An Anti-Smoking Campaign in Australia: a Successful Information Campaign - Essay Example

Introduction Social marketing plays a very important role in health care promotion through the effective use of communication campaigns. Thus, according to Rice and Atkin (1989: 5 as cited in McQuail 2000), “a communication campaign is a purposive attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate behavioural changes in a well defined and large audience generally for non commercial benefits to the individuals and society at large by means of organised communication.” Against this background, this essay seeks to critically analyse a health care campaign in Australia code named “Quitnow” in a bid to establish the effectiveness of the campaign. The essay is divided into two parts and the first part is primarily concerned with outlining the situation analysis of the campaign, segmentation of the audience, use of the seven Ps in marketing, promotion and elements of the communication model as well as evaluation of the success of the campaign. The second part deals with a reflective analysis of what I can do differently as an individual with regards to the issue of smoking. The marketing theory will be used to back up the suggestions going to be raised in this section. Situation analysis of the campaign In Australia, smoking is one leading preventable cause of disease and death and it is estimated that smoking was responsible for more than 15 500 deaths or 12 % of all deaths in 2003 and it continues to be a matter of concern to date (http://www.quitnow.info.au/internet/quitnow/publishing.nsf/Content/damage-lp ). Tobacco use reduces life expectancy and the quality of health given that inhalation of tobacco substances is harmful to the human body. Chemicals produced in tobacco smoke flow to every part of the body in blood and they cause harm in different organs. Whilst there may be immediate effects of smoking on the human body in some instances, there is usually a long time period before the effects of smoking are noticed on someone to the extent that some smokers develop cognitive dissonance whereby they will end up thinking that long term effects are ineffective but the truth is that half of all lifetime smokers will succumb to smoke related deaths in the long run. According to this anti-smoking campaign in Australia, scientific research has it on good record that smokers face significantly increased deaths or numerous illnesses from cancer, heart diseases, stroke, atherosclerosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, emphysema and other respiratory diseases. It can also be noted that smoking can cause blindness, dental problems, erectile dysfunction, reduced fertility in women and sudden infant death syndrome. Smoking is dangerous particularly to pregnant women in that it significantly causes complications in pregnancy that may lead to premature births, still births or low weight births. Smoking can also affect non smokers given that they will be exposed to risk of inhaling tobacco substances from the smokers which have the same deadly effects on their health which entails that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. Thus, quitting at any age has benefits, with the largest reduction in risk in those who quit the earliest. However, many Australians are not aware of the negative impacts of smoking on their bodies which has prompted the Australian government to embark on this anti smoking campaign in a bid to raise awareness of the dangers related to smoking and promoting safe health care practices. Promoting safe health care is everyone’s responsibilities given that it affects all social aspects of life as well as economic performance of the country. Segmentation of the audience Basically, market segmentation is defined as, “the process of dividing a total market into market segments of consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix,” Strydom et al (2004:61). In short, segmentation is concerned with breaking the targeted audience into groups on the basis of age, sex, profession as well as other demographic related factors. The anti-smoking campaign in Australia targets many groups. Parents are targeted in that they expose their children to risk of tobacco related diseases when they smoke near them. Passive smoking is an issue of concern given that even non smokers like the children are affected by chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Second hand smoking is known to be dangerous to the general public particularly the children whose respiratory organs would not be that used to tobacco substances compared to the actual smokers. In this regard, only a 100 % smoke free environment is effective in combating the problems related to second hand smoking. The campaign also targets pregnant mothers as smoking affects the development of the baby inside the womb. There will be likely chances of premature birth or low weight birth if the pregnant mother smokes. The other segments targeted by the campaign include men as well as young adults particularly teenagers who have the habit of smoking out of peer pressure. The greatest percentage of smokers in Australia are men the reason why they are put on the forefront in this campaign. Indeed, quitting smoking is never too late the reason why smokers are encouraged to take positive measures towards stopping to smoke for the benefit of their health. Young people are also discouraged from joining the fray of smoking as this has been seen to be hazardous to their health in the long run. Tobacco smoking is addictive the reason why the campaign targets the youngsters at an early stage so that it would not be a problem to them in the long run. The campaign also targets the health care professionals with practical information about smoking cessation and effective strategies that general staff and other practitioners can use in identifying smokers and assisting them to stop smoking. Health care professionals are the custodians of safe health in society the reason why they are targeted by the campaign to take a leading role in championing the cause of stopping to smoke. Essentially, quitting smoking may be seen as one of the most difficult things to do yet it is the most rewarding action to smokers in the long run. Seven Ps in marketing The social marketing mix in this context addresses elements of the marketing mix such as price, place, product as well as promotion. The other three additional Ps include partnership, policy as well as politics. The product in this campaign is intangible and it is mainly in the form of ideas created through the campaign that are helpful to the targeted audiences towards quitting smoking. The campaign as noted is of non commercial nature and the price is not delineated in monetary value. In other words, the targeted audience does not need to pay for them to access the message conveyed to them. The place describes how the product reaches the targeted audiences. Since this is an intangible product, the place is the channel through which the consumers are reached. In this case, these include the medical practitioners, shopping malls as well as various mass media vehicles. The Australian government uses both print and electronic media in the form of broadcasting to reach the targeted audiences. On the other hand, promotion in this campaign involves an integrated use of the following: advertising, public relations, media advocacy, as well as other entertainment related vehicles. The focus is on creating and sustaining the dissemination of the right information about the dangers of smoking to the people. The other additional Ps in this campaign include partnership, policy, as well as politics. Smoking is a complex issue in Australia and it is difficult for the government to tackle it alone the reason why it has partnered with both the private sector and the non-governmental organisations in the fight against smoking. These organisations play a complimentary role to the efforts by the government to fight against the cancerous habit of smoking among the population of Australia. Fighting smoking is mainly determined by effective policies in place. The World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) recognises that exposure to smoking causes death and encourages governments to promulgate legislation that seek to control the levels of second hand smoking. Australia has already introduced laws to protect people from being exposed to tobacco smoke especially in public places. The State and Territory Governments are responsible for regulating levels of smoking as well as development of smoke free policies. The political climate in Australia is supportive of this initiative to dissuade people from practicing the bad habit of smoking. Elements of the communication model with reference to promotion In promoting the anti smoking campaign, it can be noted that communication through the use of the media is very important. The model of communication used in this campaign is mainly based on the notion that the audiences are not passive consumers of information they get from the media. Thus, the uses and gratification model mainly shapes the messages disseminated by the campaign to the audiences. McQuail (2000) suggests that the audiences have the power to create meaning from what they consume from the media. Through the use of the network approach, the Australian government is better positioned to reach a lot of people residing in different parts of the country. This posits that there are several communication networks in society and everyone belongs to one or several of these communication networks. There are intricate The communication model used targets individuals, opinion leaders as well as the other groups of people. People in the society are interconnected and they are linked by patterned communication flows. As such, the Australian government uses print media as well as electronic media to flight different advertisements that are anti smoking as well as promoting talk shows about the dangers of smoking. The aim is to reach as many people as possible and the internet is also used in this fight to promote safe health through discouraging smoking. The internet is also used in this campaign and particular emphasis on the uses and gratifications model used is the aspect of sharing of meaning in the communication. Australia is a multicultural country which is also comprised of the Aborigines as the dominant indigenous group of people. Through social interaction, an effort is made to ensure that the message reaches everyone. Thus, this model recognises that the interactive nature of communication leads to negotiation of meaning which takes place in social realities. Evaluation of the success of the campaign The anti smoking campaign initiated by the government shows that there has been a significant improvement in the statistics of smoking related deaths among the non aboriginal race. Of notable concern is that the indigenous smoking rates are double the national average and the results are devastating to say the least. Unfortunately, it can be noted that tobacco is recognised as one of the greatest contributors of health inequalities especially the indigenous aboriginal people and the non indigenous people. This is owed to the fact that the aboriginal people still strongly believe in their traditional practises of life which are primitive and the majority of them are not highly educated to reason meaningfully with regards to the anti smoking campaigns which mostly use modern means of communication. In other races, it can be seen that there is positive behaviour change among them in as far as smoking is concerned. According to Daley and Rae (2010), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report in 2009 states that the number of Australians who smoke has more than halved in the past 20 years which significantly means that the government initiated anti smoking campaign is bearing positive fruit. Thus, “Australia has the third-lowest rate of smokers in the developed world, behind Sweden and the U.S. The report goes on to categorically state that new cases of lung cancer fell to 60.6 per 100,000 men in 2006 from 80.6 per 100,000 two decades earlier, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in Canberra,” (Daley and Rae 2010). According to these recent statistics, it shows that there has been a positive development with regards to people’s behaviour towards smoking which has been a cause for concern to the Australian government for decades. It can also be seen that the majority of the people are aware of the dangers of smoking but they just attempt to evade the truth by finding comfort in avoiding unpleasant feelings through fallacious statements that motivate them to act in certain ways. Some want to ask why smoking is bad given that they have been smoking for a long period but have not been affected. Part B Research on impact of smoking or smoke exposure on breast cancer remains contentious whereby there is still limited acknowledgement of its actual causes.  Most recent findings suggest some limited impact of smoking on breast cancer. Given that I am the marketing manager of the campaign chosen above, I would certainly approach this campaign in a certain way in an attempt to ensure its effectiveness. It can be seen that as it stands, this campaign is too broad and addresses the problem of smoking in general. Thus, I will limit the scope of the campaign to focus on the consequences of smoking particularly with regards to breast cancer in women. It is my strong belief that campaigns must have a high level of specificity rather than being general so that it appeals to the targeted audiences. A campaign with intended benefits should address specifically individuals who are believed to be of significance with regards to the messages being conveyed in the communication campaign. In order to achieve this feat, audience segmentation with reference to marketing research will be given precedence in this scenario. There will be need to deal with factors that are psychological as these have a bearing on the behaviour of people especially with regards to communication campaigns whose products are non tangible such as ideas and practices. Kotler (1999) posits that psychographic segmentation deals with characteristics such as personality, attitudes, opinions as well as life styles. These characteristics have some relationship to behaviour and provide insight into how to communicate with chosen segments to the marketers. Thus, the main idea of segmenting the market will be to try and understand the customer needs through reaching target groups and the aim will be to initiate and effect changes in the way they perceive the issues related to smoking as well as their behaviour. There will be need for me to know the target audience as the starting point and I will do so through conducting market research as the first step. Research and evaluation form the cornerstone of the social marketing process and can be divided into four stages namely; planning, development, implementation and assessment (Strydom 2004). I will first of all plan to learn as much as possible about the targeted audience since this forms the basic foundation of knowing the needs of the needs of the people intended to benefit from the campaign. I will use both primary as well as secondary sources of information to collect as much information as possible. Focus groups will be mainly used so as to gather the views of the targeted group of women with regards to their views and understanding of issues related to breast cancer as a result of smoking. The information I will gather will be used to shape the main idea that will characterise the communication campaign highlighted in the first part of the essay. Having gathered all the necessary information about the views of the targeted audiences in relation to the subject of smoking, I will then develop the ideas into desired message in such a way that it will have a positive impact on the targeted people. I will have to ensure that the messages I create will be evaluated by the members of the target audience so as to ensure that I will remain focused on my aim. I will then test to see if the campaign can have a positive impact on the targeted people before rolling it out on a full scale to the people who are the intended beneficiaries. Having put everything in place, I will then move on to the implementation stage where the communication campaign is taken to the people. Implementation is not an end in itself as I will also put in place measures that will ensure that there is a feedback system in place where I will be constantly in touch with the targeted audience to get their views about the campaign. I will put necessary refinements where possible so as to be better positioned to continuously appeal to their needs and interests. I will then continuously assess the effectiveness of the campaign whereby I will be on the lookout for any positive changes in the behaviour of the targeted audiences as a result of the message being disseminated to them. Following these steps discussed above will allow me to stay in constant touch with the targeted people. Essentially, it will be a noble idea to establish a mutual relationship with the people who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of the messages in the campaign. After successfully establishing the needs of the people intended for the programme, I will turn my focus on the actual message that will characterise the campaign as going to be discussed below. There is need to focus on the benefits of positive behaviour of quitting smoking in women rather than using fear to drive the message to the intended audiences. Indeed, there are a lot of tobacco related diseases that exist but the campaign must not solely focus on the negative impacts of smoking by endlessly reminding the targeted people about these. In my case, I will specifically focus on the benefits of not smoking such as long life and improved quality of health. Indeed, the women have great roles to play with regards to breastfeeding their children and one of the major benefits of not smoking is good health to the child. The innocent child will be assured of a healthy life through the support of a healthy mother. The other benefit to the mother is that she will be guaranteed that she will happily nurture her children to old age which is another essence of marriage and conceiving. I will try by all means to avoid focusing on the negative aspect of smoking such as related diseases and illnesses as a way of avoiding cognitive dissonance among the audiences whereby they can end up finding solace in misconceived ideas such as claiming that the dangers of smoking are not imminent. After carefully designing the message for the targeted audiences, I will carefully select the best method of presenting this message to the people. I will then use a combination of education and entertainment (infotainment) in presenting my message to the targeted audience. A communication campaign of this magnitude is effective when it is in accompaniment of music. The targeted people will be waylaid in the process of being entertained as they will subconsciously consume the message intended in the campaign. I will mainly use broadcasting electronic media such as radio or television given that these are very popular forms of media among many generations. Indeed, I would use the commercial strategies for marketing such as advertising where I will pay for advertising space in this particular type of broadcast media. The other strategy I will also advocate is the use of repetition of the same message in all the campaigns. However, this will be constantly monitored and reviewed where necessary so as to avoid monotony among the targeted audience. I will always make sure that the message is timely especially to be aired during prime time viewing of television. Over and above, it can be noted that social marketing is primarily concerned with positively changing behaviour of the people with regards to health care issues such as smoking which is harmful to human health. From the above discussion of an anti smoking campaign in Australia, it can be noted that to a greater extent, these information campaigns are effective in as far as positive behaviour change is concerned. In order to implement a successful information campaign, it has been noted that it is imperative to establish and know the needs of the targeted audiences. There is also need for the marketer to be in constant touch with the targeted people so that he will be better positioned to refine the messages so as to meet the needs of the people involved. References Armstrong, G. & Kotler P.(1996) Principles of Marketing, 7th Edition, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Belch, G.E. and Belch, M.A., (2008), Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, Boston: McGraw-Hill Australian Government (N.D). The national tobacco campaign: Every cigarette is doing you harm. 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