Introduction
#ProntosPraEssaConversa (loosely translated: “Ready for that conversation”) is a Brazilian pregnancy prevention campaign targeting adolescents 15 to 19 years old.
#ProntosPraEssaConversa
Overview
Background
Launched on May 24, 2021, #ProntosPraEssaConversa primarily aims to reduce unintended pregnancies among adolescents (15 to 19 years old) in Brazil. The campaign was developed by students from the Laboratory of Advertising Communication Applied to Health and Society (COMPASSO) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).
#ProntosPraEssaConversa makes heavy use of colloquial language and storytelling to appeal to adolescents, and centres around four cartoon characters who feature throughout the campaign’s website and media assets. Three characters – Edu, Nanda and Rafa – represent adolescents, and one represents an adult biology teacher (Lia). Each character provides different information on birth control, pregnancy and sex through different digital media channels:
All images sourced from the campaign website at www.compasso.eco.ufrj.br/personagens
The use of relatable cartoon characters on digital media channels seeks to make messaging on pregnancy and sexual health more accessible for adolescents. Additionally, the consistent use of scientific content in campaign messaging acts as a way to combat online disinformation on pregnancy, a key factor contributing to higher levels of adolescent pregnancy in Brazil. Topics discussed in the campaign include contraceptive use (including female condoms), HIV and STIs, male and female reproductive systems, pornography, pregnancy, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, social media use, virginity and first sex, and more.
The campaign website also features a ‘First Time Survival Handbook‘ (Manual de Sobrevivência da Primeira Vez), providing advice to adolescents about having sex for the first time. The two-part digital handbook contains practical information on emotions, male and female condom use, physical insecurity, possible pain, pregnancy and STIs, and links to other social media accounts providing more information on first-time sex.
The development of the campaign took a multidisciplinary approach, and included preliminary interviews with adolescents, medical professionals, social workers, academics, teachers and students.
“It’s no use doing another authoritarian campaign, with doctors and specialists giving orders from the top down. This does not generate identification, it only drives away. The goal is to be more horizontal and welcoming with teenagers’ issues. Really proposing a conversation on the subject, which is still a taboo for many people.”
Eliza Franco, #ProntosPraEssaConversa Creative Director
[Source: www.diariodorio.com]
Social media and podcast examples
Video – The making of #ProntosPraEssaConversa
Video English translation:
- 00:04 – Gabrielly Andrade (Researcher): “Teenage pregnancy is a worldwide problem. According to the latest report by the United Nations Population Fund, from 2019, for every 1,000 teenagers, between 15 and 19 years old, 44 are mothers. Half of all adolescent births on the planet take place in just 7 countries, including Brazil. The rate of teenage pregnancy Brazil is much higher than the world average. There are 62 mothers for every 1,000 adolescents, without accounting for interrupted pregnancies.”
- 00:29 – Joaquim Lima (Audiovisual producer): “In addition to placing the mother and child in a situation of physical and mental vulnerability, early pregnancy brings with it, serious socio-economic risks, school dropout and employability difficulties are the most evident. Therefore teenage pregnancy has the potential to accentuate the already profound Brazilian social inequality, as well as hold back much-needed gender equality.”
- 00:51 – Bernado Yoneshigue (Visual graphic producer): “Regardless of public policies to promote the safety of sexual acts, the Federal Government, States and Municipalities have historically promoted the prevention of early pregnancy. However, the themes addressed in government advertisements only reveal the lack of serious investment in sex education and reinforce stereotypes that result in guilting women, or encourage behaviours that are known to be ineffective, such as encouraging sexual abstinence as a contraceptive method for young people.”
- 01:19 – Adelaide Mansur (Planning team): “COMPASSO – Laboratory of Advertising Communication Applied to Health and Society, is a group made up of professors and students from UFRJ, which is committed to developing a campaign to prevent teenage pregnancy that really talks to young people aged 15 to 19. The campaign approaches the subject from scientific, sociocultural and human guidelines, seeking safe references, guided by specialists from different areas such as medicine, biology, psychology, social work, pedagogy, among other fields of knowledge that cross the issue. The aim is to truly enlighten teenagers about sexual relationships and the responsibilities involved.”
- 01:54 – Bernado Yoneshigue (Visual graphic producer): “The work developed by COMPASSO is based on contemporary tactics of social communication, carried out through storytelling, which is, a fictional story that maintains an accentuated verisimilitude with the reality of young people in Brazil, in which it is possible to raise awareness of the problems in play through an engaging, but serious, clear narrative that faces the subject with courage. The campaign characters use various social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and other virtual environments that naturally find our target audience.”
- 02:24 – Gabrielly Andrade (Researcher): “Acting on a subject that can be expanded, COMPASSO intends to reinforce the role of the University as an agent of transformation of people and history, promoting collective well-being and contributing to the real progress of Brazilian society.”
Implementation and funding
#ProntosPraEssaConversa was funded and implemented by the Laboratório de Comunicação Publicitária Aplicada à Saúde e à Sociedade (COMPASSO) at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), together with Escola de Comunicação da UFRJ (ECO). The campaign’s partners include the city of Niterói, Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (ICICT), Mulherio and Projeto DIV.A.S (Diversidade, Ação e Sensibilidade).
Collateral examples
Social media channels
Resources
- First Time Survival Handbook – Part 1
- First Time Survival Handbook – Part 2
- Prontos Pra Essa Conversa podcast
- Blog do Edu
In the news
- Campanha orienta jovens contra a gravidez na adolescência (2021)
- Campanha estimula a conversa para evitar gravidez na adolescência (2021)
- Laboratório da UFRJ lança campanha de prevenção à gravidez na adolescência (2021)
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