Professor Baumann, in your view, what is the biggest challenge when institutions such as the BfR or the media want to inform the public about health issues and risks?
The biggest challenge is that a single text or message can never reach everyone at the same time. People are just too different: in different life situations, stages of life, where they live and how they live.
What’s more, on many topics, very different stakeholders are communicating at the same time. What does that mean for risk communication?
It complicates matters, because each of these stakeholders has different interests. Scientists are primarily interested in the scientific evidence. Environmental and consumer organisations want to protect consumers from unnecessary risks. Political actors want to establish and enforce a regulatory system that functions effectively within society. And finally, industry and businesses have economic interests. Everyone is trying to reach their target groups with their messages and their perspective on an issue.
So how can we reach people at all?
We need to consider: Who do I want to reach, and who do I need to reach with specific risk information? Which media do these groups use? Who do they trust? If my target group is children, I should, of course, also consider how to effectively address their parents. Perhaps I should collaborate with an influencer who includes this topic in their content. This increases the likelihood that I actually reach and can address my target group – a group that may not be interested in the topic in the first place.
Take the message to where people are already getting their information?
Exactly. Keep the end goal in mind. That means starting with the people I want to reach. The key isn’t just creating and providing high-quality information, but also understanding how you reach people and stimulate their thinking.
So the “traditional” approach – writing a nice informative text, perhaps printing it as a leaflet, and waiting for people to pick it up – is outdated?
Exactly. That often costs a lot of money but yields little return.
Isn’t there a risk that, with so much focus on the target audience, we end up oversimplifying things?
It’s always a balancing act. But it’s better to get at least one small, important message across than to reach no one at all. When simplifying, for example, for a science comic, you focus on the core of a topic and your message. And the simplification is deliberately carried out by people who know the broader context of a topic – they will make the best decisions about how to narrow the content. Formats such as comics or social media posts act as bridges to establish contact with a topic, to raise awareness and spark curiosity. This increases the motivation to then engage with the topic in greater depth. ―
