Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Marketing Campaign - Essay Example

Social Marketing Campaign Social Marketing Campaign: Obesity Introduction Obesity or overweight is one of the major health problems across the worldand the case of Australia is not an exception. During the last couple of decades, the prevalence of obesity has been almost doubled in Australia. Some of the reasons cited for the increased prevalence of obesity among Australians are; lower educational status, extended television viewing time, lower physical activity, and sedentary lifestyles (Cameron, et al., 2003). Changing life styles, life philosophies and eating habits are some of the other reasons for increased obesity trends in the Australia. Many of the modern generation consider eating as a recreational activity. They are not much interested in researching the ingredients of the food while taking food from fast food outlets and restaurants. Instead of nutrients, taste is the primary factor considered by the modern generation while taking foods. At the same time, the modern generation in the Australia are less interested in physical activities. They are spending more time in front of the computers or mobile phones rather than in the play grounds. As a result of that, they were unable to burn off the excessive calories consumed. Even though the Australian government and the social agencies are working hard to empower the public related to the problems associated with obesity, these efforts were not successful until now. If used properly, it is believed that social marketing tools can bring significant changes in the life styles and eating habits of the Australians. Social marketing is a technique which is used to bring behavioural changes among the people, using the conventional marketing tools and techniques. When is behaviour change relatively easy and straight-forward to achieve using a social marketing campaign? According to de Vries et al. (1987), behavioural changes are relatively easy when the people have better self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the self-belief in one’s abilities. In fact, people demonstrate behavioural changes when they lose belief in their abilities. Majority of the people who engage in antisocial or unacceptable behaviours have less self-efficacy and self-esteem. If the self-efficacy of the people is more, it is easy to bring behavioural changes among them, even if they were victims of unacceptable behaviours. The attitudes related to unmindful consumption is the major reason behind obesity problems in Australia. Since Australia is a highly developed country, majority of the people have enough financial abilities to consume as much as food they want. Moreover, they have enough resources to purchase expensive electronic goods which are capable of reducing their physical activities. The world in the past belonged to the producers whereas the present world belongs to the consumers. This is true in the case of Australia also. Uncontrolled or injudicious consumption is growing among the Australians in recent times. The concept of Mindful consumption introduced by Sheth et al. (2011) is relevant in Australia. According to Sheth et al., mindful consumption is introduced as a set of tangible and intangible facets of consumption – the behaviour and mind-set, that is, attitudes, values and expectations. The attitudes values and expectations of the people can be changed easily if they have enough self-efficacy. Those who have insufficient belief in their abilities will never make any serious attempt, to change their behaviour. People who have better self-efficacy and education would normally be aware of the consequences of unmindful consumption. They know very well that buying, disposing and buying again would cause many problems not only to him/her but also to the community and nature. In other words, the uncontrolled consumption of food by one person may cause problems to his family as well as to the society. It should be noted that the family members and the society are responsible for taking care and spending money for the treatment of obese people suffering from various health problems. A lot of physical and mental health problems can be generated by obesity. In short, people with better self-efficacy know the problems related to their unmindful consumption and hence social marketing campaigns will be accepted easily by such people. When is behaviour change more difficult and challenging to achieve using a social marketing campaign? According to Rothschild (1999), the motivation of an individual to perform an activity will be increased when there are more opportunities. In his opinion, opportunity occurs more frequently when the individual is not limited in his desire to act by factors in his external environment. Motivation is the driving force of every human activity. Without motivation, humans may not perform any activity. For example, the availability of fast food restaurants virtually in every corner of a city would force people to visit these restaurants on a regular basis for their food needs. On the other hand, if the fast food restaurants are less, they will visit conventional restaurants. If no restaurants are available, they will try to cook food in their kitchen. In short, opportunities are motivating factors for consuming junk foods and thereby causing obesity among Australians. Conclusion Better opportunities for fast foods and lack of self-efficacy among the people are some of the major reasons behind growing obesity problems in Australia. Social marketing campaigns should concentrate more on the development of self-efficacy among the people, as a measure to curb the obesity problems. Social Marketing Campaign: Smoking Introduction Smoking related health problems are growing day by day in Australia even though the smoking trends are decreasing between 2001 and 2011-12. The number of smokers in Australia has been decreased from 27% to 20% during the 2001 and 2011-12 period (Australian bureau of statistics, 2013). At the same time, smoking is still the single largest cause of death in Australia. Various health problems such as heart diseases, stroke, cancer, emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, renal disease and eye disease are associated with smoking. Some studies have proved that second hand smoke is as dangerous as first hand smoke. It is argued that smoking is a social problem as well as a behavioural problem. In any case, it is a fact that smoking causes problems not only to the smoker but also to the people staying nearer to the smoker. The government of Australia has conducted a social marketing campaign against smoking in 1997 under the name; National Tobacco Campaign (NTC). This campaign is still continuing in Australia. In the following section, the success and failures of this campaign are evaluates. Social marketing campaign against smoking: National Tobacco Campaign (NTC) The purpose and focus of the campaign The major purpose of NTC is to make the Australians aware of the problems associated with smoking habit and to force them to quit this habit. The focus of this campaign is on smokers aged 18–40 years. It should be noted that smoking habits usually develop during the adolescence and it may continue until the death of the smoker. NTC is aimed to empower the public about the health problems that can be generated by smoking habits. Knowledge, belief and behaviour objectives NTC admits that the smoking behaviours cannot be eliminated immediately. Actions over many days are required for the elimination of smoking behaviour. NTC argues that smoking problem should be addressed not only at the individual level, but also at the group or societal level. Most of the Australian smokers have the intention to quit; however, many of them postpone such intentions for tomorrow instead of performing it today. In other words, quitting is an agenda for tomorrow for many of the smokers. NTC tries to compel smokers to execute the quitting agenda today rather than postponing it for tomorrow. Seven behaviour objectives were framed as part of NTC, which are given below; gain fresh insights on the recommended behaviour reassess the importance of the behaviour reassess the urgency of carrying out the behaviour reassess the personal relevance of the behaviour have confidence in their own ability to carry out the behaviour (self-efficacy) remember or be reminded to do it for long term change, gain more than is lost by carrying out the behaviour (response efficacy) (Hill and Carroll, 2003) The target market As mentioned earlier, target market of NTC campaign is Australia whereas the target group is 18–40 year old smokers, a lower socioeconomic bias (Hill and Carroll, 2003) The marketing mix strategies (4 Ps) The product in this campaign is promotional materials against smoking. Television was selected as the primary channel for the marketing of anti-smoking campaign. Apart from television ads, radio, print and outdoor ads are used extensively for the promotion of NTC campaign. Around 7 million Australian dollars were committed for this campaign in every two years by the government (Hill and Carroll, 2003) Ethical concerns Even though smoking is a personal activity, it can cause a lot of damage to the people staying nearer to the smoker. Therefore, smoking should be prohibited in all public places. No smoker can argue that prohibition of smoking is ethically wrong since it is a personal activity. This is because of the fact that second hand smoke is as dangerous as first hand smoke. Therefore, there is nothing ethically wrong in conducting any social marketing campaigns against smoking. Suggestions for the improvement of NTC campaign in future According to Daniel Pink (2009), the three critical factors which motivate the people are; autonomy, mastery and purpose. In his opinion, autonomous motivation would promote greater conceptual understanding and thereby create productive behaviours. It should be noted that motivation can be classified into two broad categories; intrinsic and extrinsic. Autonomous motivation is a product of intrinsic motivation. Therefore, any social marketing campaigns in future should aim for the development of autonomous motivation against smoking habit, in the minds of smokers. Mastery is the second element which may motivate people against smoking behaviours. It should be noted that the lack of awareness about the smoking related health problems is the major reason for the wide spread popularity of smoking behaviours among people. Therefore, it is necessary to help the smokers to gain enough knowledge about the health consequences of smoking behaviours. According to Daniel Pink, Purpose provides a context for autonomy and mastery. It helps the people or smokers to segregate the differences between what they want and what they need. The nicotine contents in the tobacco smoke may force the smokers to think that smoking is an essential activity for them. However, the success of the social marketing campaigns against smoking rests on the ability of such campaigns to make the smokers aware of their essential needs rather than wants. The attribution theory in psychology tells about how do people attach meaning to others behavior, or their own?(McLeaod, 2010). For example, celebrities usually play a significant role in cultivating smoking behaviors among people. Teenagers and children have a tendency to imitate film stars and other celebrities. In many films, the heroes and heroines smoke regularly in a stylish manner. Children and teenagers get smoking temptations from such behaviors. Therefore, it is necessary to ban all such scenes in films to prevent smokers from getting inspirations for smoking from celebrities. Conclusion The NTC campaign against smoking in Australia is running well at present. However, it is necessary to make some changes in it to make it more effective in future. References Australian bureau of statistics, 2013. Smoking. [Online] available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4125.0main+features3320Jan%202013 [Accessed 11 June 2014] Cameron, A.J., Zimmet, P.Z., Dunstan, D.W., Dalton, M., Shaw, J.E., Welborn, T.A., Owen, N., Salmon, J and Jolley, D. 2003. Overweight and obesity in Australia: the 1999–2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). Med J Aust 2003; 178 (9): 427-432. de Vries H., Dijkstra, M and Kulhman , P. 1987. Self-efficacy: the third factor besides attitude and subjective norm as a predictor of behavioural intentions. Oxford journals. Volume 3, Issue 3 Pp. 273-282 Hill, D. Carroll, T. Australia’s National Tobacco Campaign. Tob Control 2003;12:ii9-ii14 doi:10.1136/tc.12.suppl_2.ii9 McLeaod, S. 2010. Attribution Theory. [Online] available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/attribution-theory.html [Accessed 11 June 2014] Pink, D. H. 2009. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; 1 edition (December 29, 2009) Rothschild, M., 1999. Carrots, sticks, and promises: A conceptual framework for the management of public health and social issues behavior. Journal of Marketing 63(October), 24-37. Sheth, J. N., Sethia, N. K. & Srinivas, S. 2011. Mindful consumption: a customer-centric approach to sustainability. Journal of the Academic Marketing Science. 39:21–39. Read More