经济学人下载肥皂剧也可以教化人心

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.

有些人认为这是因为终日懒散在家的人造人的可能性更小。然而，在埃塞俄比亚进行的一项研究显示肥皂剧能起直接的作用。在收听肥皂剧《Yeken Kignet》和《Dhimbibba》的已婚妇女中要求使用避孕手段的人数增加了157%。男性听众寻求HIV/AIDS测试的人数是不收听节目的男性中寻求测试的人数的四倍。

“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.

“最好的结果出现在人们与角色产生共鸣的时候，” PMC的贝蒂．Oala说。这就是为什么该组织要进行大规模研究、吸收当地作者、使用当地语言的原因。

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.

肥皂剧不仅有效而且廉价。在非洲广播节目只需花费三分钱就能获得一位听众。但是试图影响穷人的做法可能充满争议。尽管制作方并未隐藏他们的计划，经济学家查尔斯．肯尼（Charles Kenny）认为“在道德和一堆规则之间争论的困境”可能存在。比如离婚的增加对一名妇女积极分子来说可能是个好消息，但对一位天主教牧师来说则是坏消息。