The public must be educated with regard to the risks associated with vaccine-preventable diseases and

the impact of immunizations on their prevalence by using culturally tailored materials in English and
other languages.”16 The use of social marketing approaches is an effective strategy to accomplish this
AAP social and public health education immunization goal. As a behavioral change model, social
marketing “applies traditional marketing principles and techniques to influence targeted audience
behaviors to benefit the individual and society, such an example would be tobacco control and
prevention programs.”17 As a behavior change strategy, social marketing uses a “marketing mix”
consisting of 4 Ps of marketing (place, price, product, and promotion) to develop effective strategies to
achieve a desired behavior change.17 The application of social marketing in a community-based
participatory research (CBPR) context is an innovative approach of increasing community input and
participation in the design, content, and application of immunization messages in under-resourced
communities.

The main objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of a social marketing campaign aimed at
increasing awareness and behavioral intent to immunize children in low-income urban setting. We
examined whether: (1) there were significant differences between “billboard” and “billboard-enhanced”
social marketing approaches in increasing awareness and intent to immunize African-American children
in urban, low-income communities; and (2) the overall social marketing campaign was associated with
increased awareness and intent to immunize children.

Social marketing can be defined as:

the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and
evaluation of programs designed to influence voluntary or involuntary behaviour of target audiences in
order to improve the welfare of individuals and society.

(Donavan & Henley, cited in Egger et al 2005: 100)

Social marketing has produced important gains in raising awareness of certain diseases and prevention
of those diseases. Clearly we must address diseases that cause human suffering and premature death.
Social marketing is an important addition to the toolkit of skills, especially when used in combination
with other approaches at community level. However, by only focusing on specific illnesses or using
selective approaches to health promotion we risk perpetually attempting to address the end result of
the problem instead of addressing the root causes of the diseases themselves or the social conditions
that perpetuate disease and other suffering.
The principles of social justice, equity, community control and working for social changes that impact on
health and wellbeing do not necessarily form the foundation of social marketing. The health promotion
approaches at this end of the continuum have usually constituted selective Primary Health Care because
they have concentrated on prevention of diseases and conditions based on epidemiological evidence,
although more recently, social marketing strategies have been designed to take account of the broader
environment and to address issues of social change.

Social marketing involves the application of marketing approaches, developed to sell commercial
products, to ‘sell’ health-enhancing ideas. The term ‘marketing’ sometimes has negative connotations
for people because they don’t approve of the tactics or priorities used by some industries (Donovan &
Henley 2003). How social marketing is defined has been broadened to encompass strategies to influence
changes to the environment or context of people’s lives, such as through manufacturing, which will
make it easier for people to make a health protective choice. Thus, a good understanding of marketing
can be a valuable asset to health promotion practitioners.

Social marketing is built on recognition of the powerful influence of the mass media on the choices that
people make. Social marketing really came into the public agenda in Australia in the 1970s with the use
of ‘Norm’ and the ‘Life. Be in it’ campaign. This occurred following the recognition of the relationship
between so-called ‘lifestyle’ behaviours and epidemiological health outcomes, and the realisation that
health promotion practitioners were not necessarily the most effective way of communicating health
messages to wider audiences (Egger et al 1993).

While social marketing is usually associated with use of the mass media, it can be used in any
communication medium. Social marketing aims to influence people’s values or attitudes about a social
issue that puts health at risk or to influence behaviour by encouraging individuals to make healthy
choices. It therefore uses the mass media as an information tool to advise or motivate individuals or
companies. Social marketing is underpinned by behavioural psychology — understanding what
motivates people and how they can be persuaded to refrain from something they enjoy, or to make a
change in their setting or products, for the sake of possible long-term health gains (Donovan & Henley
2003). While they are seen as selective Primary Health Care approaches because they focus on
individual behaviour change, social marketing strategies are usually aimed at a large well-defined
audience. At the national level, social marketing is an example of how national governments might
become involved in health promotion. The focus of the campaign and development of the strategy may
or may not be underpinned by Primary Health Care philosophy. An integrated public health approach is
demonstrated in health promotion strategies to reduce smoking in Victoria. Social marketing has been
used very widely through the QUIT campaign of Cancer Council Victoria. Different messages have been
used over the years, usually emphasising the personal, physical or wider social costs of the
complications of smoking. These social marketing approaches, clearly emphasising individual behaviour
change, have been supported by personal education and support services (on the telephone QUITline),
and progressive legislative changes, including increasing tax on cigarettes, restrictions on sale of
cigarettes to minors and restrictions on smoking in public places.
As the term ‘social marketing’ suggests, a significant function, in addition to providing health
information, is the ‘selling’ of a social idea; bringing about gradual social change. For example, the
concept of ‘safe sex’ being everyone’s responsibility has widely permeated society following the initial
publicity about the spread of HIV and AIDS. Previously, the topic of sexual behaviour was considered to
be a personal and private matter, not discussed in public forums. See Insight 8.1 for a summary of a
health promotion project with a social marketing focus. The ‘WayOut’ (Insight 8.1) project won a 2004
State Government of Victoria Public Health excellence award for innovation in the capacity-building
category.

Social marketing campaigns typically involve an organised set of communication activities, such as:

image Advertising: perhaps most notable as well-funded national campaigns about key social health
issues, such as safe driving and smoking cessation. Campaigns conducted by the Transport Accident
Commission (TAC), Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) and the Cancer Council — QUIT and SunSmart —
have achieved prominence.

image Publicity materials: mass media campaigns that have a memorable logo or catchy slogan have
promoted wide awareness. For example, the red tick of approval from the Heart Foundation for ‘heart
safe’ foods (www.pickthetick.org.nz/TickProducts/products.fruitveges.html), or up until recently ‘Slip
Slop Slap’ for sun protection — Cancer Council Australia (www.cancer.org.au/cancersmartlifestyle/
SunSmart/Campaignsandevents/SlipSlopSlap.htm).

image Edutainment: this is an under-recognised role of the media in promoting or changing social
awareness about various issues. Specific themes, such as respect for people suffering mental health
problems, or the issue of domestic violence, and violence against women are crafted into television
series and films. Health promotion professionals provide advice in script development. For an excellent
example of the successful use of edutainment in social marketing see the comprehensive description of
the Soul City multimedia edutainment program that was developed in South Africa in 1994 and has now
run for eight series. Soul City is a dynamic and innovative multi-media health promotion and social
change project. Through drama and entertainment Soul City reaches more than 16 million South
Africans. ‘Through its multi-media and advocacy strategies the program aims to create an enabling
environment empowering audiences to make healthy choices, both as individuals and as communities’
(Goldstein et al 2004; Soul City available at: www.soulcity.org.za/). Detailed evaluation of this program
and the associated resources has demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach when the focus
moves away from individual behaviour to interpersonal and social change (Scheepers et al 2004).

In addition, campaigns may be augmented by editorial comment or sponsorship, billboards, brochures

and other ‘give-aways’ or ‘handouts’ such as stickers, T-shirts, caps etc.
Those who support social marketing in health promotion believe that it can contribute positively if it is
part of an integrated health promotion program and if too much is not expected of it, given the context
in which it is being used. Social marketing activities may be aimed at individuals, networks,
organisations, manufacturers and planners and at societal levels. They are most effective when they are
combined with interpersonal and community-based events to enhance health options. Media
interventions alone, without complementary health education and community development
approaches, are likely to have little impact on behaviour (Egger et al 2005). It is important to bear in
mind that the advertising industry itself conducts considerable market research and targets its
advertising very specifically to the groups it wishes to convince. Health workers at a local level simply do
not have the resources or the skills to match these activities. This is an important point because it alerts
health workers to the problems inherent in trying to emulate (and undo) the larger campaigns run by
the advertisers. Local initiatives will have more impact when they are based on thorough knowledge of
the prospective audience (John-Leader et al 2008; Nelson et al 2008). Added impact can be gained if
they can be planned to coincide with a national media campaign about the issue, or a national
‘awareness week’. Calendars of national campaigns are available and can be a valuable resource to
assist planning to make the greatest impact locally. However, at other times, especially where the
budget is small, or it is a specific local issue, workers may need to get their message across by
developing their own media resources. It may be more appropriate for a health worker to draw on the
expertise of a graphic artist or advertising agency than to prepare materials ‘in-house’; the combined
expertise will be more successful than acting alone.

https://www.betterevaluation.org/en/plan/approach/appreciative_inquiry

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