As entertainment education (EE) becomes an increasingly popular medium for delivering health information, evaluation of EE is key to better understanding how it not only influences audiences but also how it can be better implemented. We suggest that EE evaluation has largely focused on impact while its implementation, specifically through narrative, characters, and genre, has remained unexplored. We propose drawing from theories and methods used in media studies to complement current approaches to understanding and evaluation of EE that can help improve EE for health education. East Los High serves as a case study, through which we examine the characters and the narrative demands of the telenovela genre to reveal a disproportional depiction of Latino men and women that ultimately replays familiar Latino stereotypes of criminality and exaggerated sexuality. We discuss the implications this has on the show’s ability to do public health work.

Entertainment programming provides a unique opportunity for cancer education, particularly for higher risk racial and ethnic minority groups. Cultural relevancy is key to quality narrative cancer communication, and minorities often prefer media content produced by and featuring members of their own cultural in-group. However, little is known about whether cancer depictions or the television programs they appear in are culturally diverse. Using media content analysis, this study aims to assess the cultural diversity of cancer depictions on primetime scripted television to reveal opportunities to improve cancer education through entertainment. Indicators used to assess cultural diversity at the program level and depiction levels were collected. Out of 111 television programs, 10 (9.01%) programs mentioned cancer, from which 37 cancer depictions were identified. However, the majority of cancer depictions involved White patients and White health providers. Depictions of coping and treatment also dominated with less than 10% of depictions discussing cancer prevention. These patterns reveal a missed opportunity in existing cancer narratives on primetime scripted television and a lack of representation of cultural, social, and environmental factors that affect the health of minority communities, who need to hear these messages the most.