Nearly 1 Million Young People Have Called Hotline for Information on Sexual Health

New National Survey Shows Results Among Those Who Saw Campaign -
Two-thirds of non-sexually active youth say it made them more likely to wait to have sex
One-quarter of sexually-active youth say they got tested for HIV or other STDs as a result

New York, NY – December 9, 2003: MTV: Music Television and the Kaiser Family Foundation today announced that their Emmy Award-winning Fight for Your Rights: Protect Yourself public education partnership will be extended for a 7th consecutive year to continue to inform and empower young people about critical sexual health issues. 

Since launching in 1997, close to a million young people have called the campaign’s toll-free hotline to receive additional information on sexual health topics, be connected with a counselor, or find a local HIV/STD testing center.  Millions more have visited the comprehensive website (FightForYourRights.mtv.com) for additional information and resources, or participated in community events across the country, and the campaign has distributed nearly half a million copies of It’s Your (Sex) Life: Your Guide to Safe & Responsible Sex, the informational guide about a young person’s sexual health.

And a new survey of 16-to 24- year-olds nationwide also released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that more than one in two recognize the campaign, and many say they have acted on what they have seen.  Among definite viewers (those who had seen at least one of five recent PSAs, 42% of all respondents):

• Nearly three quarters (73%) say that the campaign has made them more likely to take their sexual relationships more seriously;
• Among those who are not yet sexually active, two out of three (66%) say the campaign made them more likely to wait to have sex;
• Nearly half (49%) say that they have talked with their partner about safer sex because of the campaign; and
• One in four (24%) of those who are sexually active say they have been tested for HIV or others STDs because of the campaign. 

The complete results are discussed in a new report, titled Reaching the MTV Generation: Recent Research on the Impact of the Kaiser Family Foundation/MTV Public Education Campaign on Sexual Health, available at www.kff.org.

“The decision to extend the Protect Yourself campaign was an easy one,” said Brian Graden, President of Entertainment for MTV and VH1. “This campaign has had an incredible, measurable impact on young people by changing their attitudes and behavior on a topic of critical importance. We’re looking forward to working with Kaiser to develop new and innovative dimensions to the initiative in the coming year.”

“To reach young people in a meaningful way with crucial information that will affect their sexual health, you need to go where they go and speak their language. MTV is uniquely positioned to do just that, and the results of our survey show the impact you can have when a sustained effort is coupled with the right creative,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director of Entertainment Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation. 

In the upcoming year, MTV and the Kaiser Foundation will continue to produce new cutting-edge PSAs and complementary special full-length programs to dramatize the importance and impact of HIV/AIDS and other sexual health issues on young people, as well as timely news segments on MTV News.  To date, more than 60 PSAs – including a series that won the 2002 Emmy for best national public service campaign – and 20 full-length shows have been produced under the partnership.  The cumulative audience for the longer-form programming exceeds 96 million based on Nielsen reports.

“Whatever their age, race or gender, young people who saw this campaign were more likely than those who didn’t to report being concerned about HIV, using condoms regularly and getting tested for the virus,” said Vicky Rideout, who directed the study for the Foundation. “No media campaign is going to be the one thing that changes someone’s behavior, but it is certainly encouraging to see the positive impact this one appears to be having,” she concluded. Rideout is a vice president of the Foundation and director of its Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

When controlling for factors such as age, race, or gender, viewers of the campaign were more likely than non-viewers:

• To say they are “very concerned” about HIV (19% more likely),
• To report having been tested for HIV (18% more likely); and
• To report using condoms regularly (16% more likely).

Survey Methodology
The National Survey of Teens and Young Adults on Sexual Health Public Education Campaigns was a nationally-representative, random-digit-dial telephone survey of 1,100 young people age 16-24, conducted from January 27 through April 6, 2003.  Parental permission was obtained for respondents under age 18.  The survey was designed and analyzed by Foundation staff in consultation with Princeton Survey Research Associates (PSRA), with fieldwork conducted by PSRA.  The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points.  For results based on smaller subsets of respondents the margin of error is higher. Note that sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other public opinion poll.

Fight For Your Rights
Developed in partnership with Kaiser Family Foundation, Protect Yourself is the latest installment in MTV’s Emmy Award-Winning Fight For Your Rights campaign.  It includes special programming; public service messages; one of the most comprehensive sexual health websites for youth; grassroots events and advocacy opportunities; and an extensive resource and referral service that connects viewers to local testing and counseling (1-888-BE SAFE 1) and offers a free sexual health guide. 

MTV
MTV Networks owns and operates the cable television programming services MTV: Music Television, MTV2, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TV Land, VH1, CMT: Country Music Television, and Spike TV, as well as The Digital Suite from MTV Networks, a package of thirteen digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also operates and offers joint ventures, licensing agreements and syndication deals whereby its programming can be seen worldwide.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation is an independent, national health philanthropy dedicated to providing information and analysis on health issues to policymakers, the media, and the general public.  The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

Contacts:

Marnie Black
MTV Communications
212.258.7004
Marnie.Black@mtvstaff.com

Rob Graham
The Kaiser Family Foundation
650.854.9400 ext. 237
rgraham@kff.org

A copy of the full report Reaching the MTV Generation:  Recent Research on the Kaiser Family Foundation/MTV Public Education Campaign on Sexual Health (#3384) is available online at www.kff.org.  Also available online are the full questionnaire and results for this survey (#3385) and for a related call-back survey (#3386) of 500 viewers who called a toll-free telephone number and received print fulfillment materials as part of the Kaiser Foundation/MTV campaign.