Social Marketing Campaign on Domestic Violence - Example

REPORT ON SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Student’s Name: Institution: Date: Prior Campaigns, Target Audience and Barriers to Behavioral Change Various social marketing campaigns exist especially on the issue of domestic violence. This is one of the areas that attract potential researchers due to its effects in the society. It is worth noting that domestic violence does not spare anyone in the family once it occurs. It affects men, women, and children and to some extent it spreads to third parties that may have nothing to do with what goes on in the family. To ensure cases of domestic violence are put under control, need for social marketing campaign concerning this issue is of paramount importance. In this report, domestic violence against men is put under scrutiny with an aim of looking at whether the social marketing campaign is successful or not. One in three campaign is one of the most notable social marketing campaign which seeks to raise an alarm concerning violence against men. In this campaign, the author aims at sensitizing the society the need to protect men against various forms of domestic violence. Many people may ignore the plight of men in domestic violence basically because the society still believes men are not subject to suffering its effects directly. However, many men throughout the world undergo serious suffering due to abuse in the family especially in the hands of violent women. The main problem is that men do not speak out their suffering like women thus the society may not be aware of their plight (Campbell, Neil, Jaffe, & Kelly, 2010). This social marketing campaign mainly address why the society should consider men when creating awareness against domestic violence. Although this social marketing campaign also covers violence against all members of the family, it points out that many other campaigns addressing the plight of women do exist. In this case, the campaign gives wider coverage on violence against men in the family. However, it has not been successful as it would have been expected due to lack of sufficient co-operation from the target audience. Governments and the civil society organizations do not really carry out sensitization programs on violence against men. In addition, men are less likely to express their suffering due to fear and intimidation (O’Leary, & Slep, 2012). Their main concern is how the society would take them if they confess openly about their suffering as a result of domestic violence. This makes it hard for them to change thus hindering the success of this particular social marketing campaign. The main barrier to behavioral change in this case is the societal perception on the issue of domestic violence. Most social marketing campaigns on domestic violence purely point at men as perpetrators of abuse. This makes the society believe that women and children are the only victims of violence (Flood, 2011). As a result, violent women take advantage of this perception and coverage to humiliate their husbands. They cannot change their violent behavior since they know no one cares for their men. Furthermore, men opt to remain silent on this issue and the few who speak out are not taken seriously. This campaign points out to these barriers with an aim of disclosing the underlying challenges in the fight against domestic violence. To some extent, the campaign sheds light on holistic awareness and sensitization campaign against violence. In this way, there is a sigh of relief to men who suffer abuses since the campaign is taking a holistic approach in fighting violence in the family. There are several benefits that this campaign seeks to bring in the society. When there is a balance in the fight against domestic violence, all members in the family benefit (Raeder, 2011). This prevents one party to the violence from taking undue advantage against another party. The whole issue of domestic violence and abuses is given a fresh direction. Currently, people appreciate that even men need state’s protection against violent women in the family. The rogue notion that ‘men are sole agents of domestic violence’ no longer apply. To ensure the society enjoys this benefit totally, vibrant campaign is necessary to correct loopholes in other social marketing campaigns such as ‘Don’t Cross the Lines’ among others that portray men as the only cause of violence in the society. The campaign also provides an opportunity for the willing men to express their unfortunate predicament. This enables the whole world to be aware that even men suffer thus attracting the attention of researchers. Many scholars show interest in basing their research on male victimization in domestic violence (Jain, 2010). Basically, this social marketing campaign acts as an eye-opener especially to the ignorant section of the society. These days, even women face court charges on domestic violence cases. The campaign enables relevant government agencies to conduct thorough research on the matter before starting any legal proceedings against any party to the violence. In this way, innocent men are safer because the law is conscious on what really happens on the ground. This reduces the incidences of wrongful arrest and prosecutions due to ignorant assumptions. Behavioral Change Model One In Three Campaign purely seeks to encourage men to change their attitude towards how the society looks at the issue of domestic violence. Note that most of them fail to report cases of violence in their homes due to fear on how such case may be taken. However, the campaign highlights realistic issues concerning what is likely to happen in case the silence persists. This includes but not limited to more suffering which may cause other serious consequences. In this case, behavioral change is necessary in order to address this critical issue (Oinas-Kukkonen, 2010). The campaign aims at educating men on the need to raise the alarm and expose this menace openly. In this way, the whole society becomes aware of plight of men in domestic violence thus the issue becomes easier to combat. Theory of Reasoned Action is ideal in this case. This is where consequences of a particular action are put into consideration before taking any further action. It enables one to make well-informed decision on whether to change the behavior or not. In this particular case, men ought to consider the consequences of remaining silent on their plight and consequences of speaking out their problems (Montano, & Kasprzyk, 2008). Being silent for long leads to many other problems and it becomes hard to get assistance. To prevent serious psychological problems that hamper individual health, it is advisable for men to air out their suffering without fear. This is the only way to help the campaign achieve its objective efficiently. As a result, civil society organizations are able to balance their awareness campaign especially against domestic violence. This prevents the cases of one-gender victimization in the process of legal proceedings. This behavior-change model aims at converting men from reserved individuals to open-minded individuals. This implies that one no-longer keep his issues especially those that affects him negatively to himself. One analyses the effects of keeping quiet and consequences of speaking out to another person who might help. In this case, men should not tolerate violence from their wives rather they should embrace appropriate reporting. Unless they do this, the challenge will continue to bite deeper which leads to stress-related illnesses. To some extent, it has led to death of many men across the world. Many men also opt to commit suicide especially in the course of wrongful trial in the court of law due to violence (Jain, 2010). Turning men into open-minded people who are able to speak up their domestic problem is a challenge. Most tend to believe that by speaking openly about their predicament in marriage, they tarnish their own image. In this way, they prefer keeping quiet thus giving violent women wider room to advance humiliation against men. By applying ‘Theory of Reasoned Action’, it is critically look at what happens when women get more room to advance violence. In this way, one should not look at what society would think but how to prevent the unfortunate results. Men should avoid any pressure from the societal norms and consider improving their lives by sharing problems with others. In addition, there are other men who undergo the same challenge throughout the world (Jain, 2010). Evaluation of Social Marketing Campaign One In Three campaign identifies lack of public interest in male partners especially in matters relating to domestic violence as a major challenge. Many people including civil society organizations view men as a source of conflict whenever a case of violence appears. It becomes less likely to suspect women as violent partners. Most campaigns therefore end up incriminating male partners thus developing the wrong impression in the society (Jain, 2010). Due to this error, it is hard to convince the society that women are sometimes violent against their husbands. In the long run, the social marketing campaign lacks balance thus losing the battle against domestic violence. However much some institutions would like to avert the vice in the society, the efforts would be futile unless they clear this misleading perception. Addressing the challenge of domestic violence by victimizing male partners never bring solution. On the contrary, it advances the vice by failing to identify the real perpetrator thus giving women an upper hand to continue humiliating men and children in marriage. Although the campaign is able to convince considerable section of the society, realizing the tangible results still remains a hard battle. This is because a good number of people still do not believe that women can humiliate men in any way. Traditionally, men are expected to be superior and women are subject to men authority. This particular view hampers the campaign negatively thus derailing its efficiency. Any organization campaigning on violence against men is not taken seriously. However, there is a remarkable progress and there are signs of positive improvement across the world. Recommendations To achieve violent-free society especially in families, all stakeholders should embrace pro-active measures and inclusive campaign against domestic violence. There should be no discrimination against any gender when dealing with family violence cases. This ensures accurate identification of real perpetrator is done. The awareness campaign should not favor one gender since any partner can cause the problem. In most cases, social marketing campaigns on domestic violence takes the form of awareness. This may not be enough since the problem is not that people are not aware but they do not know how to prevent further violence. The campaign should include proper counseling to victims in order to deal with any ordeal. Counseling on how to handle and report violent partner should also form an integral part of social marketing campaign. The campaign should not be left to civil society organizations alone. Relevant government institutions should give support to these organizations by enacting proper legislation among other things. This creates an environment where the fight against domestic violence is intensified from all corners. This should be a continuous program where effects of domestic violence are taught even in schools. Reference Campbell, M., Neil, J. A., Jaffe, P. G., & Kelly, T. (2010). Engaging abusive men in seeking community intervention: A critical research & practice priority. Journal of family violence, 25(4), 413-422. Flood, M. (2011). Involving men in efforts to end violence against women. Men and Masculinities, 14(3), 358-377. Jain, N. (2010). Engendering Fairness in Domestic Violence Arrests: Improving Police Accountability Through the Equal Protection Clause. Emory LJ, 60, 1011. Montano, D. E., & Kasprzyk, D. (2008). Theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, and the integrated behavioral model. Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice, 4, 67-95. O’Leary, K. D., & Slep, A. M. S. (2012). Prevention of partner violence by focusing on behaviors of both young males and females. Prevention Science, 13(4), 329-339. Oinas-Kukkonen, H. (2010). Behavior change support systems: A research model and agenda. In Persuasive Technology (pp. 4-14). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Raeder, M. S. (2011). Cultural Shifts: Addressing [Un] intended Consequences of the Fight Against Domestic Violence. Criminal Justice Ethics, 30(1), 124-147. Read More