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Reaching Hearts and Minds Through Media

ve8QAd   |   July 01, 2000

What if you could help to stop the terrible destruction of abortion and create a consensus for Life? What if you could educate people about the current tragedy of legalized abortion for only a penny per person? These questions were asked to prospective supporters of a saturated television ad campaign in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area.

The program, called Reaching Hearts and Minds Through Media, had three primary goals:

  • Change attitudes on the abortion issue.
  • Offer alternatives to abortion, through a 1-800 number, to women and girls experiencing an unexpected pregnancy.
  • Save babies’ lives by reducing the number of abortions.

Life Issues Institute enlisted the services of The Caring Foundation, which researched and developed the television ads that were used. Considerable time, effort and money had been invested in producing specific ads that would reach a targeted segment of society. The Caring Foundation has developed a highly professional package that is complete in taking the program from start to finish.

The targeted audience consisted of women in their childbearing years between the ages of 18 and 44. As a result, the ads were aired on programs most likely watched by women in this age bracket, i.e., Oprah, soap operas, sit-coms, etc. A professional agency selected which programs on major television networks would be most effective. The average targeted woman saw the ads a minimum of 25 times.

Prior to airing the ads, professional polling was done to measure the level of pro-life sentiment in the area. The Caring Foundation has organized the airing of their ads in many major metropolitan cities. Cincinnati’s pre-polling demonstrated that it was the most pro-life city in the nation. According to the Caring Foundation’s judgment, this is due, in large part, to the decades-long work of Dr. and Mrs. Willke, stalwarts of pro-life education throughout the nation and the world. In addition, Cincinnati has a large number of effective crisis pregnancy centers serving the needs of the community, which have made a measurable impact.

As a result of this research, two ads were selected for airing – one showed a woman who used to be pro-abortion until she had a baby of her own. Then she realized that “all this baby was trying to do was make it, just make it.” The ad ended with her saying, “Think about it.” The second ad showed a woman pacing the floor at night unable to sleep, mourning the loss of her baby from abortion. The woman laments that she was never told of the negative effect abortion would have on her life.

The ads ran from the middle of January through the first half of April. During the campaign a total of 860 telephone calls were generated into crisis pregnancy centers. This volume of calls was extremely high for a market this size. This indicates an apparent need to follow up with an ad campaign that will educate pregnant women of the alternatives to abortion and facilitate connecting them to assistance.

At the conclusion of the ad campaign, post-polling was done to determine the net effect of the ads. Consistent pro-life attitudes increased as much as 6%, depending upon the geographic area researched. As a result, Cincinnati remains the most pro-life city in the nation, even ahead of heavily Catholic New Orleans, which has also aired the ads.

The Caring Foundation’s inclusive package of professional ad placement team, researchers, and thoroughly investigated and scrutinized television commercials, made for a winning combination to reach hearts and minds and save babies’ lives while protecting their parents from the often devastating effects of abortion. Please contact The Caring Foundation if you would like to explore the possibility of doing an effective television ad campaign. Administrative Office: 612 E. McCarty St., Jefferson City, MO 65101-3324. Phone (573) 634-4350.

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