Social Marketing Campaign Research Articles

B Butterfly Campaign: A social marketing campaign to promote normal childbirth among first-time pregnant women

ProblemThe steep increase and inappropriateness of caesarean birth represent a healthcare problem in Iran. AimThe purpose of study was to evaluate the effect of a campaign based on social marketing to promote normal childbirth. MethodThe study was designed as a prospective case control study. The social marketing campaign was implemented from March 2016 to January 2017. A demographic data questionnaire, obstetrical history questionnaire, maternal knowledge assessment questionnaire, and maternal health belief questionnaire comprised the instruments for this study. Only women planning a caesarean birth without any medical indications for the caesarean were enrolled in the study as a case. Those who met the same inclusion criteria and did not want to participate in the campaign were assigned to the control group. FindingsIn total, 350 first-time pregnant women who composed the campaign group (n=194) and control group (n=156) completed the study. The mean baseline level of knowledge and Health Belief Model component score did not differ between the two groups at baseline. However, after the campaign, knowledge scores, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, and cues to action scores differed significantly between the campaign and control groups. The follow-up of all participants in both groups showed that 35.6% (n=69) of participants in the campaign group chose natural birth as their birth method, whereas only 13.5% (n=21) in the control group delivered their newborn vaginally. ConclusionThe B Butterfly social marketing campaign successfully targeted first-time pregnant women who chose to have unnecessary elective cesarean births.

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS IN ORGAN DONATION ADVERTISEMENTS: ALTRUISM AS A MODERATOR

Health and psychology literature suggests the use of celebrity endorsement in organ donation advertisement in changing the attitude to register as organ donors. However, very limited literature was found that discussed the effect of source attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness towards attitude in the context of organ donation. In addition, there is limited knowledge established in understanding the impact of charisma and authenticity in celebrity studies. The role of altruism as a moderator in the relationship between the attributes of celebrity endorsers and attitude towards organ donation registration is also unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to fill the gaps by determining the impact of celebrity endorser attributes towards attitude towards organ donation. This paper also examines the role of altruism as a moderator to the relationship between celebrity endorser attributes and attitude towards organ donation. The target sample of this study was university students and data collection has been conducted in various universities from four regions in Malaysia. Data from 466 university students were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23 and SmartPLS 3.0. Of five important celebrity endorser attributes that were tested in this paper, the findings show that authenticity and charisma are great predictors to attitude towards organ donation. In addition, the relationship between charisma and attitude is found to be weakened among individuals with high altruism. The findings of this paper are beneficial as they contribute to the celebrity endorsement literature and provide insights to the relevant agencies in selecting celebrity endorsers for their social marketing campaign.

Eating at food outlets and leisure places and “on the go” is associated with less-healthy food choices than eating at home and in school in children: cross-sectional data from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Program (2008–2014)

ABSTRACTBackgroundWhere children eat has been linked to variations in diet quality, including the consumption of low-nutrient, energy-dense food, a recognized risk factor for obesity.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive analysis of consumption patterns and nutritional intake by eating location in British children with the use of a nationally representative survey.DesignCross-sectional data from 4636 children (80,075 eating occasions) aged 1.5–18 y from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Program (2008–2014) were analyzed. Eating locations were categorized as home, school, work, leisure places, food outlets, and “on the go.” Foods were classified into core (considered important or acceptable within a healthy diet) and noncore (all other foods). Other variables included the percentage of meals eaten at home, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, income, frequency of eating out, takeaway meal consumption, alcohol consumption, and smoking.ResultsThe main eating location across all age groups was at home (69–79% of eating occasions), with the highest energy intakes. One-third of children from the least-affluent families consumed ≤25% of meals at home. Eating more at home was associated with less sugar and takeaway food consumption. Eating occasions in leisure places, food outlets, and “on the go” combined increased with age, from 5% (1.5–3 y) to 7% (11–18 y), with higher energy intakes from noncore foods in these locations. The school environment was associated with higher intakes of core foods and reduced intakes of noncore foods in children aged 4–10 y who ate school-sourced foods.ConclusionsHome and school eating are associated with better food choices, whereas other locations are associated with poor food choices. Effective, sustained initiatives targeted at behaviors and improving access to healthy foods in leisure centers and food outlets, including food sold to eat “on the go,” may improve food choices. Home remains an important target for intervention through family and nutrition education, outreach, and social marketing campaigns. This trial was registered with the ISRTCN registry (https://www.isrctn.com) as ISRCTN17261407.

Downwards trends in adolescent risk-taking behaviours in New Zealand: Exploring driving forces for change.

Downwards trends in adolescent risk-taking behaviours in New Zealand: Exploring driving forces for change.

Going with the flow

Purpose This paper aims to examine motorcycle driving norms and their implications for social marketing practice. It investigates whether misperceptions of descriptive norms related to motorcycle speeding behaviour are prevalent among young motorcyclists, and whether there is an association between these misperceptions with their speeding behaviour. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey of 541 young motorcyclists was carried out as the second phase of a larger project, which examined the role of social norms related to road safety attitudes and behaviours. Findings The results showed misperceptions of perceived speeding norms among both male and female young motorcyclists. There was an association between normative misperceptions and speeding behaviour, and between speeding behaviour and approval to speeding behaviour by young motorcyclists. In addition, peer presence was found to moderate the relationship between misperceptions of speeding norms and speeding behaviour. Originality/value The study contributes to addressing the call for study of social norms marketing and health risks in non-Western contexts. Further, the results provide support for social marketers to consider the use of social norms approach in designing social marketing campaigns to promote safe motorcycle driving behaviours.

Perceptions of organizational capacity to promote physical activity in Canada and ParticipACTION's influence five years after its relaunch: a qualitative study.

ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity communications and social marketing organization relaunched in 2007. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate organizational capacity for physical activity promotion among Canadian organizations, and the influence of ParticipACTION on capacity five years after relaunch. Using a purposive sampling strategy, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 44 key informants representing national, provincial, and local organizations with a mandate to promote physical activity. Interview data were analyzed using a thematic analytic approach. Organizational capacity in terms of partnerships and collaborations, and the general climate for physical activity promotion have improved since ParticipACTION's relaunch. Although financial resources reduced the ability of organizations to fulfil their mandates, internal factors such as skilled employees and sponsorships, and external factors such as technological improvements in communication and information sharing helped to offset this strain. There were mixed feelings on ParticipACTION's contribution to capacity. While ParticipACTION has brought more attention to inactivity, this was perceived as a complement to work already taking place. While some organizations perceived ParticipACTION's relaunch as competition to funding and access to popular media, others found it as an opportunity to co-brand social marketing campaigns, utilizing ParticipACTION's products and reputation. According to participants, organizational capacity to promote physical activity in Canada has increased since 2007 in subtle but important ways because of a strong climate for physical activity promotion, skilled employees, and information sharing technology. Organizational capacity changes were minimally attributed to ParticipACTION.

An assessment of UK drivers’ attitudes regarding the forthcoming ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles

The purpose of the study was to predict how drivers of petrol or diesel cars might vote in a ‘Yes/No’ referendum concerning the UK government’s decision to ban from 2040 onwards the sale of all new non-electric vehicles. Five main factors were hypothesised to influence voting intention: a person’s (i) level of environmental concern, (ii) attitude towards electric cars (measured via an Implicit Association Test), (iii) belief about the importance of air pollution, (iv) driving requirements, and (v) reaction to the cost of the ban to the individual (assessed using a contingency valuation approach). The study also examined possible determinants of attitudes to electric vehicles, e.g., whether an individual was a ‘technology enthusiast’, had prior knowledge of and searched for knowledge about electric vehicles, and whether a person had played an online game where the player assumed the identity of an electric car driver. A structural equation model was developed and tested on a sample of 675 UK drivers, none of whom had ever owned or driven an electric car. The results suggested a good fit of the model to the data, except that neither environmental concern nor belief in the importance of clean air affected attitude to electric cars. Also, high levels of environmental concern did not motivate people to search for knowledge about electric vehicles. Social marketing campaigns that will be needed to precede the ban should focus on its health benefits, and not target particular age groups, gender, or whether a participant had children.

Validation of a scale of health beliefs about type 1 diabetes for the Mexican context: HBM-T1DM

To generate a scale to measure health beliefs among Mexican adolescents and young people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) to determine the extent to which they affect adherence to treatment and to be able to develop more effective social marketing campaigns. Based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), a scale was generated; three field tests were applied, and it was administered in two regions of Mexico to young people with type 1 diabetes.Tests of reliability, stability, convergence-discrimination and predictive validity were developed. The main predictor is perceived barriers to treatment adherence, followed by self-efficacy to disease control, susceptibility/vulnerability to disease complications and perceived benefits of treatment. This scale may be especially useful for better monitoring young Mexican patients with T1DM and prevent sequelae of disease.

Social marketing to address attitudes and behaviours related to preventable injuries in British Columbia, Canada

BackgroundSocial marketing is a tool used in the domain of public health for prevention and public education. Because injury prevention is a priority public health issue in British Columbia, Canada,...

Vedantic applications of augmented reality for strategic social marketing campaigns in India

PurposeSocial outreach campaigns such as mainstream commercial marketing campaigns are drawn to digital communication practices for increased visibility, speed and recall. This paper aims to highlight the usefulness and application of augmented reality (AR) technologies and proposes a change-driven usage of the AR environments for social marketing.Design/methodology/approachParadigmatic structural analysis is used to extract the underlying schematic forms. A multimodal analytic approach is used to propose the conceptual framework.FindingsAR is defined vis-à-vis conceptualizations of reality and hyper-reality from the Vedantic philosophical texts and treatises. The study examines and demonstrates an earlier version of AR expression in ancient times in the use of spatio-temporal constructs and their degrees of modality. It derives a conceptual schema based on AR resonant applications in narratives from the Vedantic literature. Based on these, the study highlights the persuasive appeal and co-creative potential of these illustrative examples to recommend marketing communication strategies for social outreach campaigns.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis recognizes a conceptual bridge between human extra-sensory/transcendental ability and contemporary technology. This study identifies five propositional structures (PS). It opens up the field of social marketing research to alternative methodologies such as multimodal analysis.Practical implicationsWhile most of contemporary AR usage is in commercial marketing, this study has derived specific guiding principles/propositional structures. These can be applied to create specific virtual environments that can simulate and demonstrate desirable societal outcomes and behaviours. As newer technologies permit further and more futuristic design interventions, developers could experiment with transitional states to impact behaviours, with implications for experimental layering of information.Originality/valueThis study responds to a call for innovative design interventions in the field of social marketing. Its originality lies in its use of the Vedantic framework which has not been explored in this direction elsewhere.

Transitioning “Upward” When “Downstream” Efforts Are Insufficient

This article presents the results of a social marketing campaign to encourage individuals to compost at a university dining facility. Downstream efforts were less effective than desired in changing behavior and instead, changes to patron’s environmental surroundings were instituted, leading to greater impacts. Patrons were first surveyed on their knowledge, attitudes, and stated behaviors and barriers. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct types of composters: “engaged,” “needing assistance,” and “uninterested.” Subsequent interventions were developed, primarily targeting the cluster, needing assistance. Downstream efforts to reach individuals such as modeling the desired behavior and educational interventions were not significantly beneficial. While education showed some encouraging results, a potential diminishing effect overtime was observed. Efforts to change the patrons’ environment were then implemented with changes to the systems of the facility, an individual to ask patrons to compost. A significant increase in behavior was observed. Return on investment and increased public relations were used to leverage this institutional change. Additionally, this campaign created opportunities for securing grants to improve technological infrastructure, further encouraging behavior through additional environmental changes aiming to alleviate barriers of inconvenience. Recommendations for similar campaigns aiming to transition “upward” are provided.

Formative Research on a Social Marketing Campaign to Promote the Consumption of Healthy Breakfast and Snacks: A Qualitative Study

Background: The elimination of breakfast and the high consumption of low-value snacks are becoming more frequent and common among adolescents. Nutrition is a complex behavioral phenomenon that is associated with the specific cultural and environmental issues of each society as well as psychological features.This qualitative research was conducted to identify factors affecting breakfast consumption behavior in adolescents using the social marketing framework. Materials and Methods: A qualitative research based on the social marketing framework was conducted through directed content analysis in the high schools of Isfahan and Khorramabad, Iran, in 2016. Data were collected through seven focus group discussions and 33 in-depth, semi-structured; interviews conducted in person with both male and female students, the parents, and the teachers and were analyzed simultaneously in three phases, namely preparation, organization and reporting. Results: The results obtained in the present study within the social marketing framework were coded into the four categories of product, place, price and promotion. The product category had four subcategories, including favorite taste sought in breakfast, breakfast preparation, breakfast serving style, variety and the healthful features of breakfast. The price category had four subcategories, including time, psychological, social and financial prices. The promotion category had three subcategories, including official channels, unofficial channels, and educational materials and equipment. The place category had two subcategories, including having breakfast at school or having breakfast in an outdoor space. Conclusion: The promotion of healthy breakfast as a product, requires that first its important features be considered, including the favorite taste sought in breakfast, second that it be promoted through channels most popular with students, and most importantly, that its price be reduced by using incentives such as serving breakfast at school as an attractive place for students.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Portrayal by UK National Newspapers 2011\u20132016: A Service User - Led Thematic Analysis of Language Used

BackgroundAn important source of knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about illness is the mass media. Research has established the often negative and emotive language utilised by journalists to report on physical and mental long-term illnesses. The limited amount of research on rheumatological conditions has largely focused on the extent of, and/or accuracy of media coverage. This is the first published study to examine systematically the language used by the United Kingdom (UK) popular press to specifically describe rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsA patient and public involvement (PPI) approach, involving academics and service users with RA, was used to conduct the research. LexisNexis online repository of print media was searched for articles within a defined five year time frame, which included RA in the headline and/or lead paragraph of 15 UK national non-specialist newspapers. Resultant articles were uploaded to NVivo, and a realist perspective aided a thematic analysis of the data set.ResultsA search of LexisNexis produced 413 newspaper articles, of which 147 met the inclusion criteria. Three themes emerged: (1) language used to describe RA; (2) language used to refer to those who live with RA and; (3) language used to report on potential new treatments for RA. Negative and emotive terms such as ‘attack’, ‘painful’, ‘crippling’, and ‘agony’ were the most frequently used to describe the experience of RA. People diagnosed with RA were often portrayed as ‘sufferers’ or ‘victims’, though neutral language was also deployed. ‘Hope’ and ‘breakthrough’ were the most reported terms for potential new treatments for RA. Across the three themes, tabloid and middle market newspaper articles applied more sensationalised language with attention grabbing headlines and news stories. By contrast, such emotive terminology was less apparent in broadsheets.ConclusionsThe media is a source of information about RA for the general population, but the quality of newspaper journalism about the condition requires improvement. The findings may act as a stimulus for a national public awareness initiative and/or social marketing campaign. How the language currently constructed to describe RA in the press is received by people with RA would be an important area for future research.

تقييم فاعلية توظيف استراتيجيات التسويق والإعلام الاجتماعي في حملات الصحة العامة دراسة حالة على حملة التوعية الوطنية للوقاية ومكافحة أزمة الكوليرا في اليمن

This study is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the national awareness campaign for preventing and combating the cholera crisis in Yemen using social marketing and communication. The study relied on the case study methodology, using qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor and analyze the efforts and activities of the campaign including interviews, documents, and other information disseminated through these channels. The study found that there was substantial effort by campaign partners in employing effective social marketing strategies in dealing with health problems. These efforts were directed toward addressing the environmental and individual barriers, with particular attention paid to the latter. Social marketing campaign standards were employed in the campaign's efforts and activities. The campaign used social media to promote preventative behaviors as an overall strategy, though there were some shortcomings in terms of integration and interactivity.

Find Cancer Early: Evaluation of a Community Education Campaign to Increase Awareness of Cancer Signs and Symptoms in People in Regional Western Australians.

Cancer outcomes for people living in rural and remote areas are worse than for those living in urban areas. Although access to and quality of cancer treatment are important determinants of outcomes, delayed presentation has been observed in rural patients. Formative research with people from rural Western Australia (WA) led to the Find Cancer Early campaign. Find Cancer Early was delivered in three regions of WA, with two other regions acting as controls. Staff delivered the campaign using a community engagement approach, including promotion in local media. Television communications were not used to minimize contamination in the control regions. The campaign evaluation was undertaken at 20 months via a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) survey comparing campaign and control regions. The primary outcome variable was knowledge of cancer signs and symptoms. Recognition and recall of Find Cancer Early and symptom knowledge were higher in the campaign regions. More than a quarter of those who were aware of the campaign reported seeing the GP as a result of their exposure. Despite limited use of mass media, Find Cancer Early successfully improved knowledge of cancer symptoms and possibly led to changes in behavior. Social marketing campaigns using community development can raise awareness and knowledge of a health issue in the absence of television advertising.

Social Marketing Through Social Media: The Effects of User-Generated Content

Purpose: To investigate the effect that interactions between social media user-generated images (UGIs) involving alcohol use, and social media safe-drinking advertising, have on young people’s intention to consume alcohol. Design/methodology/approach: Two empirical studies were conducted adopting experimental design. Study 1 collected questionnaire data from 495 young adults who participated in a 2 x 3 between-subjects experimental design, while Study 2 collected eye-tracking data and self-reports from 36 university students who participated in a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design. Findings: Intention to consume alcohol is positively associated with seeing UGIs of young people socialising with alcohol, and negatively associated with seeing a safe-drinking advertisement that has been judged to be effective. The presence of a safe-drinking advertisement moderates the effect of UGIs involving alcohol. The visual attention paid to the safe-drinking advertisement is negatively correlated with the intention to drink when alcohol-related UGIs are also present. Research limitations/implications: Gathering eye-tracking data can enrich a conventional survey-based approach when studying a phenomenon with high visual content, such as social media and advertising. Practical implications: The interaction between user-generated content and advertising content must be considered when planning social marketing campaigns conducted through social media. Originality/value (mandatory): User-generated content is an important influence on risky consumption behaviour. Social marketing communications to deter risky behaviour act as a moderator in the relationship between user-generated content and risky consumption behaviour. This helps to understand how priming works in a social media context.

Public health social media communications and consumer neuroscience

Consumer neuroscience is an emerging discipline. Potential exists for neurological quantitative research techniques to be used for the development and analysis of public health messages due to limited numbers of successful campaigns. In some instances, highly successful public health marketing campaigns have been designed to address something greater than financial gain and have achieved exceptional reach. This results in increased public awareness using social amplification platforms. Examples of these include action-oriented social media campaigns that ask individuals to “act”, “share”, “pledge” or “challenge” on behalf of a health or social cause. Neurological and physiological techniques include functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography, eye tracking, galvanic skin response, heart rate, facial recognition and implicit association testing. Due to nonconscious decision-making processes these techniques have the potential to identify driving forces behind individuals’ decision to become involved in health and social cause marketing campaigns that are unable to be identified with qualitative research methods. In 2014/2015 the Australian Government spent $23.3 million Australian dollars (AUD) on health and social service marketing campaigns, with $19.4 million AUD on health communications, and $3.9 million AUD on social services. These figures are considered conservative as expenditure on marketing campaigns below $250 thousand AUD is excluded. Thus, using consumer neuroscience to inform the design of future public health and social cause communications, which may help to save a life, while reducing expenditure on unsuccessful campaigns, requires greater understanding of the effectiveness of a positive action orientation vs. a fear and shock approach.

Cost-effectiveness of possible future smoking cessation strategies in Hungary: results from the EQUIPTMOD.

AimsTo evaluate potential health and economic returns from implementing smoking cessation interventions in Hungary.MethodsThe EQUIPTMOD, a Markov‐based economic model, was used to assess the cost‐effectiveness of three implementation scenarios: (a) introducing a social marketing campaign; (b) doubling the reach of existing group‐based behavioural support therapies and proactive telephone support; and (c) a combination of the two scenarios. All three scenarios were compared with current practice. The scenarios were chosen as feasible options available for Hungary based on the outcome of interviews with local stakeholders. Life‐time costs and quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated from a health‐care perspective. The analyses used various return on investment (ROI) estimates, including incremental cost‐effectiveness ratios (ICERs), to compare the scenarios. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses assessed the extent to which the estimated mean ICERs were sensitive to the model input values.ResultsIntroducing a social marketing campaign resulted in an increase of 0.3014 additional quitters per 1 000 smokers, translating to health‐care cost‐savings of €0.6495 per smoker compared with current practice. When the value of QALY gains was considered, cost‐savings increased to €14.1598 per smoker. Doubling the reach of existing group‐based behavioural support therapies and proactive telephone support resulted in health‐care savings of €0.2539 per smoker (€3.9620 with the value of QALY gains), compared with current practice. The respective figures for the combined scenario were €0.8960 and €18.0062. Results were sensitive to model input values.ConclusionsAccording to the EQUIPTMOD modelling tool, it would be cost‐effective for the Hungarian authorities introduce a social marketing campaign and double the reach of existing group‐based behavioural support therapies and proactive telephone support. Such policies would more than pay for themselves in the long term.

Reducing Food Waste

This article specifies behavior changes and identifies content for an integrated social marketing communication campaign to reduce amount of food wasted by individuals. The findings are based on a review of literature and discussions with experts. After gaining attention, the campaign will need to inform individuals of negative environmental impact, social injustice, and economic costs of wasting food. Individual behavior changes required are to plan purchases and store correctly, which will reduce amount of spoilage, and to prepare appropriate amounts, which will reduce food waste from leftovers. In addition, individuals are required to redistribute or recycle inevitable food waste rather than throwing it out as rubbish. Identification of these behavior changes will be useful for practitioners in industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors who are engaging in activities encouraging individuals to reduce food waste. Due to wide variations in food provisioning behaviors across different cultures and geographies, additional market research on the population of interest is required to design content for the campaign. This will allow for framing message and selection of media to appeal to identified target groups of individuals who both waste large amounts of food and, importantly, are receptive to changing their behaviors to reduce amount of food wasted. And finally, the success of any such “downstream” behavior change campaign will be increased when it is supported by enabling “upstream” contextual influences associated with supportive social networks, communities, infrastructure, and regulation.

Is this health campaign really social marketing? A checklist to help you decide.

Social marketing (SM) campaigns can be a powerful disease prevention and health promotion strategy but health-related campaigns may simply focus on the "promotions" communication activities and exclude other key characteristics of the SM approach. This paper describes the application of a checklist for identifying which lifestyle-related chronic disease prevention campaigns reported as SM actually represent key SM principles and practice. A checklist of SM criteria was developed, reviewed and refined by SM and mass media campaign experts. Papers identified in searches for "social marketing" and "mass media" for obesity, diet and physical activity campaigns in the health literature were classified using the checklist. Using the checklist, 66.6% of papers identified in the "SM" search and 39% of papers identified from the "mass media" search were classified as SM campaigns. Inter-rater agreement for classification using the abstract only was 92.1%. Health-related campaigns that self-identify as "social marketing" or "mass media" may not include the key characteristics of a SM approach. Published literature can provide useful guidance for developing and evaluating health-related SM campaigns, but health promotion professionals need to be able to identify what actually comprises SM in practice. SO WHAT?: SM could be a valuable strategy in comprehensive health promotion interventions, but it is often difficult for non-experts to identify published campaigns that represent a true SM approach. This paper describes the application of a checklist to assist policy makers and practitioners in appraising evidence from campaigns reflecting actual SM in practice. The checklist could also guide reporting on SM campaigns.