Major Publicity Campaigns and Minor Publicity Programmes

Bureau / Department	Information Services Department (ISD) in conjunction with bureaux and departments
Objective	To promote general awareness of matters of public interest and concern, and to disseminate messages which are directly related to government policies or operational objectives.
Content	Publicity campaigns or programmes convey messages which inform and educate the public, as well as enlist public support. The messages focus on such issues as health, safety, social welfare, legal obligations, availability of public resources and changes affecting traffic or other environmental factors. They are disseminated through a wide range of publicity and advertising means ranging from TV and Radio Announcements in the Public Interest (APIs) and special programmes to exhibitions, community involvement activities, and advertising in the print and digital media.
Groups / Persons Affected	Advertising agencies and production houses as well as the target audience who are usually the general public or specific sub-groups.
Impact	After applying the Gender Mainstreaming Checklist, ISD has laid down a standard practice that bidders for the Government's outsourcing exercises on the production of publicity items under major publicity campaigns and minor programmes are required to check all work submitted to the Government to ensure the absence of gender bias or inequality and gender stereotyping. ISD shall continue with this practice. There is now an absence of gender bias or inequality and gender stereotyping in the promotional content which has been presented in a gender-sensitive manner. Meanwhile, sustained efforts are being made by ISD to ensure that the medium of promotion (e.g. venues, channels or time slots) has effectively reached women.
Success Factor / Lessons Learned	The use of the Gender Mainstreaming Checklist has helped ISD staff raise their gender awareness and sensitivity and the need to eliminate any gender bias in all publicity programmes.