Social Marketing as a Framework for Public Health Action - Coursework Example

SOCIAL MARKETING AS A FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC HEALTH ACTION By Introduction 3 Meaning, background and relevance of social marketing 3 1.1 Meaning 3 1.2 Background and relevance 4 1.3 Theories and framework of social marketing 4 2. How social marketing can be used to influence health promotion 7 2.1 Social marketing as a means of tackling diet-related ailments 8 2.2 Applying the ‘four P’s’ within the context of managing diet-related ailments 9 3. Conclusion 12 3.1 Recommendations 13 Works Cited 14 Introduction Complex problems necessitate the use of complex approaches to solve them. Since the turn of the century, there has been an increasing trend of increase in health issues related to eating habits. This trend, being a complex one as it touches on the daily livelihood of humans, requires a complex, purposeful and comprehensive approach to tackle, with an aim of enhancing the wellbeing of the society as a whole. In order to bring about social change, Lefebvre (2013) posits that such strategies as legislative rules, social marketing innovations, community mobilization, as well as monitoring and evaluation procedures are necessary. Application of social marketing to explain and debunk the notions and conditions that support consumption of foods that impose heavy risks on the wellbeing of the population is therefore an imperative strategy. 1. Meaning, background and relevance of social marketing 1.1 Meaning Social marketing according to Brennan et al. (2014) refers to the use available marketing avenues to plan, analyse and execute action plans with the aim of improving the wellbeing of the society. It incorporates a myriad of avenues that vary greatly, ranging from internet sources to print media, with the sole objective of enhancing the understanding of the masses concerning matters of key interest in order to induce a sense of change necessity. To make the information more appealing, this form of marketing employs such attention-captivating prompts such as entertainment and humour. This section therefore provides a concise background of the conception of social marketing in the media context, how it has developed over the years, as well as its relevance in tackling health-related issues that result from modern eating habits. 1.2 Background and relevance The use of the term social marketing in such sectors as health and social change is awash with contextual misperceptions: the term is used interchangeably and in extension, to explain certain communication methods that intend to challenge certain eating habits or lifestyles. Various modes of communication have been adopted to relay information regarding social marketing, with good examples being one-on-one education in health forums and in schools, over the media, etc. Researchers such as Donovan and Henley (2010), point that while social marketing campaigns involve the use of mass media, the term is not synonymous to mass media. Social marketing as a means of communication aims at persuading a certain group of people to change a given behaviour, and instead achieve a behaviour that in the eyes of its architects is more acceptable under the prevailing set of circumstances (Donovan, 2011). Social marketing identifies and addresses key points that include: The specific problem to be targeted for modification The form of social marketing that is most suitable The target audience The behaviour for which modification is intended, and The potential impacts and/or costs that the modification may cause 1.3 Theories and framework of social marketing Given the nature of social marketing, many people are of the opinion that it is more of a program than campaign, yet the converse is what is true. Its main objective is to bring about a change in behaviour, and banks on the consumer as the focus to which the change is intended. Additionally, this form of campaign focuses on deliberate yet habitual practices as well as positive transformations. To achieve this, the campaign employs the customary marketing strategies. When employed together with other communication avenues, it fills the gap created by such other methods by appealing to desires, and especially entertainment-related desires of the intended recipients. Mass media is a powerful communication tool for use in the creation of awareness and challenging current lifestyles and especially the eating habits that for instance, lead to children becoming obese, through the consumption of fast foods and living a sedentary life devoid of vigorous activities. French (2010) while citing French and Blair-Stevens (2006) notes that a great variability in initiatives that were initially labeled as social marketing existed, and confirms that some aspects initially considered as aligned to social marketing were actually inconsistent with the concept of social marketing. To correct this anomaly, French proposes an eight-point benchmark that aims to among other things increase understanding of core social marketing principles and concepts, help focus attention on the substance of social marketing, increase consistency of approach and hence the potential impact and effectiveness of the campaign. The eight-benchmark criteria include: Customer orientation- espouses on the necessity of a broad and robust understanding of the audience or customer. This focuses on understanding their lives in the round, as opposed to focusing on single aspects or features. The strategy should adopt a broad and robust behavioral analysis procedure that avails a rounded picture of the prevailing behavioral patterns and trends. This calls for major focus on the ‘problem behaviour’ and the ‘desired behaviour’. The strategy should be theory-based i.e. it should use behavioral theory to inform and steer development, and which should examine and adopt a theory base that offers the greatest utility in a given context. The strategy should develop actionable insights into peoples’ lives, while focusing on aspects that are likely to motivate and move people. It should also incorporate a compelling exchange proposition and analysis that enables the audience to understand the full cost of achieving the proposed benefit. The approach should also incorporate a robust competition analysis that ensures that all competitive time-dependent factors, attention seeking elements, and behaviour-characteristic issues of the audience are addressed. The creation of intervention tailored to specific audience segments as opposed to ‘blanket’ approach. The strategy should examine and use an appropriate blend of methods while taking into consideration any other interventions in order to achieve synergy and enhance the overall impact. It is worth noting that this benchmark only provides the key element that ought to be considered, but should not be adopted as the process itself. In addition to this benchmark, French proposes an intervention framework that rests on five key pillars. These pillars include designing of the environment that fosters self and community development, informing and communicating facts and attitudes and use of power and existing laws as means of control. It also focuses on educating the target group and hence creation of awareness as well as availing services that provide support to mutually agreed priorities. Seeing as it provides the vital components of social change campaigns, and given that it does not generally work on its own, it is imperative that social marketing be built into the overall social change campaign. 2. How social marketing can be used to influence health promotion In the field of public health, a transition oriented intervention approach that provides an elaborate distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary deterrence efforts. Primary intervention means having in place measures that could stop or prevent the development of such ailments as obesity, hypertension, high blood cholesterol levels, cancer, to name but a few, before they happen. The primary deterrence approach is principal to the World Health Organization (2009). WHO acknowledges that in addition to the several deterrence stages in the causal chain of these diseases, other major approaches include focus on groups of people who have elevated chances of suffering from the ailments and who are bound to greatly benefit from such an intervention or alternatively focusing on the whole population regardless of the risk factor. Riegelman and Kirkwood (2015) observe that the use of social marketing in low income and middle-income countries gave positive results as it made it possible to reach even the youths; a section of the population that most researchers concur is hard to reach, especially concerning matters related to change. Measures geared towards primary level prevention are based on an approach that incorporates environmental policies whose sole aim is the creation of change that is immune to the effects of time both at individual and community levels, and hence can be sustainable transferred across several generations. Adopting social marketing as an approach, Royne and Levy (2015) note that messages pertaining to health issues exploits a theory that analyzes and comparatively weighs the prospective gains and rewards, and found that appeals that bear a positive tone are generally more effective. This approach compels a number of systems to take responsibility for regulation of consumption of certain foods such as junk foods, or adoption of regulatory measures that limits the availability of junk foods to children, and instead replace their diet with healthier foods. Additionally, the approach advocates for healthy living among the young and the old alike, by adopting regular exercising routines as a means of countering the sedentary life that most people are accustomed to. For many years, the mass media has been successful tool for use in public health and public education campaigns. Brunner, Fowlie and Freestone (2011) observes that among the media platforms that have been used with great success the world over for social marketing purposes include television, radio, billboards, poster advertisements, etc. Being preceded by a period where professionals in the public health sector had reservations against social marketing, since majority had a perception that social marketing was a capitalist tool and that it was too orientated to blaming the supposed victims, social marketing has been moulded to suit non-profit oriented organizations that have interests in social change. However, it is worth noting that these developments have reinforced the confusion, which has led to a greater muddling of terms, a phenomenon that has seen the classification of non-conforming media contents as social marketing, while excluding the whole campaign process. Additionally, Robinson (2009) notes that social marketing almost invariably assumes that the funder’s ideal behaviour or action is right, just and appropriate, oblivious to the fact that some behaviours are simply not amenable. Nevertheless, social marketing has been a key tool in promoting engagements in behaviours aimed at protecting the health of the citizens, initiating programs that are oriented to sensitization on early detection of ailments or their potential causal agents, as well as inculcating the spirit of individual determination towards embracing a transformation in health related behaviours. 2.1 Social marketing as a means of tackling diet-related ailments This appraisal on adoption of social marketing as a means of addressing diet-related ailments builds on the fact that cases of such ailments as obesity in children and cancer in adults are on the rise worldwide, and most of these are attributed to consumption of processed foods as opposed to natural plant and animal derivatives. As noted earlier several stakeholders ought to be included in the entire process of social marketing or social program. It is essential that social marketing campaign that respond to consumption of fast foods especially in children to collaborate with governments and schools in order to improve on the ways of managing consequences, or even prevent such occurrences, even as parents are encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles not only for their children to emulate, but also for their own benefit. 2.2 Applying the ‘four P’s’ within the context of managing diet-related ailments Several social marketing designs exist, most of which are founded on the four P’s: establishing the product’s blueprint, analyze the ideal place, draw a strategy that allows for the least possible price and promote the desired behaviour (Weger, 2011 and Nash et al. 2015). However, it is worth noting that the crucial marketing values focus on raising the chances of realization of a positive response from the target group to an issue that is pre-set by the architects through incorporation of procedures that have the potential of sidelining probable obstacles that may hinder the achievement of the desired response. In addition to this, implanting aspects that are highly likely to lead to an inclined judgment that favours the desired outcome, and then availing the necessary skills that fosters the ability to make rational decisions, and hence achieve the objective, is equally necessary. To achieve this, four factors are important: focusing on the recipient the target for the desired transformation, focusing on deliberate yet habitual behaviour, giving the product and the promotion approach some commonality, and ensuring an all-inclusive transformation. I. Focusing on the recipient as the target for transformation Social marketing emphasizes on the fact that the audience plays an active and vigorous role in the process. Its major objective is to fathom the nature of the target recipient; what they hold dear to them, and all that is of substance in their daily lives. Within the context of healthy living and consumption of healthy foods, the targets generally are the consumers of fast foods, children and adults, as well as people who live less mobile lives, such as children who do not participate in any physical activities, and instead stay glued to their televisions or at the computer playing video games. Schlosser (2012) notes that while fast foods may not be solely responsible for the social problems that humans encounter today they are responsible for the rise of franchising and the spread of obesity. Fast foods are heavily marketed for children by people who are barely older than children. Establishing a counteractive campaign aiming at discouraging children from consuming such foods and instead suggesting a healthier alternative will prove quite productive. II. Focusing on deliberate yet habitual behaviour Social marketing focuses on deliberate and habitual behaviours and brands other options as more rewarding compared to others, while leaving the individuals with the option of acquiring harmful-branded product. It is therefore about engagements that people make out of their good will accompanied by a change in behaviour that is typically devoid of any form of punishment, though according to Stewart (2015) coercion may be induced to some level. Vandamme (2010) notes that although eating is largely a personal and psychological motive the social context plays a significant role in determining our eating habits. Since attending social gatherings is out of ones will, while the resulting influence is somehow induced by external factors, adopting a campaign that displays a setting in which people indulge in healthy eating and/or living styles can act as a wakeup call to may who regularly would find taking initiatives more tasking. Simply by appealing to innate desires of socializing, such a setting will effectively influence the eating behaviour of many young people. However, Safko (2012) reiterates that to reach the point of a stable and consistent change in behaviour, the product offered needs to be branded and presented in such a way that the customer finds it more appealing in comparison to the currently harmful-branded behaviour/product. III. Giving the product and the promotion approach some commonality Objective research is one that ensures that there exists harmony between the material intended for use in marketing campaigns and other factors of interest, thereby creating a connection with the potential recipients that makes success inevitable. According to Weinreich (2011), the efficiency of social marketing is at its peak when the potential recipients are involved in the preparation of communication platforms through such practices as direct participation in pretesting of the program. Preedy, Hunter and Patel (2013) observe that the use of dietary patterns allows for examining the combined effects of foods. However, it is easier to recommend overall dietary patterns to the public compared to individual foods or nutrients. By adopting a campaign that shows healthy dietary foods to children, and portraying the negative effects of fast foods at the same time, the promotion can achieve some sense of relevance, as opposed to discouraging the consumption of fast foods and failing to offer an alternative that is equally palatable, yet healthier. While studies show that some social marketing frameworks and terminologies are elicit mixed reactions within a given community, they offer a new understanding of the harmful-branded behaviour and propose the necessities for realization of positive change both at individual and society levels. IV. Ensuring an all-inclusive transformation A long standing aspect of social marketing is the focus on change at the individual level: due to this crucial component, social marketing campaigns that focus on diet-related ailments are not self-sufficient. They are used to complement reforms in the education and legislative sectors, the latter of which entails such procedures as making it a requirement for fast food manufacturers to disclose calorie contents of the foods, as well as good will from the public to take positive initiatives to transform their eating habits. One open fact is that such campaigns produce better results only when they form part of an expansive and elaborate actionable transformative plan that target the society as a whole. Brennan et al. posit that behaviour change interventions will be most successful if the behaviour change processes incrementally move people through the behavioural interventions in a systematic manner, while building on existing positive behaviours as they occur and minimizing the potential negative behaviours. The key objective of social marketing is to embed new norms into existing ones within the society, marshal the community around the subject of interest and modify the rationality of individuals as well as to influence public discourse. 3. Conclusion The world of knowledge is awash with evidences that support the efficacy of media campaigns in transforming personality attitudes and behaviours, more so when such an approach into an efficient an sustainable strategy. Multi-faceted, complimentary preventive and/managerial strategies are more effective when they form part of a larger approach of a multi-level program. Adopting tested design plans, together with continuous progress assessment procedures are necessary for the success of this strategy as it aim to curtail the effects of consumption of fast foods. 3.1 Recommendations 1. Content marketing, whether for commercial or non-profit ought to undergo great improvement and adopt effective distribution patterns to enhance the reachability of the content. 2. Interest groups and stakeholders in the health sector ought to develop comprehensive procedures for availing the necessary education materials relating to topics of interest to enhance the level of understanding the major aspects of the target group. 3. Adoption of a concise networking strategy and establishment of community development forum to create a broader and more interactive democratic space that allows for smooth sharing of information. Works Cited Brennan, L. L., Binney, W., Parker, L., Aleti, T., & Nguyen, D. M. (2014).Social marketing and behaviour change models, theory and applications.  Brunner, W., Fowlie, K. & Freestone, J. (2011). Using media to advance public health agendas. Contra Costa Health Services. Donovan, R., & Henley, N. (2010). Principles and practice of social marketing an international perspective. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press.  Donovan, R. (2011). The role for marketing in successful public health change programs French, J. (2010). Social marketing and public health: theory and practice. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Lefebvre, R. C. (2013). Social marketing and social change: strategies and tools for health, well-being, and the environment. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass. Nash, D. B., Jefferson, D., Reifsnyder, J., Fabiius, R. J., Skoufalos, A., Pracilio, V. P. & Clarke, J. L. (2015). Population health. Sudbury, MA, Jones and Bartlett publishers. PREEDY, V. R., HUNTER, L.-A., & PATEL, V. B. (2013). Diet quality an evidence-based approach. Volume 2 Volume 2. New York, NY, Humana Press.  Riegelman, R. K., & Kirkwood, B. (2015). Public health 101: healthy people--healthy populations. Robison, L. (2009). The problem with social marketing: why you can’t sell change like soap. Retrieved from enablingchange.com.au Royne, M. & Levy, M. (2015). Reaching Consumers through effective health messages: A public health imperative. Journal of Advertising, 44 (2), pp. 85-87. Safko, L. (2012). The Social Media Bible Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons.  Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal. Boston, Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Stewart, D. W. (2015). The handbook of persuasion and social marketing. Vandamme. (2010). Whose weight is it anyway? Essays on ethics and eating. Leuven, Acco. Weinreich, N. (2011). Hands on social marketing: a step by step guide Thousand Oaks: Sage Weger, B. (2011). Inspire good: nonprofit marketing for a better world. [Place of publication not identified], Trafford On Demand Pub. World Health Organization. (2009). Global health risks: mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. 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