The Start of Module 4

Rob Brown our guest speaker was a good start to our class. He went against the status quo and did not use a power point to get his points across. It was quite refreshing since we have been bombarded with powerpoint presentations every week. THey all have been great but they have been dominating lecture time and it was a breath of fresh air to have someone come and talk to us w/ out a visual. I liked the fact that he provided examples from his personal professional/ personal experiences. Although, we were very quiet that day he did do a great job at trying to engage us in conversation. He was engaging us by asking questions at random to different people in the class. I think my favorite question was, "Why are you here (in the MPH program)?". It was also really nice of him to offer his time if we needed to have our letters to the editor reviewed.

This weeks theme was Media channels (advertising & public relations) which were covered by our guest speaker. He discussed how advertising allows for a one-to-one marketing opportunity if you strategize correctly. One of the take away messages from his talk was to target tv stations/ radio stations in order to take up your idea which can then be potentially funded by other organizations/ corporations. He also said that if we submitted a letter to the editor to our local paper we would have a better chance than if we send it to someone like the New York Times. I already knew this but it was good for him to remind us that if you really are shooting to get your message out there you should take the avenue that will do get it out there faster. I enjoyed the reading for this week. It was a little outdated but the topic is still relevant specially in today's society were many of the product we purchase and consume seem to have a health message attached to them. Cereals are one of the things that continue to incorporate health messages to push products on the public. For example, Cheerios have their lower your cholesterol slogan. Special K is another example but their message has more to do with weight control and how it benefits one's life.