VOlUME 01 ISSUE 01 SEPTEMBER 2024
1ADELUSI, Gabriel Ayodeji, 2AKINMADE, Oyinkansola Henrietta
1,2Department of media and communication studies, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti
ABSTRACT
Despite the emergence of modern communication system such as print and electronic media, Africans people still consider traditional African communication system as a vital means of disseminating information especially in the rural areas. The rural areas which constitute the larger part of the population across the world are the economic base of the nations. They are the major sources of capital formation for the domestic manufacturers. This study explores the potentials of African traditional communication system in enhancing public relations campaigns in the rural areas. The aim of the study is to assess the suitability of Africa system of communication for public relations campaigns in the rural areas. To achieve this aim, the study examine the extent to which African communication system is effectively communicating public relations campaign messages to the rural dwellers, the gap between African communication system and other media categories in achieving the desired results during public relations campaigns in the rural areas and to suggest the media suitable for public relations campaigns in the rural areas. The study adopted Survey research with stratified random sampling to select the respondents from Ekiti State, Nigeria. The data for this study is primary and questionnaires were administered to the respondents. The study used descriptive statistics for data analysis. While correlation was used to test the hypotheses. This study revealed the media preference of the rural dwellers in the study area. From the findings, it was found that rural dwellers trusted and preferred traditional channels of communication such as town crier, traditional leaders and village square meetings, to electronic media on the issues that have direct effect on them. Findings also suggest African traditional communications system as a viable communication tool to complement public relations campaigns in the rural areas with the use of local languages.
KEYWORDS:
Public relations campaign, rural areas, Africa traditional communication system
JEL Code: I3, I31, O13
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