, Deputy Directors, District Information Officers, Assistant Editors, Information Assistants, Staff Photographers, Technicians and many other staff assist him.

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

            There is a need to have multi – media packages and produce low cost media materials for grassroots communication and development.  Communication support is crucial for development programmes.  In reality, the Department of Information has series of limitations in extending adequate communication support to innumerable development projects of the Government of Karnataka.  Prominent among them includes inadequate budgetary allocations, manpower, resources and activities.

           Advertisement is an integral part of modern society.  There have been revolutionary changes in the advertising scenario in the last few years.  Today advertising is used not only to sell the products but also to popularize the beneficial effects of various development projects launched by the government and non- government organizations.  Modern advertising includes not only stimulating demand, but more importantly disseminating information, creating awareness, enlisting the active participation of the beneficiaries and activating implementers to ensure the success of the development projects of the government and non – government agencies.

           Few researchers in Karnataka State have assessed the role of Information Department in facilitating participatory and balanced development.  The major deficiency observed in their works was the lack of emphasis either on the advertising media intervention for integrated development or government advertising management for development programmes.  Further, past studies did not indicate the factors contributing to the efficient management of advertising as well as the media or methods of improving the role of advertising in development.

          Grassroots level development advertising scenario of Karnataka State is less understood due to the lack of comprehensive and systematic communication investigations.  Therefore, the primary tasks of the present study is concerned with understanding the role of Information Department in disseminating advertisements and enlisting the active participation of the people in various development projects of the Government of Karnataka.  The study primarily answers to several questions in the area of communication between development projects and beneficiaries.  A need was seen to investigate Karnataka State Government advertisements as an integral part of development process and not independent of it.  It was felt necessary to actually fit the advertising process into the development context of Karnataka State.  Hence, “ An Evaluation of the Impact of Karnataka State Government Advertisements on People” was conducted with a view to scientifically assess the status, drawbacks and opportunities of State Government Advertising as an instrument of development.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

  The specific objectives of the study include: 

• To study the role of advertisements disseminated by the Information Department.

• To study the awareness of government development programmes among people.

• To study the attitude of the people towards advertising programmes on development projects.

• To study the capacity of government advertisements in enlisting active participation of people in development projects.

•  To study the capacity of government advertisements in activating implementers to ensure the success of development projects; and

• To suggest appropriate media and methods to make State Government advertisements more purposeful. 

METHOD

            The flow of development project support communication that occurs through the advertisements disseminated by the Information Department of Karnataka State especially at the grassroots level was the chief focus of this study.  The primary objective of the present study, as has been made clear in the earlier paragraph, requires investigating the socio – economic influence of advertisement on people.  The researchers also investigated the forms of advertisement, which link the grassroots to the mainstream of development.  Thus, it is a     two-way traffic how the people at the grass root level reciprocate from the micro level to the macro level development system.

            The survey method was adopted for the study.  A questionnaire / interview schedule was administered.  It consisted of questions on various aspects of Karnataka State Government advertisements disseminated by Information Department.  It was designed to explore the understanding of these respondents have of the advertising system, process and impact.  A total of 432 respondents from both urban and rural areas of Hassan, Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts were randomly selected for the purpose of the study.  However, the sample respondents were selected from the town and villages where the Information Department had conducted advertising campaigns recently.  

            Besides survey method, non – participant observation, informal discussion and review of secondary sources of information were also used as other methods to study the status, drawbacks and opportunities of Karnataka State Government advertisements.  Using percentage analysis method did the analysis of data.  The usual limitations of the method, namely, time, the researchers experienced human and resource inadequacies, recollection and communication. 

DATA ANALYSIS

            Primary data were gathered from the respondents on vital aspects namely – Media habits, access to government advertising, sources of Government advertising, utility of government advertising, understandability of Government advertising, ideal media mix for government advertising and alternative methods of disseminating government advertising.

STUDY AREAS

      TABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF STUDY AREAS AND RESPONDENTS

TABLE 2: PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS