Ross Gordon

A systematic review of social marketing effectiveness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the effectiveness of social marketing interventions in influencing individual behaviour and bringing about environmental and policy‐level changes in relation to alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs and physical activity. Social marketing is the use of marketing concepts in programmes designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences in order to improve health and society.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a review of systematic reviews and primary studies using pre‐specified search and inclusion criteria. Social marketing interventions were defined as those which adopted specified social marketing principles in their development and implementation.Findings – The paper finds that a total of 54 interventions met the inclusion criteria. There was evidence that interventions adopting social marketing principles could be effective across a range of behaviours, with a range of target groups, in different settings, and can influence policy and p...

A framework for sustainable marketing

This article examines how sustainable marketing could be achieved through the contribution of three existing marketing sub-disciplines; green marketing, social marketing and critical marketing. Green marketing facilitates the development and marketing of more sustainable products and services while introducing sustainability efforts into the core of the marketing process and business practice. Social marketing involves using the power of marketing to encourage sustainable behaviour among individuals, businesses and decision makers while also assessing the impact of current commercial marketing on sustainability. This links into the critical marketing paradigm which entails analyses of marketing theory, principles and techniques using a critical theory based approach. This analysis can help to guide regulation and control, development of marketing theory and practice, and to challenge the dominant institutions associated with marketing and the capitalist system, encouraging a marketing system in which sustainability is a key goal. The article concludes by offering a framework for sustainable marketing and a way forward for how this might be achieved.

Assessing the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing on young people's drinking: Cross-sectional data findings

As alcohol marketing remains a highly debated and politically charged issue, we examine the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing on alcohol initiation and drinking behaviour among youth (12–14 years). Cross-sectional data come from a cohort of 920 second year school pupils from Scotland. Regression models, with multiple control variables, were employed to examine the relationship between awareness of, and involvement with, a range of alcohol marketing communications, and drinking behaviour and intentions. Marketing variables were constructed for 15 different types of alcohol marketing, including marketing in new media. Drinking behaviour measures included drinking status and future drinking intentions. Significant associations were found between awareness of, and involvement with, alcohol marketing and drinking behaviour and intentions to drink alcohol in the next year. Given these associations, our study suggests the need for a revision of alcohol policy: one limiting youth exposure to these seemingly ubiquitous marketing communications.

Rethinking drinking cultures: A review of drinking cultures and a reconstructed dimensional approach

OBJECTIVES This paper presents the synthesis of findings from a literature review study of drinking cultures across five West European countries (France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK), examining the nature and features of drinking typologies before proposing a new dimensional approach. STUDY DESIGN The study incorporated a systematic literature search covering the period 1980-2010 for literature from each of the five countries. METHODS Researchers reviewed abstracts and selected relevant material, leading to the inclusion of 203 articles from database searches plus 26 records from other sources. A summary of key findings are presented here. Intercoder reliability checks were performed to ensure consistency in inclusion in the review according to pre-ordained selection criteria. The review was further supplemented by the inclusion of gray literature including policy documents obtained from a range of sources. RESULTS It was found that sociocultural contexts have a major influence on drinking cultures, and this is an area in which there have been dramatic changes over the past 30 years. Differences were found between the countries in terms of drinking cultures, the way in which alcohol is viewed, and how alcohol-related policy and practice operates. However, there seems to be an increasing homogenization of drinking cultures across many countries, strongly influenced by Anglo-US cultural zeitgeist. Modern drinking patterns have emerged, offering a complex and often overlapping schema of drinking typologies. CONCLUSIONS The study suggests that the wet-dry dichotomy is no longer relevant and that a revised version of a more recent dimensional approach featuring three dimensions - hedonism, function and control - may be better placed to describe and measure contemporary drinking cultures.

Critical social marketing: definition, application and domain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and role of the critical dimension social marketing and its place within marketing scholarly thought. It is posited that such activity can be defined as “critical social marketing” and a formal definition is offered.Design/methodology/approach – The ability of critical social marketing to inform the research and evidence base, as well as upstream and downstream activity is discussed. Scholarly debate on the role of critical social marketing within the social marketing and critical marketing paradigms, both of which heavily inform the concept, are reviewed. The application of a critical social marketing framework to the study of the impact of tobacco and food marketing is examined.Findings – The paper demonstrates the utility of a critical social marketing framework in real‐world environments. Important considerations on who critical social marketers are and where the concept is located within marketing thought are addressed. The paper concludes ...

Unlocking the potential of upstream social marketing

Purpose – Social marketing scholars have posited that influencing policy makers, regulators, managers and educators can help address societal problems “upstream”. Applying “upstream social marketing”, these groups can be treated as target audiences, and through use of marketing techniques, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and informing evidence based policy making, their behaviour can be influenced to engender pro-social outcomes, for example through policy change. However, examples and guidance on how upstream social marketing can be effectively employed to successfully alter the structural environment is lacking. This article aims to unlock the potential of upstream social marketing by examining how it can be systematically employed. Design/methodology/approach – The article examines the development of the upstream social marketing concept in the extant literature, and presents some guiding principles, before analysing the case study of minimum unit pricing of alcohol in Scotland. The failure to compre...

Australian alcohol policy 2001–2013 and implications for public health

BackgroundDespite a complex and multi-faceted alcohol policy environment in Australia, there are few comprehensive reviews of national and state alcohol policies that assess their effectiveness and research support. In mapping the Australian alcohol policy domain and evaluating policy interventions in each of the core policy areas, this article provides a useful resource for researchers. The implications for protecting public health emanating from this mapping and evaluation of alcohol policy are also discussed.MethodsThis review considered data from: published primary research; alcohol legislation, strategies and alcohol-related press releases for all levels and jurisdictions of Australian government; international publications by prominent non-governmental organisations; and relevant grey literature. These were organised and evaluated using the established framework offered by Thomas Babor and colleagues.ResultsFindings indicated great variability in alcohol initiatives across Australia, many of which do not reflect what is currently considered to be evidence-based best practice.ConclusionsResearch showing increasing alcohol-related harms despite steady levels of consumption suggests a need to pursue alcohol policy initiatives that are supported by evidence of harm-reduction. Future initiatives should aim to increase existing alcohol controls in line with suggested best practice in order to protect public health in Australia.

Towards a reflexive turn: Social marketing assemblages

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to demonstrate why the time is ripe for a reflexive turn in social marketing, in response to criticisms of social marketing as neo-liberal, positivist and lacking critical introspection. Design/methodology/approach: The paper traces the development of three paradigms in the field, highlighting the entrenchment of a traditionalist paradigm that heretofore has stifled critical debate and reflexive practice. However, the emergence of social ecologist and critical social marketing paradigms has stimulated the imperative for a reflexive turn. Insights into reflexivity, its relevance and applicability for researchers, participants and other stakeholders in social marketing are considered. Findings: The paper offers a conceptualisation of social marketing assemblages using the lens of actor-network theory and identifies how this can stimulate engagement and reflexive practice for researchers, participants and other stakeholders (such as non-governmental organisations and Government departments involved in delivering programmes). Originality/value: The article presents relevant theoretical and practical benefits from a reflexive turn in social marketing, highlighting how this will furthermore contribute to discipline building.

Creating symbolic cultures of consumption: an analysis of the content of sports wagering advertisements in Australia

BackgroundSince 2008, Australia has seen the rapid emergence of marketing for online and mobile sports wagering. Previous research from other areas of public health, such as tobacco and alcohol, has identified the range of appeal strategies these industries used to align their products with culturally valued symbols. However, there is very limited research that has investigated the tactics the sports wagering industry uses within marketing to influence the consumption of its products and services.MethodThis study consisted of a mixed method interpretive content analysis of 85 sports wagering advertisements from 11 Australian and multinational wagering companies. Advertisements were identified via internet searches and industry websites. A coding framework was applied to investigate the extent and nature of symbolic appeal strategies within advertisements.ResultsTen major appeal strategies emerged from this analysis. These included sports fan rituals and behaviours; mateship; gender stereotypes; winning; social status; adventure, thrill and risk; happiness; sexualised imagery; power and control; and patriotism. Symbols relating to sports fan rituals and behaviours, and mateship, were the most common strategies used within the advertisements.Discussion/ConclusionsThis research suggests that the appeal strategies used by the sports wagering industry are similar to those strategies adopted by other unhealthy commodity industries. With respect to gambling, analysis revealed that strategies are clearly targeted to young male sports fans. Researchers and public health practitioners should seek to better understand the impact of marketing on the normalisation of sports wagering for this audience segment, and implement strategies to prevent gambling harm.

Social marketing and value in behaviour?: Perceived value of using energy efficiently among low income older citizens

Purpose Drawing on value theory, this study aims to explore the perceived value of using energy efficiently amongst a low-income older population group. It aims to provide an empirical exploration of the concept of value-in-behaviour, and, in doing so, identify that it is a logical addition to the extant concepts of value-in-exchange and value-in-use. Design/methodology/approach Exploratory focus group research was conducted to explore older, low-income people’s perceived value towards using energy efficiently in the contexts of their everyday lives. The research was conducted in regional New South Wales, Australia, with 11 focus groups of 59 people (40 females, 19 males) aged over 60 with a personal disposable income below