Introduction
Shuga is a three-part television drama targeting the young people (19 – 30years) in Kenya. The drama series has been on air since 2009 and has been media hyped and seriously marketed on radio, television and outdoor (screen adverts, billboards and banners). The program has mainly focused on a group of young friends who are students in local universities, and who tries to explore the complexities of love, sex and money. The television series shows sexual behaviour including sexual involvement which has “numerous partners, sexual exploitation, and alcohol abuse” making young people more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS among other sexually transmitted diseases (Hopkins 10). The series has been filmed in Nairobi, and it is aired in three main television stations. These stations are Kenyan citizen, Nation Television (NTV) and Kenya Television Network (KTN). “The series aims to lift the lid on the reckless sex lives and loves that many Kenyan youths and their partners live” (Hopkins 10). It highlights key issues that cause spread of HIV/AIDS and the stigma involved with it. It also focuses on alcohol and drug abuse as some of the factors that have influenced or cause moral decay among the Kenyan youths. The series has gained popularity although among youths as well as adults.
Factors of Influence on Kenyan Youth
The drama series is based on three aspects, Love, Sex and Money. These three seem to be pivotal in influencing behaviour of Kenyan youths on day to day live. It focuses on how youths live a complicated live pegged on the three issues. Although the series focuses on university students, the behaviour is spread among all the youths in general. The key issues that come out in the series are dangerous sex involving multiple partners, unsafe sex, the need to know ones HIV/AIDS status, and stigma associated with being positive(John Hopkins 19). It also emphasizes on influence of money and loose life that youths are engaging in on day to day life ending up exposing themselves into dangers of contracting HIV/AIDS. According to survey conducted on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the Kenyan education, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is generally higher in the urban areas by average of 11-12%.While most AIDS deaths occur between the ages of 25-35 among men, among 20-30 years (GoK, 14). If this statistics are anything to go by, then it is the high time that television series like Shuga should be highly produced and watched.
Subsequently, a survey was conducted by the Johns Hopkins University (22) with the aim of determining how many Kenyan youths had watched Shuga. The results of the survey showed that 60% of Kenyan youth had watched Shuga, Others had heard about it from their peers and hence awareness of the same is high among youths. Those who had viewed confirmed that they knew the main messages, and “could identify lessons to be learned. The study also showed that about 50% of groups of viewers interviewed had discussed characters and messages with close friends, and peers with the aim of gaining more understanding on what the series is all about. They have also talked about it with family and acquaintances”. The study shows that very few (about 15%) took time to discuss the characters and message with their spouses or sex partners. It also reveals that over 90% of Kenyans thought that the show had positively influenced their perspective about love, sex and money and has impacted greatly on their thinking and behaviour on the same issues. The study also show that more people were now more than willing to take HIV testing voluntarily after watching the series (GoK 22).
HIV/AIDS Problem for Young People
The television series “Shuga”, aims to provoke and initiate talks and open discussion about the dangers of HIV/AIDS among peers, relatives and partners. It also enlighten viewers on how to live positively if infected and how to protect yourself and others from the infection as well as reducing stigma the HIV/AIDS infected persons. The series stresses on the reality of HIV/AIDS and the use of protection such as condom among sexually active youths, safe sex, healthy living, and effects of excessive alcohol consumption on our health and life in general. All through the series, different characters are brought into play to portray some of the challenges that young people go through in higher institution of learning and society as a whole.
It also casts characters that engage in risky pre-marital sex with random persons they meet in clubs and entertainment joints where they happen to spend most of their time which is health risk behaviour. Other characters include cheating husbands, predatory male relatives, and unfaithful love relationships among youths. Shuga highlights and aims at addressing challenges of sex, money and love in the Kenya society in an entertaining way, without losing the focus on the message. The study by Johns Hopkins research team reaffirmed the effectiveness of Shuga, and its influence on behaviour change in relations to HIV/AIDS among university students and common youths in the society (Johns Hopkins, 28).
Overall, the content of Shuga is informative on sexual and social issues affecting the life of youths in Kenya, educative on love, money, safe sex and HIV/AIDS, the characters and context is localized, the themes are issues that affect the Kenya youth everyday’s life, quality production and entertaining. As a viewer or listener of any media, McQuail (213) assets the reason for media existence is to educate, inform, entertain and act as a watchdog in the society. In this case, Shuga has taken the role of media to the Kenya youth and society at large and has greatly influenced the society on thinking about sex matters. There before, very few parents, partners or peers could discuss HIV/AIDS freely, but after the introduction of Shuga, things have changed. The effects of Shuga as proved from John Hopkins survey is an indication of the role the media plays in shaping the attitudes and perceptions of viewers. Just as, Davin (98) insists that regular viewing of an ongoing series enhances viewers’ identification with program. Since, the viewer assesses the advantages and disadvantages of various actions, engages with the story, discusses the storyline and feels more involved. The feeling of involvement has been found to increase attention and comprehension (Celsi and Olson, 88).
According to Bandura (77), apart from peer and parental role models, media is of particular importance in shaping cultural attitudes and behavior. Baran (214) has suggested that audiences decode or interpret media texts in ways that are related to their social and cultural circumstances. Gerber et al (178) notes that television is the chief creator of synthetic patterns (entertainment and information) for the most heterogeneous mass publics history, including large groups that have never shared in any common public messages. Additionally, Livingstone (17) concluded that a role for the viewer is introduced in having to make the causal inferences between motives, actions, and consequences.
Works Cited
Baran, S., J. Introduction to mass communication: media literacy and culture (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 2010. Print
Baran, S., J., & Davis, D., K. Mass communication theory: foundations, ferment, and future (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth CENGAGE Learning. 2009. Print.
Celsi, R.,L., & Olson J., C., The role of involvement in attention and comprehension process. Journal of consumer research, 1988: 210-224. Print.
John’s Hopkins, Evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention and education campaign,(2010). Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., & Signorielli, N. Living with television: The dynamics of the cultivation process. In J. a. Bryant (Ed.), Media effects: advances in the theory and research. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. 1986. Print.
Livingstone, S. Making sense of television: The psychology of audience interpretation (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, 1998. Print.
McQuail, D. Mass communication theory (5th ed.). London: Sage Publications. 2005.Print.
Government of Kenya (GoK), The impact of HIV/AIDS on education in kenya, and the potential of using education in the widest sense for the prevention and control of HIV/AIDs, Nairobi, Government Press, 2000. Print.