Social Marketing Framework Research Articles

Marketing mental health to men: Theoretical and practical considerations

The current paper addresses the importance of and relevant challenges pertaining to the marketing of mental health to men. Included are pertinent definitions, a review of related research, and a discussion of recent large-scale gender-specific mental health campaigns. In addition, central aspects of the social marketing framework considered to be particularly useful for addressing men's resistance to help seeking are reviewed. Suggestions for future research topics are also provided.

Finding the funds in fun runs: exploring physical activity events as fundraising tools in the nonprofit sector

AbstractAn increasingly popular form of raising funds in the nonprofit sector is the special event that involves some form of physical activity. This paper describes a study that tracked 50 events over nine months in order to explore the phenomenon of physical activity events, their function as a solicitation strategy and as a public awareness/relations tool, and to gauge how these events met the needs of participants who donated their money and energy to a cause. Data were collected by means of participant observation at 12 events and interviews with 12 participants and 12 hosting organisations. Using a social marketing framework and diffusion of innovations theory as an approach to making sense of the data, the results suggest that events serve two main purposes: celebrating a cause and offering an event that satisfies the physical activity interests of participants, and that events appropriately act as fundraising and publicity tools. Implications for adopting a social marketing orientation so that nonprofit organisations can hasten the diffusion process by tailoring events to meet the needs of participants, and for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications

Implementing Smoking Cessation Programmes in Prison Settings

In spite of abundant evidence as to the adverse health problems of tobacco use over the past half century, progress towards tobacco control in prisons have been minimal. Lack of political will, boredom, stress, imprisonment-related deprivation, sub-optimal demographic characteristics of prisoners, and the unavailability of formal funding mechanisms for smoking cessation support - including nicotine replacement therapy - are common reasons for this minimal progress. The author suggests that another important obstacle is a limited adoption of smoking cessation interventions that are specifically tailored for use in prison cohorts. Since 2000, the author developed and implemented smoking cessation programmes, using a Social Marketing framework, in eight Australian prisons as part of a tobacco control project. Based on his experience, the author discusses issues to consider in implementing such programmes in other prisons. Prison-based smoking cessation programmes remain a neglected but important health intervention. Adaptation of Social Marketing techniques may facilitate the feasibility and effectiveness of such programmes.

Rapid Application of an Integrated Social Marketing Framework: Lessons Learned from the 2000–2001 U.S. Influenza Vaccine Delay

Rapid Application of an Integrated Social Marketing Framework: Lessons Learned from the 2000–2001 U.S. Influenza Vaccine Delay

Developing services for substance-abusing HIV-positive youth with mental health disorders

Models of program development have primarily focused on the internal organizational processes needed to plan, implement, and evaluate new service programs. However, creating an external demand for new programs by policy makers, administrative bureaucracies, public health officials, and funders is critical to establishing new programs. A series of deaths of seropositive youth and an absence of local service settings with staff trained to address the needs of youth living with HIV provided the impetus for Larkin Street Youth Center. In particular, the agency had to overcome stigma associated with having both substance use and mental health disorders to establish service programs to recruit and mobilize staff within the agency and the local community and to establish a comprehensive housing program for symptomatic HIV-infected adolescents. This article examines how a residential assisted care facility for HIV-seropositive adolescents was established using organizational strategic planning processes, problem solving, and social marketing frameworks.

Using Social Marketing as a Theoretical Framework to Understand Citizen Participation in Health Promotion

The concept of broad-based public participation is a fundamental element of health promotion and citizenship. There is a gap, however, between the promise and reality of citizen participation in health promotion. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the utility of social marketing concepts in analyzing and better understanding the complexities of citizen participation. The data are drawn from a study on citizen participation during a recent health reform policy designed to foster health promotion in British Columbia, Canada. A social marketing framework was used to interpret the data and make sense of citizen participation in a post-hoc analysis, particularly using the concepts of understanding the consumer perspective, exchange, marketing mix and segmentation. The results contradict the frequent criticism in health promotion that social marketing tends to ignore the broader context of individual behavior. This paper argues that social marketing yielded new insights into understanding the societal circumstances that inhibited or fostered citizen participation and offers a discussion of the potential of social marketing as a tool for furthering citizen participation in health promotion planning.

Physical activity interventions using mass media, print media, and information technology

Introduction: Media-based physical activity interventions include a variety of print, graphic, audiovisual, and broadcast media programs intended to influence behavior change. New information technology allows print to be delivered in personalized, interactive formats that may enhance efficacy. Media-based interventions have been shaped by conceptual models from health education, Social Cognitive Theory, the Transtheoretical Model, and Social Marketing frameworks. Methods: We reviewed 28 studies of media-based interventions of which seven were mass media campaigns at the state or national level and the remaining 21 were delivered through health care, the workplace, or in the community. Results: Recall of mass-media messages generally was high, but mass-media campaigns had very little impact on physical activity behavior. Interventions using print and/or telephone were effective in changing behavior in the short term. Studies in which there were more contacts and interventions tailored to the target audience were most effective. Conclusion: A key issue for research on media-based physical activity interventions is reaching socially disadvantaged groups for whom access, particularly to new forms of communication technology, may be limited. There is a clear need for controlled trials comparing different forms and intensities of media-based physical activity interventions. Controlled studies of personalized print, interactive computer-mediated programs, and web-based formats for program delivery also are needed. The integration of media-based methods into public and private sector service delivery has much potential for innovation.

Recycling as a marketing problem: A framework for strategy development

AbstractThis article provides a framework for integrating past recycling research by conceptualizing recycling compliance as a marketing problem. Within a social marketing framework, recycling behavior is considered the product, and the marketing problem is to sell recycling to the consumers or public. Recycling research is then categorized as consumer research (research on characteristics of the recycler), pricing research (research on the costs to the consumer, including implicit or less tangible costs), distribution research (research on modes of participation for the recycler), and promotional research (research on intervention strategies such as raffles and contests, personal selling techniques such as block leader programs, and persuasive communications). Using this framework, we provide an integration of a vast amount of recycling research, and also suggest how this research can be used to design actionable strategies for the development of community recycling programs. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Toward Greater Responsiveness in Marketing Education: A Social Marketing Framework

This article explores how marketing educators can apply the social marketing concept to more effectively serve an important constituent public—employers of marketing graduates. First, a literature review focusing on efforts to survey practi tioners' attitudes towards marketing education is presented. Next, a model is devel oped, based on a social marketing conceptual framework, to guide marketing educators in the collection and use of feedback from practitioners. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the major implications and the related benefits of adopting a social marketing posture by the marketing academics.

Toward Greater Responsiveness in Marketing Education: A Social Marketing Framework

This article explores how marketing educators can apply the social marketing concept to more effectively serve an important constituent public-employers of marketing graduates. First, a literature review focusing on efforts to survey practitioners' attitudes towards marketing education is presented. Next, a model is developed, based on a social marketing conceptual framework, to guide marketing educators in the collection and use of feedback from practitioners. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the major implications and the related benefits of adopting a social marketing posture by the marketing academics.