AIDS Communication through Billboards and Murals in Tanzania
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Date
2014
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Abstract
One of the incontrovertible marks for Tanzania’s open door policy is the huge billboards along
major roads and highways; and murals (or graffiti) on fences or walls of large buildings. This is
relatively a new way of communication in a country that once pursued Ujamaa policies.
Promoters of public health and particularly HIV/AIDS awareness campaign have turned to use
billboards as one of the ways to communicate responsiveness messages to different communities.
Artists similarly, have created a space for their murals to share their messages about the AIDS
scourge.
As this kind of communication uses artistic language and creativity, it attracts a curious
literary critic into rethinking the meaning and boundaries of literature and its role in society. The
paper attempts to examine what kind of HIV/AIDS messages is being communicated. What
impact does such communication has to people, and how in turn the people respond to such
adverts?
Using a modified Awareness, Attitude and Behaviour Model (AAB model) adapted from
the Earle and Phillips report on billboard survey (2002), the paper seeks to understand the
feelings, perception, attitudes and behaviour of individuals as they respond to the adverts on
erected billboards or murals and how individuals connect to the figurative language that those
billboards and murals beam out.
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Keywords
Mobile literature, Communication, Billboards, Murals, AIDS, Kiswahili sayings
Citation
Mutembei, A., 2014. AIDS Communication through Billboards and Murals in Tanzania. AIDS, pp.75-94.