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Bulgam Bhai, the new superhero to fight TB

The idea is to make a connect and build a currency around two weeks of cough and TB.

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Come March and India’s battle against tuberculosis (TB) would get a new face, an Indian superhero — Bulgam Bhai.
A potbellied local superhero, Bulgam Bhai wears a stripy suit, has furrowed brows and a curly moustache who pops up next to any person who is coughing to ask, ‘Do hafte ho gaye kya? (has it been two weeks?)’

The Bulgam Bhai campaign is initiated and sponsored by The International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) under Project Axhsya. Population Services International (PSI) is partnering with the union to execute the campaign designed by BBC World Service Trust (BBCWST), India.

“The challenge for us was to make people sit up, take notice and act. A character that would help make an immediate connect and over time build a currency around two weeks of cough and TB,” said Radharani Mitra, national creative director, BBCWST, India.

“We tried to take the ugliness out of sputum and make it more acceptable as sputum testing is central to the TB campaign. And hence, Bulgam Bhai,” Mitra added.

She said that building the character of Bulgam Bhai was a tough call, a matter of ‘intricate craft’ as she puts it. “We had to give him distinctive characters and a lot of detailing went into his creation. Like the funny dress sense, pride in his name, excessive talking, slightly incorrect English, a different kind of body language, etc,” she added.

Happy with the outcome, Dr Sarabjit S Chadha of the Union said that Bulgam Bhai would connect to anyone right from the age of 15 to 54 in any kind of setting.

“The character keeps repeating, ‘Has it been two weeks?’ to drive home the point that two weeks of cough is dangerous. So far, all programmes have concentrated on TB treatment; this one focuses on detection” said Chadha. He added that an important message was to tell people to visit designated microscopic centre where sputum tests are carried out.

It’s important that people visit government-run centres where sputum tests are done as they give accurate diagnosis. The government gives free TB drugs to patients under its directly observed treatment strategy or DOTS and ensures there are no dropouts to treatment thus controlling drug resistance,” he added.
Shankar Narayan, director-programmes, PSI, said research showed that people either had no knowledge of symptoms of TB or felt that they couldn’t be affected by it.

“While ‘Do hafte...’ focuses on symptoms, an important message is that TB can affect all. It’s evident from the ads as the character pops up next to all kinds of people from a vegetable vendor or a sculptor to a housewife or a biker. We want people who otherwise have no time to notice small things like untreated cough to realise it’s important to get it tested. And Bulgam Bhai is the ideal character; he is affable and endearing yet irritating enough to notice,” said Narayan.

The media campaign starting with TV ads followed by radio spots and out of home hoardings is expected to begin next week. Essentially a national campaign, it’s focus would be in six high prevalence states — Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Bihar.

“Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him,” summed up Mitra.

Balbir Pasha, a fictional character or sort of alter-ego of a common man was created under an HIV/AIDS prevention programme “Operation Lighthouse” in 2002.

The Balbir Pasha campaign was a very thought provoking, aggressive mass media campaign launched in five phases targeted at risk groups. The campaign used a fictional character and catchy slogans to deliver key messages on HIV/AIDS. While the popular campaign shut down a few years ago amidst allegations that it was sexist, the new campaign on TB uses a similar style and it will be worthwhile to see if it can copy the success of Balbir Pasha.

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