Viewer Perception of Messages in the Television Advertisement of Herbal Medicine (A Survey of Akosombo Residents)

Abstract

It is estimated that 70% to 75% of the population of Ghana rely on herbal medicine for their primary healthcare (WHO 2002). Practitioners and manufacturers of herbal medicine relying less on advertising through loud speakers and personal advertising in lorries and market places and moving towards advertising in the mass media. This study, therefore, examined viewer perception of messages in the television advertisement of herbal medicine in Akosombo in a survey, using a questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The specific objectives of the study were to find out views on the messages of herbal medicine advertisement on television, examine the extent to which viewers were likely to patronise herbal medicines based on the messages they were exposed to in the television ads and finally find out whether respondents viewed curative properties of herbal medicine as claimed in television ads to be real. Two hundred respondents, 18years and above who had watched television herbal medicine ads and had purchased and used herbal medicine were interviewed. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Key among the findings was that close to nine in ten (87.9%) of the respondents said messages of herbal medicine television advertisement should be regulated to reduce exaggerations and false claims of the multiple therapeutic properties of herbal medicine as advertised on television. Interestingly, the study also revealed that majority of respondents with diverse educational qualifications, from high school certificate to post-graduate degree, chose herbal medicine over orthodox medicine because, in their view, the former had no or little side effects. The finding is interesting because it was presumed that the more educated a respondent was, the less likely he/she was expected to accept herbal medicine ad message, let alone be convinced to patronise it.