Soap operas: Good trash
肥皂劇也可以教化人心

Soap operas and development
肥皂劇與發展

Good trash
肥皂劇也可以教化人心

How television and radio shows can improve behaviour
電視和廣播怎樣改進人們的行為

In the radio drama "Nau em Taim" ("Now is the time" in Pidgin) aired in Papua New Guinea, a widowed father takes up dynamite fishing—profitable but disastrous for the reef. Then he meets a dashing marine scientist who warns him off. The idea is that by the end of the drama, which debuted in February, both he—and the listeners—will renounce dynamite for sustainable fishing.

在巴布亞新幾內亞播出的廣播劇"Nautica em Taim"（用洋涇浜英語說就是"現在是時候了"）中，一個喪偶的父親開始從事用炸藥捕魚的行當——利潤可觀但對珊瑚危害很大。之后他遇見一位沖勁兒十足的海洋專家，這個人警告他不要再從事這項行業。這部于二月首播的廣播劇的主旨就是播到劇尾的時候，這個父親和聽眾都將因炸藥對捕魚業可發展性的危害而不再使用炸藥。

The show's producer, the Population Media Center (PMC) in Vermont, has been a pioneer of programmes with the goal of fostering development. But other groups have increasingly followed suit. In Vietnam Khat Vong Song uses radio drama to teach its listeners about domestic violence. In Kenya Mediae promotes civil rights with a television soap called "Makutano Junction".

該廣播劇的制作方式佛蒙特州的人口傳媒中心（PMC）是通過電視廣播節目來促進發展方面的先鋒。不過其他機構也在不斷效仿。在越南，Khat Vong Song使用廣播劇向聽眾教授家庭暴力方面的知識。肯尼亞的Mediae通過電視劇《Makutano Junction》推廣民權。

Evidence that radio and television soaps can change behaviour was first spotted in the 1970s. But solid academic research was lacking until a few years ago. In 2008 economists at the Inter-American Development Bank, for instance, found that Brazilians receiving Globo, a television network, had fewer children and got divorced more often. Another study discovered that, as cable television spread, the fertility rate in rural India dropped by as much as if women had received five additional years of education.

能證明廣播劇和電視劇可以改變人們的行為方式的證據首次出現在上個世紀70年代。但是直到前幾年才有可靠的學術研究出現。比如2008年，在美洲發展銀行的經濟學家們發現收看電視網絡Globo的巴西人生的孩子較少、離婚更頻繁。另一項研究發現，隨著有線電視的普及，印度鄉村地區的生育率降低的程度相當于婦女再接受五年的額外教育。

Some thought that this was because couch potatoes were less likely to make babies. But research in Ethiopia showed that dramas can have a direct effect. Demand for contraceptives rose by 157% among married women who listened to the soap operas "Yeken Kignet" and "Dhimbibba". Male listeners sought tests for HIV/AIDS four times as much as male non-listeners.

有些人認為這是因為經常看電視的人造人的可能性更小。然而，在埃塞俄比亞進行的一項研究顯示肥皂劇能起直接的作用。在收聽肥皂劇"Yeken Kignet" 和 "Dhimbibba "的已婚婦女中要求使用避孕手段的人數增加了157%。男性聽眾尋求HIV/AIDS測試的人數是不收聽節目的男性中尋求測試的人數的四倍。

"The best results are when people identify with characters," says Betty Oala of the PMC. This is why the organisation does extensive research, takes on local writers and uses native languages.

"最好的結果出現在人們與角色產生共鳴的時候，" PMC的Betty Oala說。這就是為什么該組織要進行大規模研究、吸收當地作者、使用當地語言的原因。

Not only are soaps effective, but they are also cheap. Radio programmes can cost as little as three cents to reach a listener in Africa. Yet trying to influence the poor can be controversial. Although producers do not hide their agendas, Charles Kenny, an economist, thinks that there could be a "quagmire of a debate over morals and a tangle of regulation". An increase in divorces, say, may seem like good news to a woman activist, but bad to a Catholic priest.

肥皂劇不僅有效而且廉價。在非洲廣播節目只需花費三分錢就能獲得一位聽眾。但是試圖影響窮人的做法可能充滿爭議。盡管制作方并未隱藏他們的計劃，經濟學家查爾斯?肯尼（Charles Kenny）認為"在道德和一堆規則之間爭論的困境"可能存在。比如離婚的增加對一名女權主義者來說可能是個好消息，但對一位天主教牧師來說則是壞消息。