Strangely, how soap operas changed the world

Soap operas aren't often celebrated for contributing to the good of society. Whether it's the materialism of Dallas or the idle gossip of Neighbours, they are better known for being shallow and addictive than for bringing about social change.

But around the world the genre has succeeded in providing "educational entertainment" - a blend of public service messages and melodrama that has enraptured millions of viewers.

Here are some of the things soaps have achieved;

Gay Tolerance

In 1989, the British soap Eastenders aired the first gay kiss on British television, prompting one British newspaper to run the headline "Filth! Get This Off Our Screens". Actor Michael Cashman received a brick through his window.

"On the second kiss there was barely any fuss. By the third kiss barely anyone noticed," Cashman wrote in The Mirror newspaper.

Another first occurred in 2007 in Vanuatu and Fiji, when a gay character appeared on screens in a series called Love Patrol. It has since been aired on TV in other Pacific Islands - a region where homosexuality is profoundly stigmatised.

"People are saying we actually do have gay men in our community too and they have rights," says Robyn Drysdale at the University of New South Wales, who has studied the reaction.

"There is a lot of discussion going on around human rights, and respect and an increased understanding of quite marginalised populations. That hadn't happened before."

Girls' Rights

Poor people didn't own television sets, so PCI Media Impact soon realised it could reach more people through radio. In 2002 it created a radio drama called Taru, set in the Indian state of Bihar, which challenged the preferential treatment of boys over girls.

The series' researchers found that girls in rural Bihar didn't celebrate their birthdays and decided to tell the story of a plucky young girl who petitions her family to throw her a party - and wins them over. Listeners across the region followed avidly as a little girl planned her birthday party for the first time.

In his follow-up research, Arvind Singhal, professor of communication at the University of Texas at el Paso, saw birthday celebrations for girls popping up around the region.

"It had the elements of an infection," he says.
Taru also led to the opening of several schools.