Effectiveness of public relations strategies on Clean It Up! campaign at University of Ilorin, Nigeria
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Communication Education (JCE), 3(2), 59-72, Published by Malaysian Association of Communication Educators (MACE).
Abstract
Given the poor culture of environmental cleanliness among students and staff at the University
of Ilorin, Nigeria, the authors led Public Relations undergraduates to embark on an advocacy
(Clean it Up!) which was an annual campaign. The objective was to enlighten the University
community on the need to ensure environmental cleanliness specifically on waste disposal in
line with the seventh Millennium Development Goal with a view to effecting attitudinal and
behavioural change of staff and students. Target population was all students and staff of Faculty
of Communication and Information Sciences where the public relations students were
domiciled. Public relations strategies adopted were radio, social media, printed T-shirts and
hand bills and actual cleaning of the faculty. The campaign which involved the entire public
relations students at the Department of Mass Communication was mounted on Frank Jefkin’s 6
point public relations process. The one-day campaign lasted between 9:30 am and 3:00pm. After
the campaign, six staff and nineteen students, at which saturation was attained, were
purposively selected and physically interviewed. Findings show that littering appears to be part
of life among some staff and students, and that the campaign creates significant impact on waste
disposal culture of staff and students as responses from some informants indicate desire to
desist from littering; after the campaign, staff and students show commitment to ensure general
environmental cleanliness. Findings further show that not too long after the campaign, some
staff and students relapsed to their old habits of littering. The study concludes that advocacy
campaigns that hallmark public relations are indispensable activity that impacts on all sectors of
human existence. The study recommends among other things, the need for facilitators of the
campaign to ensure its continuity; and that subsequent campaigns should be re-strategized by
prioritizing negative effect as well as evolving punitive and reward strategies for maximum
impact.
Description
Keywords
Campaigns, environmental cleanliness, pick it right, millennium development goals, public relations
Citation
27. Udende, P., Mustapha, L.K., Akpede, K.S., Adisa, R.M., & Abdulbaqi, S.S. (2023). Effectiveness of public relations strategies on Clean It Up! campaign at University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Journal of Communication Education (JCE), 3(2), 59-72, Published by Malaysian Association of Communication Educators (MACE