Raising Awareness about Stormwater Pollution in Northwest Arkansas
What is the best way to inform the general public about water quality issues? The Arkansas Stormwater Education Program is hoping to get the message across using animated commercials on television and social media. This program was developed by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service (UACES).
Patricia “Trish” Ouei, County Extension Agent for Benton County, worked with Grasshorse Production Company to develop commercials to educate Northwest Arkansas residents about stormwater pollution prevention.
A total of six commercials were produced in the series. The main character is a cartoon turtle who teaches people about urban water pollution and prevention. The commercials tackled issues such as pollution from illegal dumping in storm drains, improper lawn waste management, and erosion from construction sites.
The commercials aired over 600 times from December 2016 until April 2017 across eight TV channels. The videos were also posted to Facebook and Twitter, where posts received about 1,500 views.
After the media campaign, citizens of Northwest Arkansas were asked to complete a survey containing questions like “Have you seen these characters on television or social media?” and “…do you understand the actions you need to take to prevent pollution…?” to determine if the commercials formed a memorable impression on people resulting in a change of behavior.
Over 70% of people who responded to the survey said that they recognized the characters from either television or social media. Of those people, 8% said they stopped dumping chemicals down storm drains and nearly 20% said they stopped leaving grass clippings and leaves in ditches because of what they learned from the commercials. What’s more, 100% of respondents wanted to see more educational commercials on how to help reduce water pollution.
The surveys also showed that more than 40% of respondents watch television through an online format. If they have the opportunity to repeat the project, Trish says they intend to explore online advertising as an option to reach more viewers.
Originally developed for the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the production company worked with UACES to redesign the commercials, replacing logos and contact information to reflect project information for Northwest Arkansas. “Working with the production company to rebrand the commercials for Northwest Arkansas saved both time and money in comparison to starting from scratch,” said Trish. “In total, rebranding the commercials, paying to have them aired, and completing the survey, cost less than $4,800,” she added.
Findings from this study can be found in the 2018 Arkansas Bulletin of Water Research.
