Local language and tailored COVID-19 campaign: The circuit of culture as the basis for health communication practices

Abstract

There has been a raise in the awareness among communications practitioners and scholars that  culture as a factor associated with health behaviors can enhance the effectiveness of persuasive health  communication practices. However, there is still a limited amount of literature that proposes a model to  examine how this practice is regulated, represented, produced, distributed, and consumed to best  accommodate its target audience. This study finds the significance of adopting the circuit of culture as the  basis for advancing COVID-19 campaigns that receive mixed responses in the context of Indonesia. The five  moments are elaborated to analyze the case of physical distancing campaign #JatengDirumahSaja (#CentralJavaStayAtHome) held on February 1-7, 2021 in Central Java. Videos, captions, and responses  under the hashtag have been compiled from the social media of Ganjar Pranowo, Governor of Central Java,  and examined. This campaign is important to analyze since it shows the use of local language as a form of  tailored health communication is well received and can effectively support COVID-19 campaigns, as  evidenced by the decrease of infection rate of COVID-19 the following week. This paper provides important  implications on culture and health communication for scholars, practitioners, and especially policymakers.