Name of Intervention/ Program
Ojo con el cloro – Phase 3
Background and Situation Analysis
The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the daily cleaning routines of many households increasing exposure to the toxic substances in household cleaning products. Even after the pandemic was over, the Washington Poison Control Center (The Center) has consistently reported household cleaning substances as one of the top three causes of poison exposure. In addition, The Center reported unintentional misuse of household cleaning products amongst people 18+ has increased consistently since 2020. This poses an ongoing challenge for organizations like King County’s Hazardous Waste Management Program (KCHWMP) to urgently educate all residents about safer cleaning practices to limit poison exposures. The reasons why households choose a certain cleaning product depends on many factors, including cultural preferences. The Hispanic community represents about 10 percent of King County’s population, making it one of the largest multicultural groups in the county. The use of chlorine bleach for cleaning is ingrained in the Hispanic/Latino culture and since 2020, KCHWMP has been intentional about developing a social marketing intervention to steer this audience away from using bleach when cleaning their homes and encourage the development of safer cleaning alternatives to limit the poison exposures. The social marketing campaign was called Ojo con el cloro (Careful with bleach) and it was designed to guide the audience through the behavior change continuum in three (3) phases. Phase 1 (2020) focused on creating awareness of health risks associated with the use of bleach when cleaning at home and the importance of being careful when using it. Phase 2 (2021) encouraged the adoption of safer cleaning, non-toxic alternatives by introducing safer cleaning recipes. Phase 3 was developed in 2023 and the goal was to build on the messaging from previous phases and begin education about how to develop effective cleaning solutions using the safer cleaning kit, a free tool (incentive) to facilitate the behavior change.
Priority Audiences(s)
The priority audience for all three phases was informed by Latino community members through in-person meetings and focus groups with King County’s Latino Ambassador Program. The objective of the meetings was to learn from bleach users about motivators that drove bleach use and communications channels that would be most relevant for reaching the community. The meetings helped C+C uncover that Latina moms are the primary decision-makers when it comes to taking care of their children, household chores, purchasing cleaning products, and other family decisions making them the appropriate desired audience for this campaign. We learned that community members didn’t know where to start when it comes to purchasing or looking for items they’ll need to consider to create and utilize their safer cleaning solutions; therefore, a safer cleaning kit was proposed as the tool to change behavior.
Behavioral Objectives
The behavioral objective for Phase 3 of the Ojo con el cloro campaign was to educate Latina residents on how to develop safe cleaning solutions that work as alternatives to bleach and empower them to try them at home by using the safer cleaning kit.
Description of Strategy/Intervention
The intervention strategy was based on the following key audience barriers learned from the meetings with Latino community members: 1. Culture. Cleaning with bleach is ingrained in the Latino culture. 2. Awareness. There is limited awareness about how to develop or purchase safer cleaning alternatives to popular chemical products like bleach. 3. Effectiveness. Safer alternatives may not be seen as effective as bleach when it comes to cleaning and disinfecting at home. 4. COVID-19. The pandemic likely influenced the audience in how they feel about disinfecting surfaces and the types of products they use. Based on the barriers above we knew that a successful intervention would need to provide the desired audience with the tools they needed to successfully change the behavior (a safer cleaning kit with most of the items moms would need to create the safer cleaning solutions) while proving the effectiveness of the safer cleaning solutions. Furthermore, the campaign would have to connect how the development of the safer cleaning solutions contributed to the health of the desired audience and their families. From the meetings with the Latino community members, we knew leveraging Facebook and working with influencers would be an important consideration to help drive behavior change, as well as partnering with sources of trust, such as community organizations and community leaders, to successfully drive the adoption of the safer cleaning recipes.
Implementation
Ojo con el cloro Phase 3 launched as an integrated communications campaign (paid, owned, earned media, and community outreach) to educate Latina residents on how to develop safe cleaning solutions that work as alternatives to bleach and provide them with the tools needed to successfully change behavior (safer cleaning kit). The campaign’s message strategy was as follows: – Benefit: “By adopting safer cleaning practices at home, you are protecting your health and the health of your family.” – Motivator: “Use your safer cleaning kit to make safer cleaning solutions at home by following the recipes.” – CTA:“Learn more at kingcounty.gov/cloro.” Social Marketing tools, Media assets, and collateral materials: 1. A safer cleaning kit was developed as the incentive for this campaign to drive behavior change and implement safer cleaning. The kit included: a. Natural sponge 10-pack b. Spray bottle c. Collapsible bucket d. Microfiber towels e. ECOS dish soap f. Reusable grocery bag g. Campaign flyer with recipes 2. :30 animated Spanish-language video that ran on social, digital, and on Univision (the most prominent Spanish-language TV channel in the region). C+C leveraged social and digital targeting capabilities to reach Spanish-dominant moms in King County through digital video, Facebook, and Instagram. 3. :30 in-language radio spot that ran in the most popular radio stations in the area such as La Gran D, Tu Familia, La Z, El Rey, and Radio Luz. 4. Static Facebook and Instagram ads were created to support the campaign video. These ads were targeted at Spanish-dominant moms in King County. 5. A campaign website that included videos, safer cleaning recipes, and information about the health risks associated with the use of bleach for cleaning. 6. A campaign flyer with safer cleaning recipes to be used in earned media, and community outreach. 7. Community media influencers created “how-to-videos” to show Latina moms how to develop safer cleaning recipes using the campaign’s safer cleaning kits and also talked about the effectiveness of the safer cleaning solutions. Influencers included Lupita Zamora and Ruby Sanchez. 8. Community events where tabling sessions were conducted at relevant events for the Hispanic community (Fiestas Patrias at Seattle Center). The tabling events demonstrated how to develop effective safer cleaning solutions using the safer cleaning kits and recipes. 9. Partnerships with community-based organizations were leveraged to host workshops to educate Latina moms about how to create effective, safer cleaning alternatives to bleach and demonstrate how to use the safer cleaning kit. Community-based organizations included St. Vincent de Paul Seattle, and Villa Comunitaria.
Evaluation Methods and Results
Objective: Spur safer cleaning behaviors among Latina residents in King County through education about how to develop safe cleaning solutions that work as alternatives to bleach and distribution of safer clening kits that make it easy for them to try the behavior at home. Results: Two (2) partnerships with Community-based organizations were secured facilitating 13 communtiy “how-to” workshops, educating more than 369 Latina moms, and providing more than 100 safer cleaning kits. In addition, the organizations posted the campaign materials on their communication channels. Two (2) tabling sessions at community events were hosted with two bilingual and bicultural staffers, engaging with more than 240 Latina moms, hosting more than 15 demonstrations, and providing safer cleaning kits to 230 Latina moms. Two (2) partnerships with local community influencers relevant to Latina moms were secured. Community influencers produced and posted six unique “how-to” videos about how to develop effective safer cleaning solutions using the safer cleaning kits. The campaign’s paid media strategy generated over 2.34 million impressions and more than 75k video views.
Entry Letter: RR