Oh my gout : know your facts before it attacks

• Main Authors: Kee, Benedict Liwen, Phua, Shi Ting, Syahirah Afifah Abu Bakar, Nur Hafizah Akbar Ali
• Other Authors: Kim Hye Kyung
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Social sciences::Communication
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137560
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Oh My Gout! (OMG) is the first gout awareness communications campaign in Singapore, a country with an increasing number of gout sufferers in recent years. It is designed to raise awareness of gout amongst middle-aged men and encourage them to seek professional medical treatment if they identify symptoms of gout. This initiative was spearheaded by 4 final-year undergraduates from Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. Gout is an incurable condition with several possible serious consequences such as permanent joint damage and an increased risk of cardiovascular and chronic kidney disease when ineffectively treated. It affects 1 in 25 Singaporeans as of 2012, a number that has been increasing since then. However, public awareness and local literature on this health issue remains surprisingly low. In view of Singaporeans’ rising wealth, higher standards of living, a shift to more inactive lifestyles and richer diets prompt experts to foresee a local rise in the incidence of gout. Establishing an in-depth understanding of the target audience, OMG focused on increasing their gout knowledge by customising dry medical content to tailor-fit their preferences for health information they seek. Unique characteristics of OMG include the utilisation of a real-life campaign ambassador, a gout knowledge quiz and a guerrilla video of on-the-street gout education. The campaign’s success shines through the eminently positive response towards its guerrilla video and multiple media engagements. Overall, OMG succeeded in increasing the saliency of gout and boosting its target audience’s intention to seek professional medical treatment through its innovative and strategic localised tactics.