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“Al Afdal” TV show supported by CHL’s
Newlywed Initiative
Millions of viewers phone in to show
 At 11pm every evening during Ramadan this
season, millions of Egyptians tuned into the variety show Al
Afdal, (The Best). CHL sponsored a segment in the show where
celebrity host Tarek El Allam interacted with newlyweds to
present health information. The call-in format of the show
encouraged viewers to call either a mobile number or 0900
landline number linked to an IVR (Interactive Voice Response)*
system for the chance to win prizes and participate in future
shows. Over the 30-day period that the show ran, the IVR system
logged more than 7million minutes of calls—and was at maximum
capacity on many nights.
The project was part of CHL’s “Sahatek,
Sarwetek” (Your health, Your wealth) campaign, a national
multi-media health campaign that seeks to empower family members
to adopt healthy behaviors at every stage of their lives. The
campaign slogan taps into a deeply held cultural belief that
health is a gift to be cherished and protected. The Sahatek,
Sarwetek campaign was officially launched at a Newlywed
celebration in El Minya in September, which was part of an
initiative that targets newlyweds for specific health messages
tied to behaviors that could have a long-lasting impact on the
health of their future families.
Mr. El Allam, who also MC’d the El Minya
event, is popular figure with millions of Egyptians for his
unique shows that are filmed on location in heavily populated,
working-class neighborhoods. For the newlywed segment of the
Al Afdal show, each evening, the crew set up in a different
neighborhood in Cairo, Giza, or Alexandria and threw a party
outside the home of a newlywed couple, complete with
decorations, a band, wedding cake and of course, a gift. Mr. El
Allam’s humorous and warm style engaged the whole audience as he
teased the couples and quizzed them on their plans for the
health of their future family. He particularly emphasized
messages on birth spacing, asking “What is the ideal number of
years to space your children?” to many of the thirty couples
filmed over the course of the series. When one father-in-law
boasted that he had eleven children, the audience scolded him
good-naturedly. Mr. El Allam closed each newlywed segment by
reminding the couple to care for their health, using the
campaign slogan, “Sahatek, Sarwetek.”
The slogan is catching on, and Egyptians
are making the link between the health campaign and the events
for newlyweds. A 9-year old child watching El Afdal was
seen doodling the campaign slogan on the cover of her notebook.
A taxi driver in Aswan who watched El Afdal said that he
also enjoyed the “Farah Farahna” (Our Wedding
Celebration) broadcast from El Minya. “Sahatek, Sarwetek,”
he said, enthusiastically.
*IVR
is a telephone technology that allows someone to use a
touch-tone telephone to interact with a database to either
acquire or enter information. Information fro |
