Jenna Lyles

COM 4550
Final Paper
Health Campaign: Knights Getting Tested
Situational Background

Over 75% of the University of Central Floridas enrollment is aged 18-24; a precarious
consideration when compounded by the fact that one in every two sexually active people will
contract either an STD or STI by age 25. In other words: the University of Central Floridathe
sexually student populaceis a hotbed for sexually transmitted diseases/infections. It was my
health campaigns mission to induce a beneficial change in these sexually active UCF Knights, a
change that stood up against historically willful ignorance and disinterest. My health campaign
sought to encourage UCF Knights to go and get tested for STDsto protect themselves, to
protect the people they share their body with, and to stay informed.
Message Concepts
The static message of my health campaign, featured below this paragraph, or the
Knightro Wants You advertisement, was designed for instructional and awareness purposes.
The most striking instructional feature is the textual call to action (i.e., Knightro Wants You
To Go Get Tested!) running across the top and bottom of the ad. To supplement this instruction
are Who, What, Where, and When sectionsinformation that clarifies the whereabouts, cost,
time, and dates of UCFs free testing days. These sections were purposely implemented to guard
against claims such as I dont know where to get tested, or I dont know when the free testing
days are. It was a priority to negate any counter-argument based on uncertainty or financial
shortcoming throughout the length of the advertisement.

The static message was also engineered to bolster STD/STI awareness on the UCF
campus. The left-hand side of the advertisement is covered in statistics pertaining to the
designated audience (i.e., sexually active UCF students). To combat the blame-game, that is,
Only girls get or Boys are the one who I even featured statistics pertaining to men and
women, respectively. Finally, the statistics culminate into perhaps the most vital piece of
information featured within the ad UCFs offering of free testing days to students.

The static advertisement features Knightro pointing his sword at readers, playing on a
students sense of belongingness and school spirit in order to seem less doctory. I figured that
students are constantly having to endure lectures from health professionals detailing the risks of
STDs/STIs, so maybe they needed a change in the form of their beloved mascot.
The dynamic message, or What Your Sex Life Means For Your Health Buzzfeed quiz,
was my campaigns persuasive message. This message was interactive and personal in the sense
that quiz takers were expected to, albeit anonymously, indulge intimate details of their sexual
history. It is offered digitally and can be accessed only through computer/laptop or phones with
internet access, but because every UCF Knight is guaranteed access to a computer I felt
comfortable isolating and excluding anyone that did not and thereby cannot access the quiz.
The quiz is delivered through a popular website known as Buzzfeed.com, known widely
for their quirky quizzes. This added element of popularity was the final selling point when
deciding on the creation of a personality quiz over the construction of a website for the
campaigns dynamic message. The quiz asks seven questions, any combination of which will
result in a persons categorization into one of four categories.
The first category a quiz taker might find themselves in is You should go get tested
like, right NOW. This is essentially the equivalent of failing the quiz, it denotes a persons
absolute disregard for sexual safety, promiscuity, and utter disinterest in preserving their health.
To address this specific personality, the message that follows this result is humorous and
informative. This particular quiz taker is enlightened on the various reasons to get tested, their
shocking susceptibility to contracting an STD, and finally instructed to PLEASE DO
BETTER.

The second category a quiz taker might fall into is Youre not a walking disease, but
This result translates to about a grade C not exactly failing but not exactly thriving, either. This
quiz taker has their false illusion of safety addressed first, to cease any self-praise they indulge
themselves for not being the absolute riskiest in their sex life. Next, they learn the jaw-dropping
reach of sexually transmitted diseases and infections; they are taught the number of diseases out
there, as well as the amount of people affected by any one of them annually. Finally, they are
pushed to go and get tested, even noting that testing is often free.
The third category offered by the quiz is Youre doing good, but you could do better!
This option briefly notes that the quiz taker has taken many valuable precautions in their sex life,
but still needs improvement. This takers answers indicate being in either a monogamous
relationship or sleeping with the same one or two people, so their results are tailored to this
aspect. The results note that contraceptives sometimes fail and statistics suggest that one in every
two people will contract an STD/STI before age 25. Finally, this result urges people to go and get
tested, potentially bringing their partner along to make a date of it.
The fourth and final category a quiz taker can land in is Youre playing it safe, but go
get tested anyway! It was important that I neglect giving any quiz taker the impression that they
did not need to go and get tested; I am not doctor, and declaring such is beyond my
qualifications. Thus, this result accounts for the probability that a person will contract an
STD/STI despite never having sex. In accounting for loose definitions of sex, this result notes
that STDs/STIs can be transmitted through body-to-body rubbing, toilet seats, towels, needles,
and of course oral sex. Finally, these individuals are encouraged to make the highly-unlikely
certain and go get tested.
Design and Results of Formative Research

My campaign used a survey to assess vital information on the lives of the campaigns
intended audience. The survey was 13 questions long, and featured yes/no, Likert-type, multiple
choice, and even fill-in answer options to supply the campaign a health variation of telling
results. Survey results were comprised of disclosures from a 44 person sample made up of 57%,
women and 43%, men. Certain trends illuminated effective messages and strategies for
delivering them. Survey statistics which aided the construction and tailoring of messages the
most, however, were an individuals age, relationship status, knowledge on UCF Health Services,
and willingness to get tested.
The question of age revealed that the average survey participant was 21 years old. This
greatly influenced the facts and stats that would accompany both the static and dynamic
messages. For instance, the statistic that 1 in 4 teenagers will contract an STD every year, is more
or less irrelevant given the average age of participantseven if some people taking the survey
did report being 18 or 19. All of the statistics featuring age on the static and dynamic messages
concern people age 20+, and this was a direct result of observing survey taker age.
Relationship status was a feat worth learning, because it would influence the need to
tailor campaign messages either to one person or a pairing. The language that a Get Tested
message would use to encourage a couple would adopt a stance of Get tested for the ones you
love while a Get Tested message geared towards singles would operate on a Get tested for
yourself platform. 59% of the survey takers would go on to report being in either a monogamous
or exclusive relationship, indicating a particular need for outreach to couples. The dynamic
message accounts for this populace, because one of the quiz results is designed specifically to
persuade people with significant others. The static message, designed to instruct/inform anyone,
accounts for the other, significant 41% of survey takers which indicated being single.

The survey questioned a persons knowledge on UCF Health Services, asking if they had
ever been to the facility to assess the campaigns need to persuade students to visit the building
on top of getting tested. A combined 43% of students answered that they had never been to UCF
Health Services26% of them noting that they did not even know where it was. For this reason,
it was imperative that the campaign inform students on the whereabouts of UCF Health Services.
The static message tackles this issue expertly by listing the address on the advertisement and
time during which the free testing takes place.
Finally, the survey inquired as to a persons willingness to get tested. This influenced
whether messages would need to encourage people to get tested, or simply encourage people to
get tested more often. A perfect 50/50 split indicated that both peoplethose that are not willing
to get tested and those that already do needed persuading. The dynamic message accounts for
these distinct persons in the You should go get testedlike, right NOW (unwilling) and
Youre doing good, but could do better!(willing), as well as two others.
Dissemination
As far as the static message is concerned, I believe that an idyllic channel for publicity
would be on the bathroom doors around the UCF campus. Restroom doors would offer optimum
promotion in the perfect place; consider that restrooms are where people can feel most
comfortableas comfortable as one canin a public space about their private parts. If I see
message relating to my chances of contracting an STD right before I pull my pants down, its
going to make me wonder.
Bathrooms are also largely indiscriminate. People of all genders, all ages, all sexual
experiences, all relationship statuses, and all mindsets have to use the bathroom at some point,
meaning that everyone would come into contact with the ad. Visibility spurs talkeven if its

casual chatter exchanged on the way up the steps to the UCF gym. Word of mouth will do the
work for this campaign, if the messages find themselves on bathroom doors.
The dynamic message requires an internet-based dissemination. The power of Facebook
is where I maintain the Buzzfeed quiz would generate the most attention and publicity. If the
What Your Sex Life Means For Your Health quiz could casually hangout in the feeds of UCF
students, or even on the various UCF Class of __ pages, it would explode. Buzzfeed quizzes
are already popular, as such, they need to be positioned in a fashion that makes them easy to pass
along and be sharedlike Facebook.
Evaluation
Optimally, the UCF Health Center would see a 30% increase in students attending the
free screening days, and a 10-15% increase in students requesting STD screening on all other
days. Over the course of years following 2015, these numbers would jump to 40% and 25%,
respectively. The Buzzfeed quiz would be improved and added to, adjusting to the times, and
eventually be implemented into the Honor Your Knighthood section of UCF orientation. As a
student progressed through the Sexual Safety section, they would be provided the link to the quiz
and encouraged (but not required) to take the quiz.
The advertisement would become so popular and generate so much attention, that it
would be ironed onto shirts and passed out in front of the UCF Health Center during free testing
days. As an additional incentive, anyone that gets tested receives the free shirt. From there on,
students will wear that shirt: to the gym, to class, in the photos of their Instagram where they will
hashtag #GetTested. It will become a phenomenon, much in the way that the Homecoming
Ducks have, if supplies are limited, demand is great, and the benefits are undeniable.

There is great ignorance and reluctance surrounding the decision for many UCF Knights
to get tested for STDs/STIs; there are stigmas, costs, uncertainties, and the stark desire to rather
just not know. The act of going out and getting tested alone, is routinely considered an admission
of sexual mischiefrather than regarded as the mature, health-conscious decision that it is. By
urging students to go and get testedbecause its free, its healthy, its convenient, its necessary
my campaign set out to calm this storm of detrimental attitudes.

Link to dynamic ad: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jenmlilet/what-your-sex-lifemeans-for-your-health-1h4ml