Social Marketing: Principles and Practice for Delivering Global Change [4 ed.] 2022043902, 9781032059662, 9781032059679, 9781003200086

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Social Marketing

Social Marketing shows how marketing techniques can be used to social ends and tackle the immense challenges humankind faces. Social inequalities have driven popular revolts, from Black Lives Matter to Brexit, the climate is in crisis, and COVID-19 has highlighted power imbalances across the globe. In these turbulent times, this fourth edition will arm you with: •• Fresh content on climate breakdown, inequality and diversity, public health and poverty •• The critical capacity to analyse the origins, workings and future of our economic system •• Contemporary case studies from around the world demonstrating how change happens •• Reflective questions and critical thinking tasks to aid understanding This popular introductory textbook has been fully updated to enable you to challenge the bad, champion the good and enact meaningful change. If you already have marketing know-how, then it will help you apply this in a health, social and ecological context. If you come from a social science, public health or ecological background, and have little knowledge of marketing, it will introduce you to its key principles and give you the chance to apply these ideas in familiar settings. Gerard Hastings is a Professor Emeritus at Stirling University, where he founded the Institute for Social Marketing and Health (ISMH). His research and teaching focus on the impact of marketing on society – both for good and ill. This has involved him in advising government and civil society nationally and internationally and publishing widely in both academic and non-academic outlets. His latest book Hyperconsumption is published by Routledge. In 2009 he was awarded the OBE for services to health care. In 2014 he accepted the Queen’s Anniversary Prize on behalf of the University of Stirling for ISMH’s critical marketing research.

Christine Domegan, B.Comm, MBS, PhD, is a Personal Professor of Social Marketing at the University of Galway, Ireland. Christine is an Honorary Professor at Stirling University in Britain and Adjunct Professor of Marketing at Griffith University in Australia. Christine is the Research Leader for the Applied Systems Thinking investigating systems-thinking social marketing for systemic change and stakeholder engagement through a multidisciplinary lens and leading an EU LIFE IP grant for climate action with national partners in relation to large-scale regenerative peatlands, people and policies. She teaches sustainable marketing and social marketing at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including extensive PhD supervision, as well as topics such as marketing research. Award-winning publications appear in Journal of Macromarketing, Canadian Medical Association Journal, BMJ open, Marketing Theory and European Journal of Marketing. Christine is European Editor of Journal of Social Marketing.

S o cial M a rket in g P rin ci pl es and P r a c t i c e for Del i v er i ng G lo b a l Ch ange Fourth Edition

Gerard Hastings and Christine Domegan

Designed cover image: Tina Claffey Fourth edition published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Gerard Hastings and Christine Domegan The right of Gerard Hastings and Christine Domegan to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Butterworth-Heinemann 2007 Third edition published by Routledge 2018 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hastings, Gerard (Professor), author. | Domegan, Christine, author. Title: Social marketing: principles and practice for delivering global change/ Gerard Hastings and Christine Domegan. Description: Fourth Edition. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022043902 | ISBN 9781032059662 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032059679 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003200086 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Social marketing. Classification: LCC HF5414. H37 2023 | DDC 658.8–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022043902 ISBN: 978-1-032-05966-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-05967-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-20008-6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086 Typeset in Utopia by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032059662

For Sarah, whose wisdom and diligence did so much to make this book possible. In fond memory of Roger Layton.

Cover Photo

The picture is of Abbeyleix bog in County Laois, a community-owned peatland in Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands. Peatlands play a vital role in our efforts to combat climate breakdown. These intensely carbonrich ecosystems, which scientists now think contain twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests, formed around 12,000 years ago in high latitudes following glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age. Unfortunately, they have been exploited by us for many decades and this destruction causes up to 5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – more than all our aeroplanes put together. Fortunately, things are changing, and bogs that were being drained and dried out for peat harvesting are now being rewetted and rewilded. Community bogs such as Abbeyleix are in safe hands. Peatlands, their local stories and national ecosystems are becoming a symbol of planetary health.

Contents

List of tables x List of figures xi Case study contributors xiii Acknowledgmentsxxi Prefacexxii 1. Delivering global change: how social marketing can make a difference1 2. The four social marketing orientations17 3. The shoulders of giants: why theory matters34 4. Strategic planning: the social marketer’s roadmap53 5. Research: the social marketer’s satnav69 6. How social marketers communicate: the search for compelling content88 7. Critical marketing: addressing the commercial determinants of ill-health and planetary harm105 8. Alternatives: in search of new wisdom123 9. Ethics, morality and human rights in social marketing139 10. Systems social marketing155

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Contents Social marketing case studies from around the world 1. Encouraging sustainable energy performance in multi-stakeholder systemic school environment: the ENERGE project Dmitry Brychkov, Christine Domegan, Edelle Doherty, Raquel de Castro Rodrigues Lima and Eoghan Clifford 2. Trust the meat thermometer Marisha Anand and Aileen McGloin 3. Acting on the climate crisis through the arts and culture: A social innovation journey at the city of Águeda Susana Marques, Ana Estima, Edson Santos, Célia Laranjeira, Adriana Mesquita and Carla Couceiro 4. Making Australian universities culturally safe places for first nations peoples Maria Raciti, Jennifer Carter, David Hollinsworth and Kathryn Gilbey 5. “What could masculinity be?”: using participatory co-design to define and support healthier masculinities Glen Donnar, Jon Hewitt, Fiona Finn, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan and John Dingeldei 6. “Standing Strong Together”: a culturally appropriate adaptation for a social and emotional well-being intervention in an Australian First Nations community Robert J Donovan, Lesley A Murray, Julia Anwar-McHenry, Amberlee Nicholas and Cathy Drane 7. The humble egg in Malawi Puja Peyden Tshering, Kalpana Beesabathuni, Srujith Lingala and Rowena Merritt 8. Turning the tide on poor Blue Space quality through stakeholder engagement – Lessons from PIER Sinead Duane, Maeve Louise Farrell, Alexandra Chueiri, Christine Domegan, Liam Burke and Dearbháile Morris 9. Evaluating real change in the real world: creativity, connection and the unseen as felt evidence in aspiring communities Marisa de Andrade, Colin Campbell, Jean Dobbing, Felicity Fyall and Rilza Montgomery 10. Leaf collective: piloting a social marketing approach to remove eucalypt leaves from stormwater drains Luisa Lopez Cordova, Yue Xi, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Renata Anibaldi, Aaron Tkaczynski, Cuong Pham and Vanessa Salamone 11. Logan City Council wildlife movement campaign Tori Seydel, Erin Hurley and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele

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Contents 12. Tackling gender inequality and promoting a healthy lifestyle: the women in sport roadshow Michelle O’Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Nicole Peel and Sarah Duffy

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13. The role of civil society in advancing the sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy in Mexico Rafael Pérez-Escamilla

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14. The Baby Killer revisited: regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes Gerard Hastings, Kathryn Angus, Douglas Eadie and Kate Hunt

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15. Healthy breakfasts in Armenia Rowena Merritt and Nanna Skau

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16. Social marketing at multiple levels of the fashion system with fashion revolution Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy

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17. Autism: change your reactions Sandra C. Jones, Jennifer Lowe, Nicola Edwards and Jade Maloney

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18. Active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city Christine Domegan, Tina Flaherty, Dmitry Brychkov, Evelyn Fanning and Caroline Murray

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Index 339

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Tables

1.1 10.1

Social Marketing Case Studies from around the World Rewilding nature and peatlands project

12 164

Figures

1.1 “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?” 4 1.2 A sample of systemic reviews of social marketing effectiveness 7 2.1 Four social marketing orientations 17 2.2 Lawrence Wallack’s river 25 2.3 Why critical marketing analysis matters 27 2.4 A strategic vision of social marketing30 3.1 Seven useful theories 34 3.2 Theory is always a good bet 35 3.3 Stages of change mark 238 3.4 Social cognitive theory39 3.5 Bonding, bridging and linking42 3.6 A social ecological model43 3.7 Value-based exchanges and sustainable tourism47 3.8 Donovan’s consensus49 4.1 The social marketing strategic plan56 4.2 The social marketing environment57 4.3 Commonly used segmentation criteria in social marketing61 4.4 Setting objectives63 5.1 Action research71 5.2 Social marketing research – cyclical and action oriented71 5.3 The basic types of research method72 5.4 Secondary research and systems thinking74 5.5 The Benefits Process Evaluation81 5.6 The thalidomide scandal82 5.7 Reflective evaluation research84 6.1 Headlines after Wells’ broadcast 91 6.2 An anti-slavery campaign leaflet from 1783 95 7.1 Marketing concerns in the early twentieth century 107 7.2 The commercial determinants of behaviour108 7.3 The planet-wrecking fossil fuel industry110 7.4 A whistle blower’s testimony on big tech to the US Senate116

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Figures 7.5 A key lesson from COVID-19117 7.6 What customer needs does McDonald’s meet?118 8.1 The Global North 124 8.2 Two wolves – A Cherokee parable 128 8.3 Rosser Reeves model of advertising effects 130 8.4 What other options were there? 132 8.5 The Torres Strait 8: Australian Islanders in landmark climate fight 133 9.1 Ethical dilemmas in social marketing142 9.2 The Conference of the Birds147 9.3 The Nanny State150 10.1 Types of provisioning systems161 10.2 A systems social marketing strategic plan162 10.3 Provisioning system identification165 10.4 Examples of power versus interest grid mapping of stakeholders in a provisioning system166 10.5 An example of creativity is demonstrated by stakeholder mapping167 10.6 An example of a CLD systems map for a regenerating peatland169 10.7 Potential social marketing offerings171 10.8 Indicators for systems social marketing171

Case study contributors

Marisha Anand is a Research Assistant in the Applied Systems Thinking research unit at J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics at the University of Galway, Ireland. She also works as a Research Fellow in social marketing, behaviour change and public health with safefood, an all-island body that aims to promote food safety and healthy eating. As part of her research, she evaluates and promotes the public health campaigns of safefood regarding obesity, handwashing and food poisoning across digital platforms. Marisa de Andrade is the Co-director of the Binks Hub; Associate Director of the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry; and Programme Director of the MScR Health Humanities and Arts at the University of Edinburgh. Marisa uses “traditional” and (post)-qualitative methodologies to situate arts at the helm of strategic decision-making across multiple sectors including health and social care, employability, education and social justice. Kathryn Angus is a Researcher and Information Specialist at the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling which she joined in 2001. Her research interests include the impact of commercial marketing on people’s health and behaviour, the effectiveness of social marketing and systematic review methodologies and literature search strategies. She has extensive experience in content analyses of marketing, designing literature searches and conducting evidence-based reviews on a variety of public health, critical marketing and social topics. Renata Anibaldi is a Senior Research Assistant at Griffith University and is currently focused on PhD research which applies the concepts and methods of systems-thinking social marketing to develop, implement and evaluate interventions to promote the establishment of healthy eating behaviours in Australian Defence Force personnel (ADF). Julia Anwar-McHenry is with the Western Australian Department of Education. He was formerly an Act-Belong-Commit Evaluation Officer. Kalpana Beesabathuni holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master’s in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s degree from Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) in Agricultural and Food Engineering.

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Case study contributors Her work as Global Lead: Technology and Entrepreneurship, Sight and Life focuses on food systems; analytics, technology tools, distribution & supply chains. Linda Brennan is a Professor in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Australia. Her research interests are the use and abuse of advertising and social marketing for social change. Dmitry Brychkov, MA English, MA Desert studies, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Applied Systems Thinking Group in the Whitaker Institute at the University of Galway, Ireland. He currently works on the ENERGE project which focuses on energy efficiency in schools. Liam Burke, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Bacteriology at the School of Medicine, University of Galway and a member of the Ryan Institute Centre for One Health. His research interests include antimicrobial-resistant and pathogenic bacteria of public health concern. He is interested in their studying their resistance and virulence mechanisms and understanding their occurrence and spread between humans, animals and their shared environment. Colin Campbell is a Co-ordinator at Bethany Christian Trust, which is committed to ending homelessness in Scotland – one person at a time. Jane Dobbing, Felicity Fyall and Rilza Montgomery are Community Development Workers at the same organisation. They are a vastly experienced team in ABCD. Jennifer Carter is a Professor of Geography at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Jennifer has a specific interest in First Nations geography, critiquing and proposing environmental management structures and processes that are more inclusive of First Nations Australians. Raquel de Castro Rodrigues Lima is a PhD Candidate in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Galway, Ireland. She is also president of the ASHRAE NUIG Student Branch and co-chair of Student Activities at ASHRAE Ireland. She joined the ENERGE project while working on integrating users’ perspectives to energy management systems across multiple organisations. Alexandra Chueiri MSc is a Research Assistant in the Discipline of Bacteriology at the School of Medicine, NUI Galway. Alexandra is experienced in molecular biology and holds a Masters in Biomedical Science. As a member of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, she has contributed to projects such as One Health EJP WorldCOM and PIER (Public health Impact of Exposure to antibiotic Resistance in recreational waters). Her research interests include antimicrobial-resistant bacterial pathogens and molecular diagnostics. Eoghan Clifford is a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Galway, Ireland. He is the coordinator of the EU InterReg NWE funded ENERGE project which focuses on energy efficiency in schools. ENERGE takes a multidisciplinary approach that includes sociological, pedagogic and communications expertise combined with digital approaches to energy monitoring to help reduce energy consumption in school communities. The project leverages engineering, behavioural studies and new educational approaches to enable impacts to translate to the wider community.

Case study contributors Carla Couceiro holds a degree in Communication, with a specialization in Interior Tourism Education for Sustainability. Since 2014, she has been implementing multiple national and European projects in the area of environment and sustainability, in partnership with the Municipality of Águeda and external entities. John Dingeldei is an advertising industry practitioner, teacher and researcher in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University Australia. He has published in the area of social marketing, with a focus on social media and storytelling. Edelle Doherty is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Civil Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Galway, Ireland. She is the project manager of the EU InterReg NWE funded ENERGE project which focuses on energy efficiency in schools. She joined the ENERGE project after working on implementing energy-related behavioural change in the Irish healthcare sector. Robert J Donovan, is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Adjunct Professor at the School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia. He is an Act-Belong-Commit Founder. Glen Donnar is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Australia. Glen’s research interests include screen representations of men and masculinities, and he is the author of Troubling Masculinities (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). Sinead Duane PhD is a Lecturer in Marketing in the Discipline of Marketing in the Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway. Her research interests include systems social marketing and the role of stakeholder engagement and partnership development when addressing complex societal challenges such as Antimicrobial resistance. Sarah Duffy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business, Western Sydney University. Dr Duffy teaches Social Marketing to postgraduate students and her research is concerned with issues relating to social equity, diversity and inclusion in an institutional context. Cathy Drane,  Research Fellow, Future of Work Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.  Anna Earl is a Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Canterbury Business School. Her main key interests include the complexity of stakeholder relationships and their impact on social, legitimacy and ethical issues. Nicola Edwards is the Executive Manager of Communications at Amaze, a leading autism organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. Nicola has overseen a range of integrated social marketing and behaviour change campaigns including the implementation of the second wave of the Autism: Change Your Reactions social marketing campaign. Ana Estima holds a PhD in Marketing and Strategy. Ana is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Aveiro where she coordinates the degree in marketing since 2018. Evelyn Fanning is a Senior Health Promotion Officer with Community Healthcare West, HSE. She has led out on a number of health and well-being initiatives including early years projects.

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Case study contributors Previously she was a Project Coordinator and Community Development Worker with Westside Resource Centre. She is a graduate of NUI Galway with a BA and MA in Community Development and also has a Professional Diploma in Project Management. Maeve Louise Farrell is a PhD student in the Discipline of Bacteriology at the School of Medicine, NUI Galway. She is a qualified veterinary nurse and has an Honours degree in Veterinary Bioscience. Her research interests include antimicrobial-resistant bacteria relating to human, environmental and veterinary health concerns. Fiona Finn is a Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Australia. Her pedagogy places a strong emphasis on experiential learning, enabling students to engage with complex real-world problems facing the advertising industry, particularly as it relates to gender representations. Tina Flaherty is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Applied Systems Cluster in the Whitaker Institute, University of Galway. Having been awarded the inaugural three-year Research Fellowship with safefood in 2015, Tina assisted in the development of behavioural and community change interventions within the island of Ireland while completing her PhD in the area of digital technologies and their role in systemic behaviour change. Tina also has expertise in social listening and systems thinking methodologies. Kathryn Gilbey is a First Nation Australian, Associate Professor and Director of the Graduate School Research Division at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Australia. Jon Hewitt is a PhD Candidate in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. His research interests include the marketing practices of social enterprises (based in the fashion sector), marketing sustainable fashion and consumer behaviour change within the fashion industry. David Hollinsworth is an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. David has worked with Aboriginal people since 1968 as both an activist and an academic. Kate Hunt is a Professor of Behavioural Sciences and Health in the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling. Before moving to Stirling, she worked for many years in the MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow. She has a longstanding interest in inequalities in health and in Gender and Health (moving from an early interest in women’s health to a focus on men, masculinities and health). Kate has served on several UK funding boards, including MRC Population and Systems Medicine Board, NIHR Public Health Research funding board and MRC Population Health Intervention Development Scheme. Erin Hurley’s work centres on examining ways that people from diverse backgrounds can be empowered to drive real change within their communities. She has substantial experience in the use of participatory design techniques, involving local communities during the design, implementation and evaluation of campaigns and community programmes across a broad range of social and environmental issues.

Case study contributors Sandra C. Jones is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Impact) at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Melbourne, Australia, following 15 years as a leading social marketing researcher. Sandra leads the “Autism at ACU” research programme and is the author of “Growing into Autism” (Melbourne University Press, 2022). Ann-Marie Kennedy is an Associate Professor in Marketing at the University of Canterbury. She specialises in marketing for behaviour change, macro-social marketing, systems thinking and ethics. Célia Laranjeira is a Doctoral Student in Sciences and Environment engineering, holds a postgraduation in Sustainable Development, a Master’s degree in Environment and Forest Resources and a degree in Biology. She is the Head of the Environment and Sustainability Division of Águeda City Council, since 2014. Srujith Lingala holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Columbia University, an MBA from Indian Institute of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering. In his role in Technology & Entrepreneurship Manager, Sight and Life, Srujith works closely at the intersection of business and development designing and implementing social business innovations that improve the availability and affordability of eggs and other nutritious foods in low- and middle-income countries. Luisa Lopez Cordova After completing her Master’s degree in Integrated Water Management at Griffith University, Luisa joined Social Marketing at Griffith University in 2021 as a Research Assistant since she has actively pursued knowledge of the effects of behavioral change on behalf of the environment and people’s wellbeing. Luisa’s personal areas of interest include Conservation of Protected Areas, Climate Change, Social Marketing, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) research projects. Jennifer Lowe is a Research Associate in the Research Impact Unit at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia. She is also a PhD Candidate in Public Health at La Trobe University where her interdisciplinary research is being conducted in collaboration with the Public Health Palliative Care Unit and Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre. Jennifer has a background in corporate brand marketing and consumer events marketing. Jade Maloney is a Partner and Managing Director of ARTD Consultants, an independent evaluation consultancy. She works with people with disability and lived experience of mental ill health, government agencies and non-government organisations to design, evaluate and refine policies, services and programmes. ARTD evaluated the Autism: Change Your Reactions social marketing campaign. Susana Marques holds a PhD in Marketing. Susana is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Aveiro where she coordinates the Master’s degree in marketing and digital communication. Hazel Maxwell is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Health and Medicine at the University of Tasmania (Sydney campus). She has extensive experience in health promotion and sport

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Case study contributors management in not-for-profit and Government sectors in both Australian and UK. Her research and teaching focuses on equity, social inclusion and diversity. Aileen McGloin is the Director of Marketing and Communications at safefood, the all-island body responsible for promoting food safety and healthy eating. She leads safefood’s communications programme to inform, encourage and support citizens in relation to both food safety and healthy eating behaviours. Combining a background in food, health and behaviour change with experience in management, research, PR, marketing and digital communications, she also led safefood’s digital communications from 2010 to 2018. Rowena Merritt is a Research Fellow, University of Kent and a Behavioural Scientist who has helped to design and implement behaviour change solutions for a range of social, health and environmental challenges in over 30 countries. Rowena currently works for the UNICEF as their SBC lead for nutrition and is Affiliate Professor at the University of South Florida, USA. Adriana Mesquita holds a Master’s degree in Management and Planning in Tourism and a degree in Applied Foreign Languages. She is the Head of the Culture and Sports Division of Águeda City Council, since 2017. Dearbháile Morris is a Professor of Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health and Head of the Discipline of Bacteriology at the School of Medicine University of Galway. She is Director of the Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group and Director of the Ryan Institute Centre for One Health at University of Galway. She has over 20 years’ experience in research on zoonotic waterborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance and has published widely in high-impact journals. Caroline Murray is a Senior Health Promotion Officer with Community Healthcare West, HSE. She is a graduate of the University of Limerick with a degree in Sport and Exercise Science and completed MA in Health Promotion at NUI Galway. Previous to her Health Promotion role she was involved in sports development. She has a keen interest in physical activity promotion for all ages. Lesley A Murray is a Board Member and Art Director at the Beananging Kwuurt Institute, Perth, Australia, a practicing Visual Artist for Wangaba Roebourne Art Group, Roebourne, Australia. He was formerly an Act-Belong-Commit Aboriginal Project Manager. Amberlee Nicholas is a Mental Health Promotion Specialist at The Push for Better Foundation, Perth, Australia. He was formerly Act-Belong-Commit Campaign Manager. Michelle O’Shea is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business at Western Sydney University. Dr O’Shea teaches Sport Management and her research is concerned with issues relating to social equity, diversity and inclusion in an institutional context. Lukas Parker is an Associate Professor and social marketing and advertising scholar at the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, Australia. His research and teaching are focused on behaviour change, communicating health and digital advertising.

Case study contributors Nicole Peel is a Lecturer in Recreational Therapy in the School of Health Sciences at Western Sydney University. Her research focuses on the use of therapy with disadvantaged groups to assist in progressing their lives within complex and complicated support systems. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD, is a tenured Professor at the Yale School of Public Health where he directs the Center for Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS) Maternal-Child Health Promotion Program, the Global Health Concentration and the Office of Public Health Practice. His research and programme evaluation initiatives have helped improve maternal nutrition and infant and young child feeding, as well as early childhood development and household food security, globally. Cuong Pham is a consumer behaviour systems-thinker and is currently investigating what influences decision-making. He sees a large potential for a systems-thinking approach to assist marketers in addressing ill-defined or complex problems more effectively. Maria Raciti is a First Nation Australian and social marketer who is passionate about educational justice. Maria is a Professor of Marketing and Co-director of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Vanessa Salamone is a circular by design systems thinker and offers senior-level marketing experience leading regional and national communication campaigns. Her focal project seeks to understand how supermarket retailers can reduce single-use plastics in the service environment. Tori Seydel is a behaviour change scientist and early career researcher who has delivered across design, implementation and evaluation of conservation behaviour change programmes in the community. She designed behaviour change messaging for “Leave It” to increase dog’s abilities to avoid koalas. Leave it resulted in a 40% reduction in koala deaths from dog attacks. Sharyn Rundle-Thiele was trained in marketing and today she works as a behavioural scientist. In 2021, more than 300,000 people were engaged delivering change for the better. The work Sharyn has led has changed adolescent attitudes to alcohol drinking, reduced food waste, reduced koala deaths from dog attacks by 40%, reduced leaves entering waterways and many more. Nanna Skau, Deputy Country Director, WFP Armenia, has more than 20 years of experience in international relations, humanitarian and development assistance which has taken her around the world and seen people struggling yet finding solutions, people who never got a chance yet always smiled, people who taught themselves to read yet only one book to practice on. Nanna have been shaking hands with presidents and kids who hadn’t eaten for two days. She has written a million reports, 200 log-frames, pitches to donors, turned ideas on how to solve food security problems into stock motion Lego video’s hoping to get traction and funds. For the past 13 years, Nanna have been working for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), supporting access to food and nutrition security for populations in need around the world. Aaron Tkaczynski is a Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Events at the University of Queensland. Dr Tkaczynski is an expert in market segmentation and event evaluation. He has delivered

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Case study contributors segmentation solutions for Easterfest (Australia), the Winnipeg Fringe Festival (Canada) and Johannesburg International Mozart Festival (South Africa). This research has used both online and in-person surveys to identify attendee’s motivations and behaviour (e.g. satisfaction) of attendees. Aaron has debriefed research committees on how event organisers can best use the results to inform future marketing and communication plans. These results have been used by the event organisers in their future marketing strategies (e.g. targeting a regional socially focused segment). Puja Peyden Tshering is the Consumer Insights Specialist at Sight and Life, responsible for designing social marketing activities across the organisation’s diverse projects, with a focus on increasing demand for nutritious foods and products in a bid to tackle malnutrition. Yue Xi is on her way to learn and become a social marketer in behaviour change. Currently, she is a Research Assistant and a soon to be a PhD candidate in Social Marketing @ Griffith. Yue believes in behaviour change can drive and establish a balanced system. She is keen on seeking balance from the systematic issues across multidisciplinary contexts. Her current research focus is increasing e-waste recycling rates.

Acknowledgments

There are so many to whom we owe thanks. All the colleagues and students who have taught us so much. All the people we have interviewed and consulted who have kept our feet on the ground and our eyes on the real world. All the writers, thinkers, musicians, and poets who have encouraged us to reach higher and imagine better. All the animals and plants, mountains and lakes who have reminded us with each passing day how urgent is the task. Our heartfelt thanks to you all.

Preface

Once again it is my absolute pleasure to welcome Professors Hastings and Domegan’s brand-new edition of their book Social Marketing: Principles and Practice for Delivering Global Change. These world-class scholars have delivered again: those familiar with their work will not be surprised by the crystal-clear explanations of the essentials of social marketing, nor by their emphasis on the critical aspects of our discipline, not least the commercial determinants of so much of our lives, and the need for appropriate understanding of these. You will enjoy the sober, sometimes philosophical reflections on modern life, not least how we in the West should learn from humbler [and often wiser?] parts of the world. To this end, Gerard and Christine have put together one of the most substantial set of globally sourced case studies I have seen – all brand new for this edition - giving us that much richer a reading experience. Add to that three entirely new Chapters 7–9 examining critical marketing, alternatives [to our economic system], and ethics and human rights, and we have a fantastic asset for readers seeking a complete view of what is causing so many of our social marketing issues and what to do about them. I warmly welcome this latest edition. Alan Tapp Professor of Social Marketing Bristol Business School

Chapter

1

Delivering global change How social marketing can make a difference Welcome to our fourth edition. There has never been a greater need for a behaviour change discipline like social marketing, nor a better time to study it. The problems we humans face, especially the ecological trio of pollution, biodiversity loss and climate breakdown, show us that we need to make fundamental changes to our way of life. Social marketing provides the principles and practices that will enable us to do this. This first chapter provides you with a guide to the book and an introduction to the subject. With it, you can plan your study and start to hone your change-making skills.

Momentous times Rebecca Solnit puts it bluntly: “the world as we knew it is coming to an end, and it’s up to us how it ends and what comes after.”1 Momentous words, but she is only echoing what scientists and the United Nations have been telling us for at least five decades. Putting into everyday language what it means to live in the “anthropocene,” the era “when human activity is the dominant influence on climate and the environment.”2 Reminding us that when we use the word “unsustainable” to describe our current way of life – as we all do with increasing frequency – this means it cannot continue. That global change is not just necessary, it is inevitable. This can be a daunting realisation, but it need not be. For a start, change is nothing new for us human beings. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 1.1. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-1

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DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE

CRITICAL THINKING 1.1:  CHANGE HAS ALWAYS BEEN WITH US Think about how much our lives have changed over the centuries. What would it have been like living during the French revolution, in the Roman Empire, or earlier still, as a hunter gatherer? How does your life differ from that of your parents and grandparents? What impact has digital technology – the smartphone, the internet – had on our lives and how quickly have these effects happened? Think also about indigenous cultures, like the Kogi in middle America whose story is told in Chapter 8 and Australia’s First Nation peoples discussed in Case Studies # 4 and 6.

As the exercise makes clear, we humans have undergone many transformations over the centuries: from hunter-gatherer to settled agriculture to industrialisation to metaverse; from tribe to the city-state to nation-state to global community; from speaking to writing to printing to posting. Change, then, has always been with us, it is part of the human condition; we just need to ensure that it is sustainable and informed by decent values: inclusivity, mutual respect and fairness. This is why “climate justice” has become such a prominent idea, why indigenous peoples are gaining a voice and the Global South is becoming a key partner. The prospect of change is also a stimulating challenge, a great opportunity to rethink our current way of life. It is a chance for us to become the authors of our own fate. Furthermore, our extensive previous experience of change has taught us much about how best to handle it – how to facilitate, manage and optimise it. Social marketing brings this learning together, and this textbook will present it to you. Rebecca Solnit’s words underline how useful it is likely to be.

The origins of marketing We need to start by thinking more deeply about marketing. We often think of it as a new phenomenon which emerged with the modern consumer economy. In reality though, it has been around since the dawn of human civilisation and has driven much of the change we have just been discussing. We are social animals: alone we are weak and vulnerable but when we come together we can do great things. If you can hunt and I can cook, together we can eat. If we extend this arrangement into the future, we can plan all sorts of collaborative projects: build houses, develop villages and construct hospitals and schools. If some focus all their efforts on hunting and cooking, this will free up others to create music and art and pursue science. Commerce – trade, markets, distribution, advertising and doing deals – has always been at the heart of all this. As Yuval Harari3 explains in his book Sapiens, it even drove the emergence of writing. The first written words archaeologists have found are on 5000-year-old Sumerian tablets and they don’t concern literature or high-minded ideas, but facts and figures about transactions. Who bought what from whom and for how much. The original writers weren’t poets but accountants. Their contribution to human progress was nonetheless profound: without these early bookkeepers there would be no poets – or at least no record of their work. Read and consider the words of Martin Luther King in Critical Thinking Task 1.2.

DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE

CRITICAL THINKING 1.2:

OUR INTERCONNECTED WORLD

Martin Luther King was a founding figure of the Civil Liberties Movement in the US in 1960s. Here he is talking about the impact of business on our lives. Read and consider his words. What is his key message? “Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent upon most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that’s handed you by a Pacific Islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that’s given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning and that is poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you desire to have cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that’s given you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured. It is its interrelated quality.”4

King is reminding us that our lives are interconnected, both with each other and more broadly with other forms of life not just across the world but the universe. And that commerce both reflects and facilitates this interconnectivity. Marketing is the discipline that emerged to manage these inter-connections, and maintain trust and respect even when they multiply and grow in complexity, when deals are done between strangers, across borders or without the participants ever even meeting. In everyday language marketing is sometimes used as a synonym for advertising, and although communication is indeed important, the reality is more subtle than this. At the heart of marketing is the idea of understanding a potential client or partner, of working out what their needs and priorities are, and then constructing and pitching an offer that will cater to these. If done well this doesn’t just generate one-off transactions, it builds into long-term relationships. Colleagues become partners, customers become and remain loyal and success snowballs. Advertising is just one of the tools that commercial marketers have adopted and perfected to put the underlying principle of a meeting of minds into effect. Others include the marketing mix, market research, strategic planning, targeting and segmentation. We will think critically about all of these in this book.

Thirty million admen The spectacular success of commercial marketing is showing itself today in two ways. First, it has grown into a massive multinational business. By the turn of the millennium, in the US alone, a detailed review showed that the “aggregate marketing system” employed some 30 million people and drove consumer spending worth $5 trillion a year. To illustrate the magnitude of this figure, the review authors explain: “if we were to try to count it at the rate of $1 per second, it would take more than 150,000 years, or much longer than the history of civilization. Although the aggregate

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DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE marketing system in the United States may not stretch quite to ‘eternity’ it certainly does stretch a very long way.”5 This is just in the US, and marketing is now very much a global force. Marketing has also enabled businesses to grow and succeed on an unprecedented scale. Companies like Amazon, Apple and Volkswagen have become far bigger than many countries. A recent analysis by Oxfam6 shows that the combined revenue of the world’s 10 biggest corporations – amongst them Wal-Mart, Shell and Apple – is greater than the combined revenue of 180 countries (including Ireland, Indonesia, Israel and Greece). Second marketing has transformed our lives. We can satisfy every desire we can dream of. The shops are full of tempting things, and the internet has enabled us to access these 24/7. Be it FaceTime with family across the globe, unseasonal fruit or endless entertainment wherever we are, the benefits are many. However, the drawbacks are also considerable. For a start, you need to be relatively wealthy – and live in a wealthy country – to access the consumer goodies. Most of the world is simply too poor to do so. Also, consumption itself has its downsides. As we will explore in subsequent chapters, products such as tobacco, alcohol and junk food are so harmful that almost 90% of Europeans now die from diseases caused by their consumption.7 At a global level smoking alone is killing around 8 million people every year.8 More broadly, our excessive acquisition of stuff is a root cause of the ecological crisis. As climate scientist Steve Emmett said a decade ago “we need to consume less. A lot less. Less food, less energy, less stuff. Fewer cars, electric cars, cotton T-shirts, laptops, mobile phone upgrades. Far fewer.”9 Marketing drives this excess.

Enter social marketing Arguably, though, these problems are not caused just by marketing – which, as we have noted, long predates our current consumerism – but by an economic system which assumes there are no limits to growth, ignores the consequences of exploiting the natural world and puts profits ahead of all other considerations. Marketing is not bad; it is just being manipulated and misused by over-powerful commercial interests. These ideas occurred to General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, over a century ago. He worked in deprived districts of London trying to bring material and spiritual comfort to the poor. He found that time and again they were drawn away from his ministry by the attractions of the nightclubs, music halls and bars. Most notably, the music was enticing (see Figure 1.1) and he proceeded to compete by producing his own music, arguing that there was no reason why “the Devil should have all the good tunes.”

General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army was one of the earliest social innovators to realise that the forces of good could learn from commerce. “Most strikingly, Booth created a new kind of church music. He took the tunes from popular songs of the day and wrote Christian words to them. His slogan was, ‘Why should the devil have all the good tunes?’ He took the instruments from brass bands and created a new church sound that was bold and uplifting. He made the message of Jesus relevant and accessible.”10 Figure 1.1  “Why should the devil have all the good tunes?”

DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE We do not have to share Booth’s religious convictions to realise that the principle of learning from success is a good one. The Salvation Army flourishes to this day – it has nearly 2 million members, operations in over 130 countries and does many good works.11 Fifty years later, American academic Gerhard Wiebe picked up Booth’s line of thought when he analysed contemporaneous social advertising campaigns and argued that the best ones were those that mimicked their commercial counterparts. He concluded that it is possible to “sell brotherhood like you sell soap.”12 In 1971, Kotler and Zaltman coined the term social marketing, defining it in a ground-breaking Journal of Marketing article as “An Approach to Planned Social Change,”13 which is exactly what we humans need in the face of such turbulent times. Since then, social marketing has grown in influence and popularity and a recent study by Liz Foote of Antioch University, New England, shows that courses are now being offered at 70 institutions in 20 different countries across the world, mainly in the Global North and also in the Global South.14

Social marketing in a nutshell Social marketing looks at people in the round. Whilst commercial marketing focuses only on one type of behaviour – how we shop – social marketing addresses all the different sorts of human behaviour. Critical Thinking Task 1.3 shows how important this wider frame is.

CRITICAL THINKING 1.3:  WHY DOES BEHAVIOUR CHANGE MATTER? Make a list of what you think are the most pressing problems facing society. Think about the things that have the biggest impact on people’s happiness and welfare. Illness and premature death or crime and criminal justice may come to mind, along with inequality, conflict and oppression, prejudice and intolerance, and environmental harm. Now consider how important human behaviour is to each of these. How in each case these complex and multifaceted problems have our decisions, actions and lifestyles at their heart.

Human behaviour underpins all the key challenges we as a species must address – criminal justice, international diplomacy, racism, sexual identity, and so on. Most importantly, it is driving the ecological problems we are now facing. Social marketing addresses all these types of behaviour and with it we can, in Kotler and Zaltman’s words, “plan social change.” It is necessarily a complex discipline – we are a complex species – but at its heart lie two basic ideas: ••

Grassroots empowerment. We all matter. We all have much to contribute and a right to be properly engaged in our collective journey. Indeed, as we will discuss in Chapter 9, this right for self-determination has been laid down in international human rights law by the United Nations (UN). This means that change is best achieved by partnership and collaboration rather than command and control. Social marketing therefore puts much emphasis on understanding, empowering and engaging all sections of society.

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Collective action. Systems also matter. We individuals, although important in our own right, are at the same time a part of the human group, and in modern times this collective existence has become extremely complex. There are many facets of our society that lie beyond our individual control. I can do little about the dominance of fossil fuels in our economy, for example, or the unfair wages being paid in a Bangladeshi sweatshop. These issues need action at the national and international levels: investment in alternative energy production; laws to contain over-powerful individuals or groups; or the UN’s human rights interventions we just mentioned.

As Sufi wisdom expresses it, change has to include both the wave and the ocean.15 Social marketing works to pull these two forces together and so bring about progressive, consensual behavioural and social change. A glance at the newsfeeds and even a superficial awareness of the current problems humankind is facing show that this is easier to say than to do.

The importance of critical thinking Rebecca Solnit’s words, with which we opened the chapter, are daunting and the obstacles are many. We have to think carefully and clearly if we are to respond effectively. This book is here to challenge you to think critically: to question the world around you meticulously and systematically; to call out error, deceit and injustice wherever you find it; to look beyond the obvious and accepted towards new ideas and alternative approaches. As J K Rowlings said in her Harvard Commencement speech: “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”16 None of this will be easy, but we make no apology for that. The world needs your energy and insight. As you progress through the course remember critical thinking harnesses five qualities: ••

Caring: a concern about the problems facing society.

••

Critiquing: working out why these problems have arisen.

••

Connecting: uncovering and explaining linkages – how one thing leads to another.

••

Concluding: summarising the key issues and their implications.

••

Committing: the determination to do something about it.

You can get more information about it here: https://www.nuigalway.ie/academic-skills/criticalthinking/whatiscriticalthinking/. You can also take comfort from the fact that social marketing has, time and again, been shown to be effective.

Social marketing works There is a long-established evidence base that social marketing is very effective and can influence many different behaviours way beyond our shopping habits. Twenty years ago, for instance, a systematic review of social marketing interventions designed to improve nutrition showed that, out of 25 interventions, no fewer than 21 had a significant effect on at least one dietary behaviour.17 Similar reviews were commissioned by the UK government and showed that social marketing ideas and techniques can successfully shift exercise, drinking, smoking and drug-use behaviours. This early review work has now been greatly updated and extended by Sharyn Rundle-Thiele and colleagues (see Figure 1.2) at Griffith University in Brisbane. This confirms that social marketing

DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE 1. Aceves-Martins, M., Llauradó, E., Tarro, L., Moreno-García, C.F., Trujillo Escobar, T.G., Sola, R. and Giralt, M., 2016. Effectiveness of social marketing strategies to reduce youth obesity in European school-based interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition reviews, 74(5), pp.337-351. 2. Almestahiri, R.D., Rundle-Thiele, S., Parkinson, J. and Arli, D., 2017. The use of the major components of social marketing: a systematic review of tobacco cessation programs. Social Marketing Quarterly, 23(3), pp.232-248. 3. Compernolle, S., DeSmet, A., Poppe, L., Crombez, G., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., Cardon, G., van der Ploeg, H.P. and Van Dyck, D., 2019. Effectiveness of interventions using self-monitoring to reduce sedentary behavior in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 16(1), pp.1-16. 4. Čož, S. and Kamin, T., 2020. Systematic literature review of interventions for promoting postmortem organ donation from social marketing perspective. Progress in Transplantation, 30(2), pp.155-168. 5. Dimova, E.D., Elliott, L., Frankis, J., Drabble, L., Wiencierz, S. & Emslie, C., 2022. Alcohol interventions for LGBTQ+ adults: A systematic review. Drug & Alcohol Review, 41(1), pp.43-53. 6. Firestone, R., Rowe, C.J., Modi, S.N. and Sievers, D., 2017. The effectiveness of social marketing in global health: a systematic review. Health policy and planning, 32(1), pp.110-24. 7. Goethals, L., Barth, N., Hupin, D., Mulvey, M.S., Roche, F., Gallopel-Morvan, K. and Bongue, B., 2020. Social marketing interventions to promote physical activity among 60 years and older: a systematic review of the literature. BMC public health, 20(1), pp.1-11. 8. Harris, J.A., Carins, J.E. and Rundle-Thiele, S., 2021. A systematic review of interventions to increase breakfast consumption: A socio-cognitive perspective. Public Hlth Nutrition, 24(11), pp.3253-68. 9. Kim, J., Rundle-Thiele, S. and Knox, K., 2019. Systematic literature review of best practice in food waste reduction programs. Journal of Social Marketing. 10. Kubacki, K., Hurley, E. and Rundle-Thiele, S.R., 2018. A systematic review of sports sponsorship for public health and social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing. 11. Kubacki, K. and Szablewska, N., 2019. Social marketing targeting Indigenous peoples: a systematic review. Health Promotion International, 34(1), pp.133-143. 12. Kwasny, T., Dobernig, K. and Riefler, P., 2022. Towards reduced meat consumption: A systematic literature review of intervention effectiveness, 2001–19. Appetite, 168, p.105739. Figure 1.2  A sample of systemic reviews of social marketing effectiveness (continued)

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DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE 13. Mathews, R. and Buys, D., 2020. Healthy eating social marketing campaigns: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 120(9), p.A81. 14. Olawepo, J.O., Pharr, J.R. and Kachen, A., 2019. The use of social marketing campaigns to increase HIV testing uptake: a systematic review. AIDS care, 31(2), pp.153-162. 15. Riedel, A., Mulcahy, R., Beatson, A. and Keating, B., 2022. Young adult drug interventions: a social marketing systematic review and research agenda. Journal of Social Marketing. 16. Schmidtke, D.J., Kubacki, K. and Rundle-Thiele, S., 2021. A review of social marketing interventions in low-and middle-income countries (2010–2019). Journal of Social Marketing. 17. Truong, V.D., Dong, X.D., Saunders, S.G., Pham, Q., Nguyen, H. and Tran, N.A., 2021. Measuring, evaluating, and documenting social marketing impact. Jnl of Social Marketing. Figure 1.2  (continued) has successfully changed a wide range of behaviours, and also that specific social marketing techniques – segmentation, stakeholder involvement, benchmarking and digital interventions – have also proved effective. We will explore these techniques in this book.

Human rights and ethics At this point you should have alarm bells going off. We have concluded that social marketing is a powerful discipline which can change how we think, feel and behave. It can alter us as individuals as well as our collective, political lives. It has the potential to bring about planetary change and so impact not just humans, but all life on earth. This power needs careful handling. We have explained that it calls on you to think critically, to question, to imagine better and commit to taking action. These are potentially revolutionary forces. We have discussed how social marketing can bring about desirable change: preventing addiction, disease and premature death; easing ecological problems. But we have also noted that in the hands of the tobacco and junk food companies the same techniques are causing great harm to public health – and, with the help of the fossil fuel companies, to our planetary health. We have also touched on digital technology, which is greatly enhancing the power of commercial marketing. As Shoshana Zuboff powerfully lays out, digital capability is fostering a new industrial revolution and the emergence of a much more powerful version of marketing which she calls Surveillance Capitalism18 – where data harvesting, algorithms and artificial intelligence enable programmatic advertising and deliver success on an unprecedented scale. As Zuboff also points out this has grave political consequences because “power accrues to the owners of the means of behavioural modification.” We social marketers are also in the behaviour modification business. Do we want to follow in Big Tech’s footsteps or do their methods cause us concern? Who decides when acceptable

DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE behaviour change interventions become unacceptable threats to civil liberties; when progressive social marketing becomes authoritarian social engineering? These are profound and urgent moral dilemmas, not just for social marketers, but for all human beings. It was these concerns that led the United Nations to develop the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the last century. Three key concepts underpin the declaration: ••

Moral agency: we are all capable of making ethical judgements. Indeed, it is this ability that makes us fully fledged human beings.

••

Human potential: “human rights are less about the way people are than about what they might become.”

••

Active participation: we all have the right, not just to be protected from oppression, but also to be actively consulted and engaged in the process of progressive social change.

We will discuss how these ideas help social marketers respond to the alarm bells in Chapter 9.

The book at a glance The book is divided into ten chapters, each including critical thinking tasks and reflective questions to help you assimilate ideas and build your understanding: Ch 1: Delivering global change: How social marketing can make a difference This first chapter shows how the need for profound change, not just of individual behaviour but also to our whole way of life, is now clear. Social marketing can help deliver this change through a combination of individual agency and collective action. The chapter explains its basic principles and provides a guide through the rest of the text. Ch 2: Social marketing orientations In social marketing the process of change starts with understanding why we currently behave as we do, individually, communally and as a species, and using these insights to provide empowering ways to engage everyone in sustainable and respectful ways forward. This thinking underpins the four SM orientations: client, creative, collective and competitive. Ch3: The shoulders of giants: Theoretical foundations Isaac Newton, who laid down the laws of gravity, explained that he owed his immense success to the work of previous scientists – as he put it, he had stood on the shoulders of these giants and so been able to see further. We social marketers can also stand on the shoulders of giants and learn from past experience, and these insights are to be found in behaviour change theory. This chapter presents and critiques the key theories which underpin our work. Ch 4: Strategic planning for social marketing Effective social marketing is built on sound strategic planning. This starts with a clearly stated vision of where we want to get to, analyses the macro and microenvironment in which we need to operate, defines realistic and measurable objectives and then identifies who needs to do what and how they can be encouraged to do it. Strategic planning also reminds us of the need to think long-term.

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DELIVERING GLOBAL CHANGE Ch 5: Research: The Satnav of social marketing Research guides us through the strategic planning process, helping us answer three types of questions: preparatory questions about whether it is ethical and feasible to go ahead with a particular intervention; intervention-building questions about how we should do so; and evaluation questions to monitor progress towards our goals. This chapter also discusses the value of participatory research and its ability to uncover the stories we all tell as we try to make sense of our lives. Ch 6: How social marketers communicate The story is also an invaluable tool for change. We now understand that audiences are actively involved in the communication process: that our experiences, understanding and stories influence how we communicate, respond and behave. These interactions inform our relationship with our fellow humans, our fellow creatures and the natural environment. Getting these stories right is crucial in our efforts to resolve our ecological problems. Ch 7: Critical marketing The next two chapters look critically at our current way of life. Chapter 7 examines commercial marketing, showing that there have been concerns about its effects and methods for over 100 years, with particular criticism focused on industries like tobacco, alcohol and junk food. This has caused increasing concern about “industrial epidemics” and the “commercial determinants of ill-health” and led to the regulation of commercial marketing. The chapter then discusses how the emerging problems with climate have moved the discussion beyond specific industries to concerns about our overall levels of consumption. When scientists are telling us that there will soon be more plastics in the oceans than fish, it is time to think again. Ch 8: Alternatives This chapter continues the critical analysis by looking more broadly at our economic system. It takes us from its colonial origins, through the advent of mass production and the modern corporation to the hyper-consumption society in which we now live. In the process, we will encounter Indigenous people, many of whom were killed as western empires expanded, but are now becoming a crucial source of wisdom and hope in the search for a sustainable future. We will see how social marketing can play a key role in this joint endeavour. Ch 9: Ethics and human rights Answering profound questions about our lives requires us to explore what it is to be human. This chapter does this by examining the importance of moral agency, collective well-being and instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in supporting both. The need is to maximise human potential in a way that shows mutual respect for all other forms of life. Ch 10: Systems social marketing All the ideas discussed so far come together in systems thinking, which addresses the sort of full system change called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Organisation Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This final chapter provides a blueprint for diagnosing and designing the behavioural and structural dynamics in our social and economic (or “provisioning”) systems, and for tackling the wide-scale change facing communities across the globe today.

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Learning from experience: The case studies Just as important as the chapters, the book includes a superb selection of case studies from social marketers around the world (see Table 1.1). These cover a wide range of topics from climate breakdown and corporate malfeasance to mental well-being and water quality; they reach across from Mexico in the west to Armenia in the east, from Scotland in the north to Australia in the south; they engage with the disadvantaged and disempowered, the neglected and disparaged; and they challenge power and vested interest. In short, they exemplify the great things welldeployed social marketing can achieve. The table also highlights links to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the key social marketing issues illustrated by each case. The UN SDGs were agreed on 25 September 2015 and are a series of 17 ambitious targets that aim to wipe out poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.19 You can find out more about each goal by following this link20 (scroll down a little and click on each one).

Who should read this book? This book is suitable for anyone with an interest in changing the world for the better whether or not you have a prior understanding of marketing. If you already have marketing know-how then it will help you apply this in a health, social and ecological context. It will demonstrate how knowledge about selling baked beans can be applied to road safety, crime prevention or safer sex – and the ways in which it needs to be adapted. It will also address some of the challenging questions about marketing that may have already occurred to you and have been raised by commentators like Naomi Klein, Joel Bakan and George Monbiot. Should marketers be selling products that kill one in two of their most loyal customers? Should the fast-food industry bear any responsibility for the obesity epidemic? Is an excess of commercial marketing turning us all into over-consuming planet-destroyers? Social marketing can both help find the answers and provide solutions. If you come from a public health, social science or ecological background, and have little knowledge of marketing, it will introduce you to its key principles and give you the chance to apply these ideas in familiar settings. It is not that social marketing is some sort of panacea or revolutionary super-solution, but it can provide genuinely useful insights for us in our attempts to influence human behaviour and bring about progressive change. It should be seen as complementing traditional approaches in such fields as health promotion, road safety and ecology – indeed any spheres where influencing human behaviour can bring beneficial results. Social marketing can help us all become more complex beings who can question current assumptions, critique the status quo and think through the consequences of our actions. It can enable us to consider alternative lifestyles, connect with indigenous wisdom and find a sense of purpose and hope. It can guide us through the complexities of democratic and consensual change. It can, in other words, help us to respond to our current crisis.

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Case study

Authors

Context

Key SM issues

1. ENERGE; Encouraging sustainable energy performance in a multi-stakeholder systemic school environment

Dmitry Brychkov, Christine Domegan, Edelle Doherty, Raquel de Castro Rodrigues Lima & Eoghan Clifford

SDG #4 Quality education

Exchange Marketing research Digital solutions

2. Trust the Meat Thermometer

Marisha Anand & Aileen McGloin

3. Acting on the climate crisis through the arts and culture: a social innovation journey at the city of Águeda

Susana Marques, Ana Estima, Edson Santos, Célia Laranjeira, Adriana Mesquita & Carla Couceiro

4. Making Australian Universities Culturally Safe Places for First Nations Peoples

Maria Raciti, Jennifer Carter, David Hollinsworth & Kathryn Gilbey

5. “What could masculinity be?” Using participatory co-design to define and support healthier masculinities

Glen Donnar, Jon Hewitt, Fiona Finn, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan & John Dingeldei

SDG #7 Affordable and clean energy Energy efficiency Europe SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing

Theory

Food Safety

Intervention mix

Europe SDG #13 Climate Action

Relationships,

Climate change mitigation and adaptation

Research

Creativity Communities

Europe SDG #10 Reduces Inequalities

Formative research

First Nations

Values, benefits

Higher education Australia SDG #5 Gender Equality Wicked problems

Planning – User-centred design approach

Masculinities

co-creation, co-design

Asia

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Table 1.1  Social marketing case studies from around the World

6. “Standing Strong Together”: A Culturally Appropriate Adaptation for a Social and Emotional Wellbeing Intervention in an Australian First Nations Community 7. The humble egg in Malawi

8. Turning the tide on poor Blue Space quality through Stakeholder engagement – Lessons from PIER

9. Evaluating Real Change in the Real World: Creativity, Connection and the Unseen as Felt Evidence in Aspiring Communities

SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing

Beliefs

Mental Health

Intervention

Australia

Indigenous cultures

Puja Peyden Tshering, Kalpana Beesabathuni, Srujith Lingala & Rowena Merritt.

SDG #12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Segmentation

Food nutrition

Behaviour change objectives Stakeholder analysis and engagement

Sinead Duane Maeve Louise Farrell, Alexandra Chueiri, Christine Domegan, Liam Burke & Dearbháile Morris Marisa de Andrade, Colin Campbell, Jean Dobbing, Felicity Fyall & Rilza Montgomery

Luisa Lopez Cordova, Yue Xi, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Renata Anibaldi, Aaron Tkaczynski, Cuong Pham & Vanessa Salamone

Africa SDG #6 Clean Water and Sanitation SDG #14 Life Below Water

Cultural adaptation

Branding

Bathing water, Anti-microbial resistance, Ireland

Marketing Research

SDG #10 Reduced Inequalities

Evaluation

SDG #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Marketing Research

Partnerships

Ethics

Community Development Scotland SDG #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Research methods

Healthy Environments

Branding

Australia

Communication

Partnerships,

(continued)

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10. Leaf Collective: Piloting a social marketing approach to remove Eucalyptus leaves from stormwater drains

Robert J Donovan, Lesley A Murray, Julia Anwar-McHenry, Amberlee Nicholas & Cathy Drane

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Case study

Authors

Context

Key SM issues

11. Logan City Council Wildlife Movement Campaign

Tori Seydel, Erin Hurley & Sharyn Rundle-Thiele

SDG #15 Life on Land

Planning

SDG #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Marketing research Intervention mix

Koalas 12. Tackling Gender Inequality and Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle: The Women in Sport Roadshow

Michelle O’Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Nicole Peel & Sarah Duffy

Australia SDG #5 Gender Inequalities Women, Sports, Australia

Theory Behaviour change objectives Systems change

13. The Role of Civil Society in Advancing the Sugar Sweetened Beverages Tax Policy in Mexico

Rafael Pérez-Escamilla

SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing

Critical marketing,

SDG # 17 Partnerships for the goals

Policy

Social mobilisation

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 14. The Baby Killer Revisited Regulating the Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes

Gerard Hastings, Kathryn Angus, Douglas Eadie & Kate Hunt

Mexico SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing

Critical marketing

SDG #13 Climate Action Infant Nutrition

15. Healthy Breakfasts in Armenia

Rowena Merritt & Nanna Skau

Global SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing

Marketing research

Food Nutrition, Children,

Outcomes

Intervention mix

Armenia (continued)

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Table 1.1  (continued)

16. Social Marketing at Multiple Levels of the Fashion System with Fashion Revolution

Anna Earl & Ann-Marie Kennedy

SDG #12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Wicked problems

SDG# Gender inequalities

Outcomes

Social media

Fashion, social movement 17. Autism: Change Your Reactions

18. Active Play 0-3 year olds in Galway City

Sandra C. Jones

Global SDG #10 Reduced Inequalities

Jennifer Lowe

Education

Nicola Edwards & Jade Maloney Christine Domegan

Australia

Tina Flaherty Dmitry Brychkov Evelyn Fanning & Caroline Murray

SDG #3 Good Health and Wellbeing SDG # 17 Partnerships for the goals

Communication Community social marketing Evaluation Stakeholder analysis Systems social marketing Systems map

Ireland

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Last word We started with dramatic words from Rebecca Solnit. She is right, profound change is on its way. But she also reminds us that when the chips are down we humans can respond with immense energy and determination. “The Covid-19 pandemic is proof that if we take a crisis seriously, we can change how we live, almost overnight, dramatically, globally, digging up great piles of money from nowhere, like the $3tn the US initially threw at the pandemic.” This book will help you to play a role in this transformation and help make sure it is genuinely progressive – built on respect for each other, our fellow creatures and the natural world.

Notes 1 Solnit, Rebecca (2021). https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/18/ten-waysconfront-climate-crisis-without-losing-hope-rebecca-solnit-reconstruction-after-covid 2 https://languages.oup.com/dictionaries/ 3 Harari, Y.N. (2014). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. London: Harper. 4 https://fcpablog.com/2016/01/18/dr-king-before-you-finish-breakfast-youve-depended-on-half-t/ 5 Wilkie, W.L. and Moore, E.S. (2002). Marketing’s Relationship to Society. Handbook of Marketing, pp. 9–38. 6 Oxfam (2017). https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp-economyfor-99-percent-160117-en.pdf P16 7 WHO (2016) http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.CODREG6EURV?lang=en 8 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco 9 Emmett, S. (2013). 10 Billion. London: Penguin Books. pp. 168–169. 10 https://www.assemblies.org.uk/sec/2320/why-should-the-devil-have-all-the-good-tunes 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army 12 Wiebe, G.D. (1951). ‘Merchandising commodities and citizenship in television’, Public Opinion Quarterly, 15(4): 679–691. 13 Kotler, P. and Zaltman, G. (1971). ‘Social marketing: An approach to planned social change’, Journal of Marketing, 35(3): 3–12. 14 Foote, L. (2022). The diffusion of a discipline: The institutionalization of social marketing as an innovative practice within environmental contexts [Manuscript in preparation]. Environmental Studies Department, Antioch University, New England. 15 Douglas-Klotz, Neil (2005). The Sufi Book of Life. London: Penguin Compass, pp. 4–6. 16 https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importanceimagination 17 McDermott, L., Stead, M., and Hastings, G. (2005). ‘What is and what is not social marketing: The challenge of reviewing the evidence’, Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5–6): 545–553. 18 Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Profile ISBN 13: 9781781256848. 19 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdinaction/newsletter/september2015 20 https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

Bibliography Emmett, S. (2013). 10 Billion. London: Penguin Books Harari, Y.N. (2014). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. London: Harper Kotler, P. & Zaltman, G. (1971). ‘Social marketing: An approach to planned social change’, Journal of Marketing, 35(3): 3–12 Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. London: Profile Books, ISBN 13: 9781781256848

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Chapter 

The four social marketing orientations This chapter explains how social marketers work around four key forces: (i) the needs of our clients – the people we want to work with to bring about change; (ii) the crucial role that emotion and creativity play in our lives; (iii) the social and contextual factors that empower or constrain us and (iv) the competitive forces that would push back against our social marketing efforts. We do this by adopting the four orientations summarised in Figure 2.1. Client orientation: Creative orientation: Collective orientation: Competitive orientation:

Identify people’s needs, aspirations, values and priorities Find imaginative ways to engage them Recognise systemic drivers Critically address the competition

Figure 2.1  Four social marketing orientations

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: ✓✓ Explain the four key orientations of social marketing and why each is important. ✓✓ Demonstrate why client orientation is the starting point for effective social marketing. ✓✓ Discuss the importance of insight and creativity to ensure client engagement. ✓✓ Argue for the need to address the collective influences on our behaviour. ✓✓ Outline the different types of competition faced by the social marketer. ✓✓ Explain the value of building strategic relationships which combine these ideas. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-2

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Keywords Client orientation – creative orientation – collective orientation – competitive orientation – external and active competition – internal and passive competition – relationship marketing – complex exchanges.

The four social marketing orientations In Chapter 1, we noted how social marketing addresses both individual and group behaviour to bring about social change. In this chapter, we will look in more detail at how this works in practice. How engaging the individual makes it vital to start by getting a detailed understanding of the people we want to involve in the process of change – our clients. To learn why they behave as they do at present and how they might be empowered to change. This process needs to go beyond mere data collection and incorporate a genuine empathy for the client group – a client orientation. As the old Indian proverb has it, we need to walk a mile in their shoes. The aim is to find a mutually beneficial exchange – a way forward that is devised by and satisfies both parties. To these insights need to be added vital elements of imagination and innovation to make our approaches as attractive and motivating as possible, always remembering that social marketers deal primarily in voluntary behaviour change. We cannot compel people to do business with us. We use the term creative orientation to express this. However deep we dig, though, in our bid to understand people, we won’t get a full picture unless we also recognise the importance of the social determinants of behaviour. All of us are influenced by the circumstances in which we find ourselves: a young person’s inclination to smoke is not only a matter of personal choice but also a function of their local environment (e.g. whether friends smoke and tobacco is readily available in neighbourhood shops) and wider social norms (e.g. whether tobacco advertising or smoking in public places is permitted). The promotion of electronic cigarettes, with flavours like bubble gum or cand crush, might also suggest that nicotine use is normal even for children. Similarly, road accidents are not just a matter of driver and pedestrian behaviour but also of car design (manufacturer behaviour) and road infrastructure (government behaviour). By the same token, social marketing solutions also have to be multifaceted; often it is as important to think about wider-scale social change as individual behaviours. Effective social marketing therefore has to adopt a collective orientation. This complex social picture also means that we all have lots of choice. Think about obesity, for instance, and the many ways a person can manage their weight: buying gym membership to exercise; ‘diet’ foods to limit calorie intake; lifestyle programmes to rebalance work/life or surgery to shrink the stomach. The individual also has the freedom to choose not to deal with obesity, despite what the experts and social marketers might say. The terrain becomes even more contested, because there are other interests – the fast food and soft drinks industries for instance – who have a vested interest in pushing against many obesity interventions. As well as the social determinants, there are also powerful commercial determinants of ill-health (and climate breakdown). These multiple choices or decision points for the individual represent competition for the social marketer. By adopting a competitive orientation, we never forget our clients have a choice. It also

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS reminds us that sometimes the best thing we can do for the individual is to protect them from unscrupulous competition. Maybe the overweight adult would have avoided becoming fat in the first place if there had been statutory nutritional standards when they were at school and effective controls on the marketing of energy-dense food. These four orientations become even more powerful when applied strategically, not just to change ad hoc behaviours but also to build ongoing relationships. The final part of the chapter discusses the benefits of relationship marketing.

A practical start To help us understand how this works, we will become social marketers. Read Critical Thinking Task 2.1 and you will see that your government has just signed up to a COP commitment promising to go carbon neutral by 2040 and has issued a tender-seeking idea about how this can best be achieved. You work for a Social Marketing Agency which is responding to the tender. As we progress through the chapter you will have the chance to develop your proposal using the social marketing ideas and concepts we will discuss.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 2.1:  GOVERNMENT TENDER ON ACHIEVING CARBON NEUTRALITY Achieving carbon neutrality In 1994 world leaders signed up the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in order to tackle climate breakdown and the profound harm that is being done to the planetary ecosystem. Since then, despite an annual meeting called the ‘Conference of the Parties on Climate Change’, or COP for short, not a great deal has been achieved and the ecological situation has continued to deteriorate. In April 2021 the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, speaking at the start of the 26th COP, cautioned that “we need a green planet—but the world is on red alert …. We are at the verge of the abyss. We must make sure the next step is in the right direction. Leaders everywhere must act.”1 Nonetheless, little changed, and in 2022 he opened the COP27 in Egypt with the even starker warning that “we are losing the fight of our lives…we are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator”2. Your government has at last got the message and committed your country to carbon neutrality by 2040. To realise this, it has issued a call for tenders asking for help. This states “We are seeking ideas about how to achieve carbon neutrality for our country by 2040. Your tenders should consider the need to take the population with us on this journey, whilst also recognising the structural barriers to change and exploiting wider opportunities. We want to acknowledge the challenges involved but avoid raising public alarm – climate breakdown is already frightening prospect for many people. At the same time, we know that António Guterres is right and there is a need for profound and systemic change – so radical ideas are welcome. Your tender should include a strategic, evidence-based plan that will provide a roadmap to success by 2040.

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Client orientation At base any community comprises a group of individuals attempting to rub along with each other, to work out how we can maximise mutual benefits without undermining the individual; how we can work together and do deals in a way that suits both – indeed multiple – parties. I respect my neighbour’s privacy and property in part because I want her to respect mine; she will moderate her love for heavy metal because she wants me to resist using my lawn mower at dawn. All but the most antisocial of us understand this balance. In particular, the smooth running of any complex social system depends on people willingly living their lives in a way that serves both personal and collective needs; on cooperation, collaboration, compromise and the search for mutual benefit. Criminal justice, international diplomacy, the democratic process itself all depend on voluntary, cooperative behaviour; on give and take. If mutual interests aren’t properly served, any group enterprise ultimately fractures and fails. Dialogue falters, culture wars break out and real ones become more likely. Nowhere are the dangers of such failure more apparent than with climate breakdown. We all have contributions to make and a right to be consulted. This inclusivity needs to be wideranging: climate breakdown has been caused almost entirely by the wealthy 20% who live in the north of the planet3; in the search for solutions, we need to listen to the other 80%. Indigenous people who, “despite only making up around 6% of the global population … protect 80% of biodiversity left in the world,”4 have a particularly valuable role to play. More broadly still, the planet, nature and our fellow creatures, are part of our collective human project and their needs and interests also have to be given due consideration. They have the right to our empathy and respect and it is the absence of these that is driving our ecological problems. Social marketing, then, puts this empathy, this need for mutual understanding, to work in the interests of systemic change. So, the first step in our response to the tender in Critical Thinking Task 2.1 is to think about our clients – the people we want to engage in the process of change – and get to know them better. In this example the primary client is the general public, and we should start by working out why they behave as they do at present, their values and motivations, and use this understanding to develop an offering that is equally or more appealing but with better ecological outcomes. The most immediate benefit of this approach is that it allows for the fact that, time and again, the picture is much more complex than mere ignorance of the facts. In public health, for example, most people know that smoking is dangerous or how their diet could be improved. They continue to behave “badly” because they see some other benefit in doing so, relaxation perhaps or a treat. The secret for the social marketer is to devise a way of enabling them to get the same benefit more healthily. In this sense, social marketing has a great deal in common with good, patient-centred healthcare. The proficiency of experts and other professionals is much more effectively deployed when combined with empathy for the client. Ultimately, better health, a better environment and a better-functioning society is best seen as a joint endeavour. Co-creation is the best way forward.

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS Social marketers then embrace the idea of mutually beneficial exchange. However, this raises two contentious issues: i) The first concerns motivation, not just of the client group but also of the social marketer. The idea of mutually beneficial exchange suggests that the social marketer also gains something. At first glance this can seem unpalatable: surely people seeking to make the world a better place – doctors, teachers, conservationists and social marketers – should not be doing it for personal gain. They should be selfless and altruistic; theirs’s is a vocation. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 2.2.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 2.2: ALTRUISM OR GAIN Think back to all the teachers you have had so far in your life. Which was the best one? What made them a good teacher? Were they easy going, or did they sometimes drive you to do more than you wanted? Were their classes always fun, or did they make you work hard? Did they always remain even tempered and pleasant, or did they sometimes get cross and irritable with you? Were they pleased when you succeeded or unhappy when you did not?

The exercise encourages us to realise that change – in this case driven by education – requires much more than an active giver and passive recipient. The teacher has to challenge and push the pupil – and, crucially, the pupil needs to push back. As any competent teacher will tell you, they are always learning from their pupils as well as teaching them. In the words of the Irish poet WB Yeats: “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” – and everyone is warmed by the flames. For social marketers it is only by listening to our clients that we can understand the limitations of our interventions and the narrowness of our own views. We need their help. This is particularly apparent with the Government tender on climate. Nobody has the full answer to how we can and should change our behaviour and lifestyles to reach zero carbon – it is something we all have to work on together. ii) The second sensitive issue is that of compromise, which is at the heart of any mutually beneficial exchange. If give and take is so important, the social marketer should be able to vary their offer according to the wishes and priorities of the client group. But can social marketers really do this? Aren’t interventions fixed by the evidence base – heroin is extremely toxic, the only solution is to avoid or stop using; smoking kills, therefore our non-smoking product is surely set in stone. Not so. Compromise is possible, and indeed often considered best practice. Thus, in HIV/ AIDS interventions, for example, it has been widely accepted that messages of absolute safety and behaviours such as celibacy and complete abstinence from injecting drugs will simply not sell to many potential clients. They have been replaced by offerings of relative safety – safer sex and safer drug use. Similarly, many in tobacco control have embraced e-cigarettes as a means of reducing tobacco related harm. Given the TI industry’s business planning (see Competitive Orientation below) it remains to be seen whether this is a wise decision, but the key point here is that adjusting the offer in collaboration with the client group is a well-established practice. Again, such nuance is particularly important on climate, with all its complexities: witness the debate as to whether nuclear provision of energy is or is not a potential solution.5

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THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS Finally, it is important to remember that social marketing is concerned with voluntary and consensual change. We empower and encourage rather than compel. This makes client orientation the most important of the four orientations. All the case studies adopt it. Take a look, for example, at Case Study #4 and see how important understanding the perceptions and values of First Nation peoples have been in efforts to make Australian universities culturally safe for them. Or Case Study #6, “Standing Strong Together,” which uses the same empathetic approach to boost social and emotional wellbeing.

Creative orientation Client orientation becomes even more effective when combined with insight and innovation. When we recognise that our lives are often influenced as much by emotion as rationality. That our behaviour is not always the perfect product of rational-deductive reasoning. If it were, no one would drop litter, driving urban SUVs would be a distant memory and mindful consumption would be the order of the day. But sometimes we let our hearts rule our heads: we want to prove we are grown up or look good in front of others. Occasionally we may feel we just can’t do otherwise: the “right behaviour” seems unattainable. Social marketing recognises these challenges and tries to add a strong emotional dimension to interventions – to build trust and offer respect, for instance. Marques et al in Case Study #3 show how cultural heritage and creativity play a strategic role in the Portuguese town of Agueda’s fight against climate breakdown in the form of flooding and forest fires. Their integrated environment and tourism department oversees such creative projects as Monty Python-inspired “silly walks” against pollution, environmentally themed street mural painting with children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and ‘the sea starts here’ urban art installations, all to engage Agueda’s citizens, communities and visitors with climate issues. In Case Study #11, Seidel et al illustrate how a mix of real koalas (including injured ones) and cartoon images were used across a variety of formats to reach diverse audiences in the community and schools. Similarly, Merritt and Skau (Case Study #15) show how their campaign’s innovative tongue in cheek tone, focused on the love family members have for each other and their children, and slogan (this day is yours) emerged from creative research with their client group and enabled them to avoid the trap of preaching. Hello Sunday Morning is another great example of an insightful and innovative approach to social change. Log on to https://hellosundaymorning.org to see how it is working to “change the world’s relationship with alcohol, one Sunday at a time” using its Pioneering, Empathic, Authenticity, Respectful and Supportive core values. Our response to the Government tender also needs to address some powerful emotions. The state of the planet is causing distress to many people, and one of the biggest obstacles to progress is despair. So, we need to balance a powerful call to action (e.g. stop driving fossil fuel cars) with a sense of empowerment (e.g. you can rely on our greatly improved public transport system). Urgent action is needed, which, when taken, will help to resolve the problem. A mixture of concern and hope.

Collective orientation Such empowered behaviour, however, is not always sufficient or even possible. The American philosopher David Foster Wallace6 (2008) tells the story of two young fishes who are swimming along

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS when they meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” And the two young fishes reply, “It is lovely, thank you.” They swim on for a bit, and then one of them looks over at the other and asks: “What the heck is water?” Wallace goes on to explain that the story shows that the most widespread and powerful influences on our behaviour are often ones we take for granted or do not notice, and so cannot discuss or critique. Our immediate environment is to us as the water is to the young fish. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 2.3.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 2.3:  THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL CONTEXT Think about some facet of your own behaviour – your alcohol drinking perhaps, or recycling and reusing choices. Write down all the different influences you can think of that make you behave as you do. These may range from full-on pressure, such as your friend urging you to have another drink because it’s your round, or neighbours putting out recycling bins and shaming you into doing the same, to background nudges like a tempting bottle of lager on a supermarket cold shelf or a local charity shop with 10% off ‘pre-loved clothes’. When you have thought of every possible trigger, ask your friends what influences them – and add these to the list.

The exercise typically results in an extensive list. Recognising these broader determinants of how we live our lives is important to social marketers for four key reasons. First, it provides us with a fuller understanding of why our clients behave as they do, so it enhances our client orientation and hence all the benefits of this discussed above. In short, it makes all our behaviour change efforts more effective. It also avoids the danger of “victim blaming”: pushing someone to change a behaviour that is not – or not entirely – of their own making. This is not only ineffective but also potentially unethical. The dilemma is most apparent when we consider vulnerable groups: there are obvious problems with a media intervention telling poor sub-Saharan villagers to feed their children better when they can’t access food because there has been a drought, their government is corrupt and the world economic system is dysfunctional. The same potential problems are present, if less obvious, in wealthy countries where food is plentiful and government subject to working democracy. The UK and the US, for example, two of the richest countries in the world, have many poor people who struggle to feed themselves properly (see Chapter 8). In Foster Wallace’s terms, the problem is with the water not the fish. In Chapter 1, we picked up on the idea of individual agency, our ability to be the authors of our own fate; now we are recognising that this needs to be balanced against the structural barriers – poverty, climate and oppression – that limit our agency. Third, a collective orientation can provide much more effective and efficient solutions than individual level work. Consider the example of water fluoridation. This involves water providers adjusting the natural level of fluoride in the public water supply so as to produce substantial improvements in the dental health of the population, especially among children and those living in deprived communities. It is well proven to be both effective and safe, but it is not the only option for improving dental health. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 2.4.

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 2.4:  IMPROVING DENTAL HEALTH Here are four alternative ways of improving dental health: a. fluoridating the water supply, b. encouraging good oral hygiene, c. encouraging the use of fluoride supplements such as tablets, drops and fluoridated salt, and d. remove refined sugar from the diet. Which do you think is likely to be the most effective?

Alternatives b, c and d are all less effective than water fluoridation. They are also much less efficient. The underlying reason is the same: they depend for their success on far more people doing something. In the case of water fluoridation, just the provider has to act, then the health benefits simply flow through the tap. In option a) interventions have to be funded on an ongoing basis, and every individual has to respond. In option b) all dentists have to apply these measures to all their patients and even then, coverage will be partial – only a third of English children have seen an NHS dentist in the last year.7 Option c) requires everyone to buy and use these products forever, and option d) demands revolutionary changes in everyone’s diet – again forever. Furthermore, uptake of b–d will inevitably be greater amongst the better off, so these options will increase inequalities. Fluoridation does the reverse. A collective orientation can also help us to tackle problems that people do not even know they have. Spina bifida provides an evocative illustration. It is known that the occurrence of this debilitating and sometimes fatal birth defect can be prevented if women consume adequate quantities of vitamin B folate before and during the early stages of pregnancy. An individualistic social marketing solution to the problem would be to inform women of the risk, and advise them to eat foods, such as broccoli and sprouts, that are rich in folates. The social marketer could add to this communication campaign measures which ensure that these foods are readily available – perhaps by getting celebrity chefs to promote tasty recipes. In this way he or she might get 50% of women who are intending to get pregnant eating a preventative diet. This leaves 50%, however, rejecting the offering. One response to this is to increase the cost of their intransigence by running media messages about the awfulness of spina bifida. (This is not quite as daft as it sounds; we still do it for lung cancer.) Alternatively, a more enlightened social marketer might scan the technological environment and suggest that instead of pushing unpopular vegetables like broccoli, the solution is to market folic acid supplements. This might get 75% of intending mothers to cooperate.

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS However, a large proportion of the priority group do not even know that they are the target: data first published in 2020 show that “nearly half of all pregnancies worldwide – about 121 million – are unintended.”8 Who is going to take steps to prevent a risk to which they have no intention of exposing themselves? Pedestrians do not wear crash helmets. In the US this problem has been resolved by acting collectively. Since 1998 all US wheat, rice and corn flour have been fortified with folic acid. The Food and Drug Administration ordered the measures after research showed that only about 25% of women of childbearing age regularly consume enough folic acid in the form of a vitamin supplement. The measure worked. By 1999 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the average red blood cell folate concentration had increased by over 50% and was able to show a decline in spina bifida and anencephaly rates.9 The final benefit of a collective orientation is that it helps us to be strategic. We will discuss strategic planning in detail in the next chapter, but at this point let us just note that a collective orientation pushes us to raise our eyes above the detail of individual behaviours and see the bigger picture. Lawrence Wallack’s story (see Figure 2.2) neatly illustrates of benefits of moving upstream. Thus a collective orientation encourages us to ask the key strategic question for any social marketing intervention: whose behaviour needs to change – that of the individual, the marketer or the minister of finance? And then recognise that in most cases, the answer will be all of them. Case

A man out walking comes across a river in which people are being swept along and in danger of drowning. His immediate desire is to help them and he considers various options – throwing in lifebelts, diving in himself and pulling some to shore or even shouting out instructions on how to swim. And each of these certainly has the potential to help; but it is equally clear that some people will drown – he hasn’t got the time or resources to reach them all. He begins to question why this calamity has arisen; why are so many people in the river in the first place? To find out he has to go upstream. When he does so, he finds that a few hundred metres further on there are huge and evocative billboards extolling the virtues of the river – how clean and refreshing it is – and calling on people to “jump on in; the water’s lovely.” A beautiful new diving board has been provided to make the prospect even more enticing, and it costs only 10 cents a go. Kids are daring each other to give it a try. The man shakes his head and carries on upstream. After he walks for a few more minutes, the bank begins getting wet, muddy and treacherous. He becomes anxious about falling in the river himself. Then he sees houses built on these poor foundations. They are cheap and dilapidated, more like shacks than houses, and some are clearly in danger of collapse. As he is watching, a small child slips down the bank and only just manages to save itself from falling in the river. The man is left pondering about how he can best do something about the drowning people: should he help the people who have already fallen in, stop advertisers encouraging others to jump in or move right upstream and change economic policy so that the poor can afford better housing? Figure 2.2  Lawrence Wallack’s river10

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THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS Study #8 presents an excellent example of how careful thought about all those with an interest in an issue (often referred to as stakeholders) is a vital social marketing skill. The focus is on clean “Blue Places” (rivers, lakes and seas) and Sinead Duane et al group their stakeholders into three levels: Micro, Meso and Macro. You can see how this simple classification aided the team’s understanding of the current actors, drivers and power relations – or as they put it “how this system operated”. We face similar – even greater – complexities with the Government tender on climate. It is clear that we, the general public, have a role to play in reducing our individual carbon footprints, but other drivers are beyond our control. We can’t do much about power generation or fossil fuel extraction, for example, which really needs government or even international action. Our ability to act will also be constrained by the system. If we are living in poverty, for example, or with domestic violence, the climate is likely to seem a distant concern at best. Similarly, if we are continually bombarded with ads for long-haul holidays, our desire for a greener staycation will be depleted. So, the response to the tender needs to raise issues such as fairness and equity and talk about the unhelpful pressures commercial marketing puts on us to consume more – the commercial determinants of climate breakdown. Ultimately, coming full circle, a fairer, kinder system helps us all play our part, not just in behaving more ecologically, but in making the system better and so improving the quality of all our lives. Whilst we can’t stop oil drilling in the arctic, we can protest about it, write to our representatives and join action groups like Extinction Rebellion. So, a collective orientation fits perfectly with the Client and Creative orientations.

Competitive orientation This bigger picture, as we’ve just noted, has to include the competition, which for social marketers comes in two forms. First, there is passive competition. Social marketing recognises that clients, whether government ministers or teenage tearaways, have choices. They can, and often do, continue with their current behaviour. There are internal barriers to change, which could be in the form of beliefs, feelings, attitudes or intentions. It is therefore very important to look closely at this “competition” to understand what benefits it is perceived to bring and how alternative behaviour can be made more attractive. For example, it is clear that for some teenagers smoking is felt to hold a range of benefits, including rebellion, weight control and sophistication, which can outstrip health concerns such as lung and heart disease in years to come. Social marketers need to take these perspectives into account if there is to be any hope of winning over young people. The truth campaign, a US anti-smoking campaign of many years standing, does precisely this by adopting the theme of rebellion – not against society but against the manipulative practices of the tobacco industry. It is one of the most successful prevention interventions ever run11; we will discuss it further in Chapter 6. Mention of the tobacco industry brings us to the second sense in which social marketers need to address the competition. As well as internal barriers, there are external organisations actively pushing in the opposite direction. What social marketers see as a problem – poor diet and addiction to nicotine – these competitors see as a profitable opportunity. This results in direct and active competition. For example, one reason so many people are overweight and obese is because junk food companies have been so successful in marketing their energy-dense products.12 The marketing of alcohol and tobacco is also causing major public health harm.13,14 Figure 2.3 discusses why this additional competitive dimension to social marketing, termed critical marketing, is so important.

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS Critical marketing brings three key benefits: 1. Understanding the marketing strategies of the competition – the tobacco, alcohol and fossil fuels companies for instance - and consumer response to them, provides us with invaluable intelligence. If marketing can get us to drive a Ferrari, it can also encourage us to ride a bike. 2. Commercial activity is a crucial part of the environment that we have already recognised as a key determinant of behaviour; studying the impact of commercial marketing makes our work both more effective and more ethical. 3. Commercial marketers sometimes directly oppose social marketing efforts and need to be combatted. Figure 2.3  Why critical marketing analysis matters Case Study #13 from Rafael Pérez-Escamilla illustrates the third point in Figure 3.2 about direct opposition from commercial interests. In comes from Mexico where there are enormous problems with obesity and a resulting wave of death and disease. Taxing sugary drinks to increase their prices is a well-proven and effective policy response, but, as the case describes it was not popular with the food and drinks companies. They formed a strong anti-sugar tax alliance to lobby congress and policy makers, claiming (wrongly) that lack of physical activity – not nutrition – was the problem. They also funded studies to try to undermine the evidence base supporting the policy, in the same way the tobacco companies had done when cigarette taxes are proposed15. The Case Study shows how El Poder del Consumidor (Consumer Power), comprising almost thirty civil society organisations, successfully fought back and ultimately won the day. In the process they remind us that speaking truth to power is a crucial part of the social marketer’s role. So our response to the tender in Critical Thinking Task 2.1 must address both passive and active competition. At a passive level we need to shake people out of long-established habits that are carbon wasteful – from short-haul driving and long-haul holidays to sustainable transport and sustainable tourism. It must also address the active competition, and particularly the role of commercial marketing in encouraging consumption. In the UK the removal of tobacco marketing has driven down teen smoking; the removal of marketing for carbon-heavy products such as SUVs, cruises and industrially farmed beef would reduce other harmful consumption – and benefit the planet. We will continue our discussion of competitive and critical thinking in Chapters 7 and 8.

The orientations combined In 2006 Scotland passed a law making all public places smoke-free. It was one of the great success stories of Scottish public health and perfectly illustrates the importance of the four social marketing orientations: ••

Client orientation. Smoke-free legislation typifies this first orientation; the measure was almost (see competitive orientation below) universally welcomed. Press speculation about mass disobedience by smokers proved completely groundless. A public opinion survey16 just a few days after the law’s introduction showed that no fewer than 84 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds not only approved of the measure but also thought it one “that Scotland could be proud of.”

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THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS However, the success was by no means a solo effort by the authorities; the public also played an important role. Their experiences of smoky pubs told them that going smoke-free was a good idea, not so much because it would save them from illness as the ad campaigns maintained, but because it was so unpleasant. The need to wash your hair and clothes after every night out was as influential as the threat of second-hand lung cancer. This policy measure worked because both the authorities and the public wanted it to. This is a good example of co-created mutually beneficial exchange. ••

Creative orientation. Going smoke-free was an immensely innovative move. Prior to the legislation Scotland had long been caricatured as the “sick man of Europe,” and Glasgow pubs were a byword for hard-drinking, unhealthy lifestyles. To make these semi-shebeens the spearhead of a pioneering public health measure was extremely bold.

••

Collective orientation. This success depended on the engagement of multiple stakeholders. The attention of politicians was captured with a carefully marshalled evidence base showing that: (a) second-hand smoke is extremely toxic; and (b) making hospitality venues smoke-free does not harm business. This attention turned to commitment when the Scottish First Minister met with the Irish Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, who had already brought in similar legislation. Reputedly, when asked by Jack McConnell what he would do differently if he had his time over, Martin replied simply: “I would have done more sooner.” McConnell was won over: he had gone over to Ireland on the Friday night set against going smoke-free and he returned on the Monday all in favour, one of the clearest examples of source effect (see Chapter 6) ever recorded. Other key stakeholders in the social system, including the hospitality trade unions, the health and safety professionals and, of course, the medics were recruited to the cause, discussing the benefits both through their professional bodies (more helpful source effects) and concerted press and PR activity.

••

Competitive orientation. There was, however, also loud and very active competition. Extreme opposition came from the tobacco companies. Perhaps the most well-documented evidence of their hostility was revealed in a paper published in the journal Tobacco Control.17 Of the 97 studies on the economic impact of smoke-free ordinances, 35 showed it had a bad effect on bars and restaurants. However, 31 of the 35 studies had two things in common. First, they were generally of poor quality (e.g. they lacked control groups or objective outcome measures) and, second, every single one was supported in some way by the tobacco industry. (The funding sources for the other four studies are unknown.) The high-quality independent studies all showed that smoke-free had no negative commercial impact. Nonetheless most of the hospitality sector remained adamantly opposed to going smoke-free and an excellent public health intervention had to proceed despite their opposition.

Relational thinking The smoke-free success of Scotland is impressive, but only addresses one element of one problem, smoking. How much more effective would it be if we were able to build on this success, along with the positive experience of the public and (most of) the stakeholders? How many other issues could be resolved? Maybe Scotland could become an international leader not just in the elimination of second-hand smoke, but public health more widely – or indeed the fight against climate breakdown and for sustainable living. Given what we have already said about the gravity and complexity of these challenges, and of the need to empower people and build their agency to engage in transformation, this positive energy would be invaluable.

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS Such long-term or relational thinking has much to offer social marketing because we so often want to move beyond the ad hoc. We don’t want people to wear a seat belt once, refrain from hitting their partner every now and then or behave sustainably occasionally. We want them to do these things again and again – indeed forevermore. Actually, our interest is often in lifestyles rather than isolated behaviours. Even when target behaviours seem like one-offs, such as with vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic or temporary speed restrictions following a road traffic accident, relationship issues are still important. The anti-vax movement is driven by poor relationships between health/government authorities and some sections of the public; road safety depends on drivers trusting the authorities to set reasonable speed limits. As Morgan and Hunt18 express it in their analysis of relational thinking in the commercial sector: “Understanding relationship marketing requires distinguishing between the discrete transaction, which has a ‘distinct beginning, short duration and sharp ending by performance,’ and relational exchange, which ‘traces to previous agreements [and] . . . is longer in duration, reflecting an ongoing process.’” Their work also identified two key relational constructs: trust and commitment, both of which have been shown to have particular relevance to social marketing.

Trust and commitment Duane19 defines trust as the willingness and confidence to depend upon exchange partners. It is this confidence that allows the individual to assess the dangers of engaging in exchange when the benefits of doing so are often intangible or delayed; trust then is closely linked to the credibility of the social marketer. In social marketing scenarios where risk and uncertainty are present, as with Covid vaccines, trust becomes particularly important, and problems arise when relationships haven’t been nurtured. Trust is a precursor of commitment: people will not commit unless they trust and it takes time to turn trust into commitment.20,21 Duane (2012) explains that commitment in social marketing can manifest itself in different forms, for example, a pledge to undertake and maintain a positive behaviour or even a formal contract22,23 (Lagarde et al., 2005; Donovan and Henley 2010). Marques and Domegan24 point out that trust “is based on cooperation with customers, other stakeholders and network partners” who all “benefit from a win-win situation, where the parties work as partners.” Such relationship building in social marketing is demanding. There is rarely one single entity involved. Consider the typical social marketing scenario – interventions are funded, developed and delivered by different organisations. The delivery, in particular, tends to make use of the existing infrastructures ranging from commercial retail outlets to health and educational pathways, for example, schools, doctors or community partners. Furthermore, conflict and tensions often occur. For instance, delivery agents may not approve or have any allegiance to the funder or the developer, which poses challenges such as the need to define who is responsible for the relationship and for developing the consistency and integration of the “collective.”

Complex relational exchanges The point is that complex relational exchanges demand innovative ways of thinking about social issues. As Marques and Domegan put it: “[T]he main contributions of relationship marketing is that it helps to uncover fundamental contradictions in, and challenges to, current social

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THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS marketing thinking. First and foremost, the collaboration is with the client as a co-creator of value. The organisation starts with the client and where their behaviour is and not where the organisation wants their behaviour to be.”25 Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy, in Case Study #16, demonstrate exactly this sort of complexity. They present Fashion Revolution, “a self-proclaimed fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands and policymakers through research, education and advocacy” in 94 counties. Fashion Revolution advocates for policy change, better regulation and law enforcement. It also undertakes research into the environmental and social impacts of fashion supply chains, champions responsible brands and runs awareness and education about fast fashion impacts on people and the planet. Thus it shows the complex and collective action needed for systemic change. Given this complexity, projects had to be seen as a joint or co-learning process allowing all parties and stakeholders to become enthusiastic and willing to grow and develop. This further learning “points to the power of dialogue and co-learning to re-contextualise specific problems in wider social issues.26” Thus, the benefits of relational thinking – satisfaction, transparency, sustainability, trust and commitment – raise the potential for more profound concepts of change; ones that take in the idea of partnership working, social movements and wide-scale social or “systemic” change. This type of “bigger picture” thinking is of vital importance if we are to tackle complex, multifaceted and highly contended problems such as climate breakdown. We will return to this discussion in Chapter 10. For the moment though, we will just note that the best social marketing combines all four orientations using relational thinking (see Figure 2.4).

Figure 2.4  A strategic vision of social marketing

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS

Wrap-up In this chapter, we have examined four social marketing orientations: 1. Client orientation which puts a premium on understanding the people we want to work with and engaging them in the change process. 2. Creative orientation emphasising the need for meaningful insights, innovative thinking and imaginative solutions to problems. 3. Collective orientation recognising that the individual’s behaviour is shaped, moulded and influenced by those around them, such as family and friends, together with the structures and policies of the society they live in. Effective social marketing has to be equally multifaceted. 4. Competitive orientation – social marketing is all about voluntary behaviour change: clients have choices – they can ignore, subvert or reject our overtures. The challenge for the social marketer is to understand this “passive” competition and, whenever possible, transform into cooperation. There is also the need to recognise, critique and address the “active” competition, which are most apparent in the commercial determinants of ill-health and climate breakdown. These orientations build on the concept of mutually beneficial, complex exchanges and become strategic drivers when combined with relational thinking and recognition of the need to engage with multiple stakeholders. Ultimately, these ideas make most sense when we see social marketing as a process for engaging with people in social change, rather than just an event, a means to the end of getting or telling them to behave in a certain way. Complex, multifactorial problems such as climate breakdown can only be tackled when we all feel empowered to address them and live in social structures and systems that enable us to do so. In this sense, social marketing is as much about power, agency and social movements as it is about smoking cessation services or recycling interventions.

Reflective questions 1. What are the four orientations of social marketing? 2. Discuss what being client-oriented means to the social marketer. 3. That “behaviours have context” is a core premise of social marketing’s collective orientation. Elaborate with examples. 4. The concept of exchange underlies the client, creative, collective and competitive orientations of social marketing. What does exchange mean to you? 5. How might exchange be relevant to social, environmental and welfare issues? 6. What does relationship thinking offer the social marketer?

Reflective assignments 1. Make sure you are comfortable with the four orientations of social marketing by writing a concise paragraph about each.

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THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS 2. Based upon the organisation you work in, or an organisation of your choice, map out its client and competitive orientation. 3. How, where and why do the four orientations – client, creative, collective and competitive – integrate with our discussions of social marketing in Chapter 1. 4. Consult the Journal of Social Marketing and/or Social Marketing Quarterly to read a classic or contemporary article, or more, on social marketing’s philosophy to advance your understanding of its client, creative, collective and competitive foundational pillars. 5. Our case studies from around the globe demonstrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) at work. Visit https://sdgs.un.org/goals and write a critical analysis explaining what the UN SDGs are; where they came from; why they are important and what their relevance is to social marketing.

Notes 1 https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20694.doc.htm 2 https://theglobalherald.com/news/un-secretary-guterres-says-we-are-losing-the-fight-ofour-lives-in-cop27-opening-speech/#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20%28UN%29%20 secretary%20general%20António%20Guterres,said%20during%20his%20Cop27%20opening%20 speech%20in%20Egypt. 3 Laudato, S. (2015). http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco_2050524_enciclica-laudato-si.html 4 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/02/cop26-indigenous-activistsclimate-crisis 5 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/03/fury-eu-moves-ahead-plans-label-gasnuclear-green 6 Wallace, D.F. (2008). ‘Plain old untrendy troubles and emotions’, The Guardian, 20 September 2008. Online: www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction/. 7 https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics/ 2020-21-biannual-report 8 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/30/contraception-mythsmean-nearly-half-of-pregnancies-worldwide-unintended-report 9 Mathews, T.J., Honein, M.A., & Erickson, J.D. (2002). ‘Spina bifida and anencephaly prevalence– United States, 1991–2001’, MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 51(RR13): 9–11. 10 Based on Wallack, L., Dorfman, L., Jernigan, D., & Themba, M. (1993). Media Advocacy and Public Health. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 11 Farrelly, M.C., Healton, C.G., Davis, K.C., Messeri, P., Hersey, J.C., & Haviland, M.L. (2002). ‘Getting to the truth: Evaluating national tobacco countermarketing campaigns’, American Journal of Public Health, 92(6): 901–907. 12 Smith, R., Kelly, B., Yeatman, H., & Boyland, E. (2019). ‘Food marketing influences children’s attitudes, preferences and consumption: A systematic critical review’, Nutrients, 11(4): E875. 13 Jernigan, D., Noel, J., Landon, J., Thornton, N., & Lobstein, T. (2017). ‘Alcohol marketing and youth alcohol consumption: A systematic review of longitudinal studies published since 2008,’ Addiction, 112 (Suppl 1): 7–20. 14 National Cancer Institute. (2008). ‘The role of the media in promoting and reducing tobacco use’. In: Tobacco Control Monograph No. 19. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. 15 Smith, K. E., Savell, E., & Gilmore, A. B. (2013). What is known about tobacco industry efforts to influence tobacco tax? A systematic review of empirical studies. Tobacco control, 22(2), e1-e1.

THE FOUR SOCIAL MARKETING ORIENTATIONS 16 Cancer Research UK Press Release (2006) ‘Young Scots “most proud” to be smoke-free as iconic image unveiled’. Online: www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/news/archive/ pressrelease/2006-03-14-young-scots-most-proud-to-be-smokefree-as-iconic-image-unveiled (accessed 16 May 2013). 17 Scollo, M., Lal, A., Hyland, A., & Glantz, S. (2003). ‘Review of the quality of studies on the economic effects of smoke-free policies on the hospitality industry’, Tobacco Control, 12(1): 13–20. 18 Morgan, R.M. & Hunt, S.D. (1994). ‘The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing’, Journal of Marketing, 58(3): 20–38. 19 Duane, S. (2012). A Social Marketing Partnership Framework: An Extension of Morgan and Hunt’s (1994) Commitment – Trust Key Mediating Variable Model. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. 20 Hastings, G. (2003). ‘Relational paradigms in social marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing, 23(1): 6–15. 21 Donovan, R. & Henley, N. (2010). Principles and Practice of Social Marketing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, UK. 22 Lagarde, F., Doner, L., Donovan, R.J., Charney, S., & Grieser, M. (2005). ‘Partnerships from the downstream perspective: The role strategic alliances play in implementing social marketing programs’, Social Marketing Quarterly, 11(3–4): 38–45. 23 Donovan & Henley op cit. 24 Marques, S. & Domegan, C. (2011). ‘Relationship marketing and social marketing’. Ch. 3 In G. Hastings, K. Angus and C. Bryant (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Social Marketing. London: Sage Publications Ltd. 25 ibid op cit. 26 ibid.

Bibliography Donovan, R. & Henley, N. (2010). Principles and Practice of Social Marketing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, UK Farrelly, M.C., Healton, C.G., Davis, K.C., Messeri, P., Hersey, J.C., & Haviland, M.L. (2002). ‘Getting to the truth: Evaluating national tobacco countermarketing campaigns’, American Journal of Public Health, 92(6): 901–907 Laudato, S. (2015). http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papafrancesco_2050524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

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Chapter 

The shoulders of giants Why theory matters The best social marketing campaigns learn lessons from previous attempts to change behaviour. There have been many such attempts and lots of insights have resulted. For example, we now know that complex behaviours can take a long time to change; that the social circumstances in which we live – our relative wealth perhaps or family circumstances – can enhance or limit our ability to change our individual behaviour; and that how other people act around us can have a big impact on what we do. The idea of exchange – that we look for benefits when considering a change – has also recurred in past work. These insights have been welcomed and analysed for many years by behavioural scientists and fashioned into theories which attempt to map and explain our behaviour. But we humans are complex creatures, and many theories have emerged which can seem almost as daunting as the problems they are intended to help us tackle. It need not be so, and in this chapter, we will introduce you to some of the key theories (see Figure 3.1), explain why they matter and show how they might help solve social marketing problems. Theory

Key principles

Stages of Change Theory

Behaviour change is a gradual multistage process

Theories of Social Change: • Social Cognitive Theory • Social Norms Theory • Social Capital Theory • Social Ecological Theory Exchange Theory

Social context matters What other people do around us matters The sense of community matters Everything is connected We look for benefits when considering change

Figure 3.1  Seven useful theories DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-3

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: ✓✓ Critique why and how theory is important in social marketing. ✓✓ Demonstrate how theory can help answer three key questions: where people are in relation to a particular behaviour; what factors influence this positioning and how it might be changed. ✓✓ Analyse three theories of behaviour change: Stages of Change Theory; Social Cognitive Theory and Exchange Theory – while recognising that there are many other useful ones as well. ✓✓ Evaluate “value” and its vital role in Exchange Theory. ✓✓ Apply theory to a practical social marketing problem.

Keywords Stages of Change Theory – Theories of Social Change – Exchange Theory – Values – Self-interest – Mutuality – Morality – Restricted and Complex Exchanges.

Why theory matters Theory summarises and focuses lessons from past research and interventions; it enables us to learn from experience. Although it sometimes sounds very academic and complex, we all use it on a daily basis – as Figure 3.2 shows. Harry is an experienced punter and well versed in horse-racing lore. He is rightly proud of his skills. But he would probably be surprised to discover that he is also an accomplished user of theory. Indeed, his Wincanton punt harnessed three theories: that lineage will influence a horse’s performance; that past performance is predictive of future outcomes; and that different horses are suited to different conditions. These theories have emerged because generations of racegoers have observed, recorded and analysed results to try to work out how they can anticipate winners.

Harry likes a flutter on the horses. He has just driven his invalid trike four miles (eight miles there and back) to the next village because the local bookie is closed on a Tuesday. After much pondering, he put ten Euros on Agamemnon to win in the 3.30 at Wincanton. The odds were ten to one, so he stands to make 100 Euros. He decided on Agamemnon because the filly comes from good stock – her sire (father) won the Grand National in his youth and her dam (mother) was also a well-regarded racer. He also considered Agamemnon’s form to date – one win, and three times placed in the first three. Finally, he thought about “the going” (the condition of the racecourse, which is typically rated on a six-point scale: heavy – soft – good to soft – good – good to firm – firm) and calculated that Wincanton’s firm all-weather track would suit the young filly. Harry was now back home with the telly on and waiting for the race to begin. Figure 3.2  Theory is always a good bet

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS In short, a legion of past experience has been neatly and economically turned into three predictive models, three theories, with which Harry has been able to improve his chances of winning. We social marketers do the same thing to improve our chances of changing behaviour. As we’ve already discovered, this is challenging territory: many things influence how we behave – from individual knowledge, attitudes and agency through to collective attributes such as community coherence and family structures and on to systemic geopolitical factors. With these multiple variables and levels of behavioural influence, where does the social marketer start? Newton famously said that he had achieved so much, not on his own, but by “standing on the shoulders of giants,” a reference to all the hard work done by fellow scientists that formed the basis for his ideas about gravity. So, whether the behaviour change sought relates to health, the environment or safety; whether it is in a conurbation in a wealthy northern country or an impoverished village of sub-Saharan Africa, the starting point for all social marketing is with previous thinking – or what we call theory. Theories bring four key benefits to our work: 1. Like Newton, they enable us to learn from previous thinking and research, and so build our efforts on solid foundations. 2. They help us avoid the duplication of error and the reinvention of solutions. 3. They enable us to see things more clearly by simplifying them. Theories model, or provide a basic idea, of how typically much more complex phenomena in the real-world work. They can explain for example, the workings of a car engine or the laws of planetary motion, and thereby help us to get a grip on them. In the case of social marketing the complex real-world phenomenon is our behaviour. 4. They make our work more effective: “interventions that are based on social and behavioural science theories are more effective than those lacking a theoretical base.1”

There is nothing so practical as a good theory In essence, a social marketer’s focus on behaviour change begs three questions: 1. Where are people in relation to a particular behaviour? 2. What factors influence this positioning? 3. How can they be encouraged to change in the desired way? Theory can help us answer all three, and we will show how in this chapter. In doing so we will embrace Kurt Lewin’s2 observation that “there is nothing so practical as a good theory” and examine how it might help us respond to Critical Thinking Task 2.1 on going carbon neutral.

Where are we in relation to the climate crisis? In our countries (both in western Europe) it is fair to say that there are a wide range of positions on the ecological crisis, and that these have changed a lot over the last few years. A decade ago, there would have been much ignorance and a significant proportion of outright denial, but now there

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS is almost universal acceptance that there is a very real problem and consequent need for change. But not everyone agrees about the extent or urgency of the situation. Some are just becoming aware of it and feel some minor adjustments – a bit more recycling, using “bags for life” – will suffice; others are getting increasingly worried and thinking about major changes (or panicking and burying their heads in the sand); others again have already started changing – they don’t fly or drive anymore, have stopped eating meat and are looking for other actions to take. Stages of Change Theory (more formally: the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change) captures this complexity. The basic idea underlying Prochaska and DiClemente’s3 theory is that we do not make and carry through decisions about important parts of our behaviour in a simple on/ off fashion. So, we don’t just wake up one morning and think, “OK, I’ll go carbon neutral,” then do so and sit down to breakfast as an ecological saint. It is much more likely we will spend a long time thinking about the problems of climate change and ecological harm, consider ways in which we may help with easing these problems, reject the challenge as too difficult, then come back to it when another worrying climate story appears in the press, then try out certain practices (using public transport or buying a bicycle) and then spend weeks or months adjusting to any changes. Prochaska and DiClemente noticed these tendencies and began to study them in detail. They focused on addiction, but their ideas apply to any hard-to-change behaviour – and becoming more ecological is certainly one of these. (Indeed, you could argue that it is also linked to addiction in that we have all become dependent on our current unsustainable ways of living.) Prochaska and DiClemente’s model suggests that we move through five stages, from ignorance of or indifference towards the idea of changing, through acceptance and trial and then on to becoming committed to the new behaviour: ••

Precontemplation: you may be aware of the new behaviour (e.g. giving up flying or avoiding single use plastics) but are not interested in it, at least at this point in your life.

••

Contemplation: you are consciously evaluating the personal relevance of the new behaviour.

••

Preparation: you have decided to act and are trying to put in place measures needed to carry out the new behaviour.

••

Action: you give it a go.

••

Confirmation (or maintenance): you are committed to the behaviour and have no desire or intention to regress.

Alan Andreasen argues that, from a social marketing standpoint, three features of this model are useful. First Prochaska and DiClemente have been able to show that it is relatively straightforward to separate people into these five stages by asking them a few simple questions. Second they found that the appropriate intervention strategy depends on position in the process. For example, it is important to emphasise benefits in the early stages and costs in later stages. Finally they recognised that a social marketer’s goal should not be to propel the client to the Confirmation Stage in one step, but just to move them to the next stage. Only through a series of steps will the client reach the social marketer’s goal of sustained behaviour change.4 As with all theories, Stages of Change has weaknesses. It was criticised for assuming people move in a linear fashion through the stages.5 In response, the model was tweaked and behaviour change is now presented as a “spiral” where the individual may relapse back to a previous stage, but through experiential learning can eventually reach maintenance.6

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Figure 3.3  Stages of change mark 2

Second, the model has been criticised for not considering those who change their behaviour without consciously going through all five predefined stages.7 This point was refuted by the authors who suggest that people may pass through some stages more rapidly than others.8 Nonetheless, later versions of the model recognise these dynamics and variations (see Figure 3.3). These refinements of the model, however, still fall a long way short of providing a complete representation of our behaviour. Remember what we said about theories simplifying complex phenomena; this inevitably results in some oversimplification. This is particularly true with climate because it involves not just one, but multiple behaviours. Indeed, as we have already noted, it is more accurate to say that our interest is not just in behaviours, but lifestyles. The climate crisis and all the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) demand that we make profound adjustments to our whole way of living and the values that underpin this. Nonetheless, from a social marketer’s point of view, Stages of Change is still useful. It brings the helpful idea that behaviour change is a process rather than an on/off switch, and it is sensible for those interested in enacting change to start by finding out how far people have progressed along this process. This gradualist view also fits well with the social marketing idea of relationship building which we discussed in Chapter 2. However, we need to turn elsewhere to understand why people arrive at a particular stage.

What factors influence our position on climate? Our individual stance towards an issue as complex as climate is heavily influenced by the social and economic system in which we live. In a western European country, for example, material plenty and 24/7 marketing encourage us to think that our heavy consumption is perfectly

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS normal: that there is nothing odd about supermarkets with 40,000 different products to choose from; taking our kids to school in an SUV that could cross the Sahara or flying across the world for a two-week holiday. Now have a go at Critical Thinking Task 3.1.

CRITICAL THINKING 3.1:   INDIGENOUS VIEWS 9 This video https://youtu.be/Nm8Ctb2w81Y presents the views of six young Indigenous women. We will discuss it in detail in Chapter 8, but for the moment just listen to them and consider how they would perceive supermarkets, urban SUVs and long-haul holidays.

By contrast people from Indigenous cultures, whose circumstances are very different, are likely to find all this extremely peculiar. It will conflict with both their experience and values. Research has demonstrated these social forces do have an important influence on the individual. Social Cognitive Theory10 (Figure 3.4) outlines the basic processes, arguing that our behaviour is determined by a mix of internal personal characteristics (such as knowledge and skills) and external environmental factors. The latter comprise the relatively direct influence of friends, family and the local community (the “immediate environment”) and the more indirect influence of social mores, economic conditions and cultural norms (the “wider social context”). As social marketers, then, our view of behaviour should take into account the influence not only of the individual but also of their social context. In addition, we should note that this is a two-way

Figure 3.4  Social cognitive theory

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS relationship: social context shapes people and their behaviours, but people can also shape their social context.11 Apply this thinking with Critical Thinking Task 3.2.

CRITICAL THINKING 3.2:  THE INFLUENCES ON CLIMATE BEHAVIOUR Think about the issue of climate in your country, and the current state of public knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. Now produce your own version of Figure 3.4. It is easy to see that multiple individuals and social determinants are at play. Some people lack sufficient information about climate change and how to tackle it. Others are well aware of the problem and already taking direct action, but the authorities are challenging their right to do so.12 Everyone is constrained by poor public transport systems and tempted by the constant promotion of consumer goods. The exploitation of nature is also deeply embedded in the national psyche: most people see nothing wrong with drilling for oil or mining coal. Revisit our discussion of social marketing’s Collective Orientation in Chapter 2 and remember how it makes our interventions fairer, more effective and strategic. Social Cognitive Theory provides the theoretical underpinning for these benefits. Three other theories – social norms, social capital and social ecology extend this broader conception of our behaviour.

Social norms theory Social Norms Theory builds on the observation that our behaviour is partly derived from what other people do or say (descriptive norms), and what are approved behaviours (injunctive norms). The “lead by example” principle lies at the core of descriptive norms. We are influenced by our perceptions of what others do because those who are like us provide behavioural cues and triggers. This is particularly important in new situations such as a first-year university student or a child arriving at her new secondary school. This is the herd instinct at work – conforming to and wanting to be accepted by others in one’s group, such as family members, friends, workmates and wider society. Rewards (e.g. acceptance, status and power) are provided for conformity; while punishments (e.g. exclusion, fines and jail) result from noncompliance. This thinking underpins the idea of “denormalization” – that if we can adjust people’s perceptions of how common and normal a particular behaviour is we will also be able to influence their inclination to engage in this behaviour.13 For example, young people’s perceptions of the prevalence and acceptability of smoking in both their immediate peer and family group, and in society as a whole, are key predictors of their tendency to take up smoking. Accordingly, smoking uptake will be reduced if pro-smoking norms are challenged and anti-smoking norms are strengthened. Normative education, or denormalization programmes, therefore, correct “erroneous perceptions of the prevalence and acceptability of drug and alcohol use and establish conservative group norms. . . [they] are postulated to operate through lowering expectations about prevalence and acceptability of use and the reduced availability of substances in peer-oriented social settings.14” Evidence reviews suggest this is a useful insight and that normative education can be a valuable ingredient of substance use prevention.15 Social Norms Theory is at work in Case Study #17, which deals with the issues around autism (Jones, et al). Three advertisements capture the “before” or existing social norm and the “after” or

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS desired social norm in three scenarios: at a supermarket checkout, in the office and at a café. The “overarching aim” was “to foster understanding, acceptance and engagement” and so “create a more inclusive community for autistic Victorians, their families, carers and friends.” Explore how Social Norms Theory might work for climate by doing Critical Thinking Task 3.3.

CRITICAL THINKING 3.3:   CLIMATE NORMS You are employed as a social marketer by a nongovernmental organisation to design a social marketing campaign to encourage first-year university students to be more ecological. Consider how you could use the social norms approach to plan an intervention to increase active travel (cycling, walking, skateboarding, etc.) What are the limitations of this approach to your campaign? The success of social norms campaigns is grounded in a sound understanding of the majority attitudes and/or behaviours, so you could start by doing a survey to gather reliable data about firstyear students. This would need to establish how much active travel students currently do, as well as their perceptions of their peers’ travel patterns. Any tendency for the latter to be understated would suggest a need for a campaign correcting these misperceptions. The evidence suggests that repeated exposure to a variety of positive, credible data-based norms messages can correct misperceptions and assist in changing behaviour. At the same time the approach has limitations. Credible norms messages can be difficult to create: “your poster may say most students are cycling, but my experience is that they are not.” People, particularly rebellious students, may prefer to defy norms. Why should I cycle, when the University Vice Chancellor drives a gas-guzzling limo and the senior academics are always jetting around the globe to conferences? Or even if the students do want to conform, their ability to do so may be limited by poor walking or cycling facilities.

Social capital Social Capital Theory focuses on the patterns and configurations of connections between people. The World Bank defines social capital as the relationships that shape societal interactions, while bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledge that social capital influences education, social justice, health, civic engagement and hence the quality of life in a society. Importantly for social marketing, social capital highlights the importance of structural and relational embeddedness within and among individuals in a society; that is our sense of belonging to and trust in our communities. The structural aspect looks at networks and their ties; their connectivity; density and form. The relational element concerns values, trust, norms, identity and expectations, reflected in shared narratives, meanings and language. Together, these shape the quantity and quality of a society’s social interactions. There are three kinds of social capital: bonding, bridging and linking as presented in Figure 3.5. The core insight is that relationships matter, which, as we have already noted, very much accords with social marketing thinking. Increased social capital encourages cooperative behaviour, which is vital for any complex change programme. In fact, “the quality of these networks can help

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS “Bonding, bridging and linking have to be carefully balanced if society is to function effectively. Bonding refers to the networks that exist among ‘people like us’ or people who share the same values. . . . In extreme cases bonding can lead to terrorism. . . . The OECD refers to this as the ‘ties that bind turning into ties that blind.’ Bridging social capital is the relationships with ‘people not like us’ such as those from different faith or ethnic group . . . the vertical links that go up and down the social ladder. . . . Linking social capital refers to the networks people use to leverage resources from powerful institutions. . . . I suspect bonding has increased considerably whereas bridging and linking social capital has decreased because of the growing mistrust of citizens. . . . Broken societies can result unless all types of social capital are present in roughly equal amounts.”16 Figure 3.5  Bonding, bridging and linking explain variations in key policy outcomes between communities in areas such as crime, education and health. In general, higher levels of social capital result in communities, and individuals within them, that are better able to act and take responsibility for themselves. Social capital can also assist in spreading behavioural change amongst the community.17” These ideas are clearly very relevant to our attempts to address climate. Read Case Study #12 (O’Shea et al), dealing with gender inequality. It shows how Social Capital Theory underpinned their data collection to help understand how relationships between people operating within organisations develop trust and reciprocity and how these can then be leveraged to provide opportunities for girls to participate in sport and physical activity.

Social ecological theory (SET) SET adopts an even wider perspective on change, looking at whole social systems (see Figure 3.6). As the Figure shows, it distinguishes four distinct but interlinked systems: the microsystem (the individual), the mesosystem (family or local community), the exosystem (wider social groups, mass media and education services) and the macrosystem (societal values and cultural mores). It recognises what is called “the butterfly effect,” a phrase coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz to convey how tiny seemingly unrelated events, such as butterfly wings flapping in Brazil, could become magnified by the world’s essential interconnectedness and have potentially huge effects on the other side of the world – causing, for instance, tornado weather in Texas. In essence, the butterfly effect describes coordinated and interactive links; individuals and groups are loosely bonded in the system, permitting it to operate as a whole, while at the same time allowing for alterations and modifications in parts by some of those individuals or groups.18 It explains individual/environment interactions as dynamic and active processes. To this end, McHugh19 in her work demonstrates how social ecological theory moves us towards an understanding of multiple group behaviours and networks. This integrates multi-structural, multi-factorial and multi-institutional influences and coordinates the cross-level interrelationships in a system. Applied to diet, for example, this challenges us to think not just about individual eating behaviour but also about cooking skills and school lunch policies, as well as the regulation of food advertising and the global food production and supply chain. Advocating more fruit and vegetable consumption, for instance, may be meaningless until our highly processed and sugary food production methods are radically altered.

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Figure 3.6  A social ecological model The climate crisis presents the most pressing example of a problem that would benefit from a social ecological perspective. Here the tiny butterfly-wing consumption acts of an individual in Paris or Madrid are linked with the activities of multinationals, the decisions of governments and the degradation of the planet – and across the world in Bangladesh fishing villages are disappearing under the sea. Indeed, if we think back to Martin Luther King’s words in Critical Thinking Task 1.2, it is clear that we need to think even more broadly – he says, “This is the way our universe is structured. It is its interrelated quality.” We will return to these complex, interconnected problems and how to deal with them in later chapters. For the moment, let us just note that they need equally sophisticated and far-reaching solutions – Social Ecological Theory helps us to appreciate the dynamics and detail of this complexity.

Exchange theory: How we can encourage change We now turn to the third of our questions: how can we be encouraged to change, or specifically for Critical Thinking Task 2.1, how can we be encouraged to be more ecological? Exchange Theory is the “engine under the bonnet” of social marketing that pulls our social theories together in the face of a specific problem, which is why we have already touched on it in the two previous chapters. The theory posits that, given behavioural options, people will ascribe values to the alternatives and select the one that offers the greatest benefit – or enhancement – to themselves. We

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS are a species with a built-in inclination which try to improve our lot. We cooperate with others to make things better for ourselves. Zak20 explains that “exchange is necessarily other regarding” – we interact with strangers on a routine basis, gauging our own and others’ behaviours against our expectations, based on a degree of trust, to make things better for ourselves. In order to increase a person’s readiness to change, therefore, social marketers must offer them something beneficial in return. In this sense, exchange involves the transfer of tangible or intangible items between two or more social actors.21 Kotler22 suggests five prerequisites are required for exchange to take place: 1. There are at least two parties. 2. Each party has something that might be of value to the other party. 3. Each party is capable of communication and delivery. 4. Each party is free to accept or reject the offer. 5. Each party believes it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the other party. Central to these assumptions is the notion that the exchange must be mutually beneficial for the people involved. There must be something of value for each party in the exchange or the exchange won’t happen. Clearly then, no discussion of what makes for a winning exchange is complete without some insights into what we value and don’t value.

Value We know value is individualised and subjective, based upon experiences, actual and perceived. When talking about value, we equate value with money, price, quality and cost. As Hastings and Lowry remind us “values ascribed to the marketer’s offering during an exchange may be tangible (e.g. monetary) or psychological (e.g. status), immediate (e.g. nicotine now) or deferred (e.g. better health later), but they will always be subjective.23” In the plural, “values” take in high-minded principles – as in “the values of a civilised society.” Value, therefore, has many meanings. This makes life complicated for the social marketer because people, policymakers, stakeholders and funders all have different values. (This also explains in part why there are so many behavioural theories!). Think of the doctor who sees nonsmoking as a valuable health advantage; the teenager who uses smoking to control weight, to impress, or to “be cool”; and the overworked executive who smokes to relieve stress or when socialising. This highlights one last important aspect of value – values drive our choices and exchange behaviours.24 Schwartz25 helps us understand values by explaining that they: 1. are based on emotions, not facts, 2. trigger action, and 3. transcend specific actions and situations. Now try Critical Thinking Task 3.5

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CRITICAL THINKING 3.5:   VALUES AT WORK AND PLAY The sun is shining; blue skies roll out as far as the eye can see and the odd white cloud gently floats by. It’s hot, so hot you can almost smell the heat, but there’s a gentle breeze blowing that refreshingly cools you down. Schools are closed. Families and friends are on the beach for a day of fun and laughter, swimming, sand castles, picnics and the all-important ice creams. At the end of a fabulous day, as the sun sets, people head home. Some put their rubbish in the bin while others leave the evidence of their beach day behind on the sand. What values do you see at work? For most individuals, a day at the seaside with family and friends represents having a good time and enjoying life. This is the hedonism value at work. Those who went sailing or went on a banana boat ride were adding excitement and adventure to their day, which is the stimulation value in operation. For others, the day at the beach could represent tradition; the family custom is for everyone to go for a swim and build sand castles, followed by a homemade picnic, where there is great chat, laughter and stories told and shared for all to enjoy. These are mutuality values where the individuals consider the outcomes of their actions and reflect the common interests of the group. The individual is concerned with themselves and with others. The individuals who put their rubbish in the bins provided by the local authority were following the rules and acting according to their conformity values (high mutuality). On the other hand, those who ignored the signs saying “Put your rubbish in the bins provided,” “Don’t leave your litter behind” and “leave no trace,” and left evidence of their behaviours that day – bottles, cans and other plastic packaging – on the sand to be washed out to sea, may have been nonconformists (high self-interest values) or persons with little concern or low appreciation for nature (low universalism mutuality value). Alternatively, perhaps there were no bins provided by the local authority in the first place to activate pro-environmental values. Also in operation on the beach were moral values. Morality represents broad acceptance or prohibition of behaviours within a society (Zak, 2011). We’ll follow-up on human rights and moral agency in Chapters 9 and 10. This brings us to two important and final characteristics that social marketers have to contend with when thinking about the values: 1. Recall what we said above about improving our lot and cooperation. We all have self-interest values and mutuality values underpinning our daily lives. What’s important is the relative importance and balance behind these different values. For example, self-interest values such as the attainment of wealth, personal status and success are opposed to and/or can suppress mutuality values such as the well-being of others or the environment. 2. The blend of different values for different groups (e.g. the self-interest of hedonism and stimulation or the mutuality of tradition and conformity), in the same setting or context, gives rise to a diversity of behaviours and exchanges. In effect, each group – a family, a tight-knit group of friends, communities and so on – represents blends of values, self-interest and reciprocity, trust and commitment, at play on the beach that

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS hot summer’s day. Mutuality and morality values, such as being more ecological, tend not to be fully articulated in economic terms, whereas self-interest values are often not.

Value-based exchanges These blends of values are akin to the saying “different folks, different strokes.” Bagozzi26 explains – “there is most definitely an [mutually beneficial] exchange in social marketing relationships” and that “the exchange is not the simple quid pro quo notion characteristic of most economic exchanges.” Individuals and stakeholders in different contexts are participants, social actors in complex networks of value exchanges, which do not occur in isolation. Value-based exchanges manifest at small group level and are about the relationships between what people value. People, communities, stakeholders and competitors are all interacting, cooperating or not (sometimes we compete as we discussed in Chapter 2) with their own unique blend of values that shape and influence the exchanges social marketers seek for behavioural change. For example, consider the emerging signs of sustainable tourism, where the health and well-being of individuals, the planet and climate change are interconnected. The tourism industry is growing exponentially across the world and is closely linked to the economic, environmental and social well-being of countries.27 Tourism is highly susceptible to climate change, yet also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations World Tourism Organization states that sustainable tourism should “conserve natural heritage and biodiversity” and put in place preventative measures to ensure that the environment would not be negatively impacted by the tourism sector by factors such as transport, food production and waste management. The pathway to sustainable tourism and carbon neutrality, or better still, carbon positive exchanges, for domestic and international visitors is extremely complex. Personal factors are linked to sustainability awareness, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and the person’s motivation to cut or reduce their carbon footprint. The individual’s social networks, family, friends and workplace, also play their part in the decision. Will they fly? Will they offset their flight? Will they hire an electric car, or can they use public transport? Will they choose plant- or meat-based food? Social norms, personal and professional relationships, media habits and social networks can all influence the individual’s factual and experiential practices around tourism and sustainability. In turn, wrapped around the variety of individuals and their social networks, are the environmental, societal, cultural, political and technological policies in any one tourism region or destination that shape and frame values, choice mechanisms, delivery methods and desired norms. Figure 3.7 attempts to map some of these forces and we can see the resulting complexity. The case studies also grapple with this complexity: in Case Study #3, for example, we see how Marques et al tackle “the involvement of the community, different sectors, and stakeholders, including the arts and culture” in sustainable tourism exchanges, while de Andrade et al (Case Study #9) look at exchange at the micro, meso and macro levels. They warn us that value exchanges are complex, far from equal for all and difficult to evaluate, and note that “it’s also impossible to delineate between the individual, group and structural level at times. The lines between these are more often than not blurred. For example, in discussion with a woman on the phone and hearing about her situation and issues (homelessness, addiction, isolation, unemployment) – I can record that at an individual level, but it may also be indicative of a group or structural level situation or issue. What the women individually are saying, is often what the group together might be saying, which is often true of what might be happening on a wider structural scale. Fear and anxiety felt at a micro-level with individuals were also felt as a group, and more widely with talking to others and listening to media, others would feel that too.”

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Figure 3.7  Value-based exchanges and sustainable tourism

Thus, Exchange Theory is complex because human life is complex. Our job as social marketers is to sell unseen benefits and appeal to multiple high-minded values, while suppressing or disrupting other less noble ones, and this is particularly challenging. Value-based exchanges can be created. Equally, they can be derailed, disrupted or destroyed as our discussion of competition in Chapter 2 shows. To borrow Wiebe’s words from Chapter 1, selling brotherhood seems to be far harder than selling soap. Two main criticisms are levelled at Exchange Theory. The first picks up on the idea that both parties – the client and the social marketer – should gain in an exchange. This seems inappropriate for a disciple focussed on doing good, but as we discussed in Chapter 2 it is just part and parcel of treating our clients – who are really our partners – with due respect. The second concerns the relative power of the parties involved in an exchange and is a very serious problem. Recall our discussion of Kotler’s prerequisites for fair exchange to take place (see above), and that third and fourth ones are: 3. Each party must be capable of communication and delivery. 4. Each party must be free to accept or reject the offer. These assume a balance of power that is often not there; many groups in society lack the knowledge, articulacy and means to ensure a genuine compromise is reached – as Case Studies #12 (O’Shea et al) on gender inequality and #17 on autism (Jones et al) illustrate.

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS The same problem applies with Critical Thinking Task 2.1: those living in disadvantaged communities may not have either the money or resources necessary to address climate breakdown. This reemphasizes the need to maintain a collective as well as an individual perspective in social marketing; there is a continuous need to be cognisant of both the individual and social determinants of behaviour and all the theories about this discussed above. It also underlines the importance of thinking critically about how people’s lives are constrained by those with power. We will return to these themes throughout the book.

Choosing your theory As we explained at the outset, the aim in this chapter is not to present an exhaustive list of the 60-plus models discussed in the social marketing literature (Darnton 2008; French et al. 2010). Instead, we simply wanted to demonstrate that theory is helpful – and will continually become more so: theory is constantly being tested and amended, giving it the ability to explain more. With more explanatory and diagnostic power comes greater capability and capacity to achieve innovation and transformation. So, having established that theory matters, the key skill is that of selecting the particular theory that will help you with your social marketing challenge. To this end, we suggest the following six rules: 1. Theory is essential There has to be a theoretical basis to any social marketing strategy. Without theory, there is no reliable basis upon which to explain or predict human behaviour. Without theory, there’s no building on past experience or existing knowledge – no giants’ shoulders on which to stand. 2. Exchange is at the core of social marketing Exchange Theory lies at the heart of social marketing. Exchange Theory does not replace or supersede other behavioural theories, but its premise of mutually beneficial rewards is central to social marketing’s change agenda. Without Exchange Theory, there is no social marketing. 3. Combine theories Behavioural theories that explain human actions/inactions together with theories of behaviour change are utilised to complement Exchange Theory in social marketing. As Brennan et al28 explain in their overview of behaviour change models, theories and applications “integrated approaches and synthesis of multiple theories may be more effective in promoting behaviour change than the use of an individual guiding theory.” Social marketer Rob Donovan points out there are now some generally agreed principles of behaviour change (see Figure 3.8). 4. Include social perspectives Survival in the wild for an individual horse is exceptionally rare; as a result, they all have strong instincts to be with other horses. There is safety in numbers and horses are, inherently, social animals. In a similar manner, people don’t live their lives in isolation (OK, except for hermits – but how many can you name?); the importance in our lives of exchange, values, networks and relationships all testify to this. That is why models like Social Cognitive Theory and so many others recognise this collective dimension; and why this chapter has given it so much emphasis.

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS “Behavioural scientists have now generally come to the following set of principles with respect to an individual performing a recommended behaviour: 1. There are no physical or structural environmental constraints that prevent the behaviour being performed. 2. The individual has the skills and equipment necessary to perform the behaviour. 3. The individual perceives themselves to be capable of performing the behaviour. 4. The individual considers that the rewards/benefits of performing the behaviour outweigh the costs/disbenefits. 5. Social normative pressure to perform the behaviour is perceived to be greater than social normative pressure not to perform the behaviour. 6. The individual perceives the behaviour to be consistent with their self-image and internalised values (i.e., morally acceptable). 7. The individual perceives the behaviour to be consistent with their social roles and 8. The individual’s emotional reaction (or expectation) in performing the behaviour is more positive than negative.” Figure 3.8  Donovan’s consensus29

5. Think about the change domain As well as focussing on individual change, social marketing also considers altering the environment or situation to free or unblock the person to change their behaviour – banning tobacco advertising to help teenagers avoid smoking or improving public transport to reduce car use. 6. Recognise the limits of theory Remember what we said at the beginning of the chapter. Theory is an attempt to model the complexities of the real world and will inevitably fall short in this task. It pays, therefore, to be sceptical and to question. As for other aspects of social marketing, theories are no substitute for critical thinking.

Wrap-up Ultimately, social marketers are interested in people – in understanding and responding to their needs. Theories are one important way of helping us do this because they help explain patterns of behaviour. They also direct us to possible change options. Theories are very useful guides, but that is all they are. Theories don’t design programmes or interventions. Theories are no substitute for research and planning, creativity or critical thinking. They can inform our decision-making about the needed exchange processes – about the plans we devise and the activities we engage in – but as we see in the remaining chapters, so do other tools and techniques.

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Against this background and by way of example, this chapter has introduced you to the more popular theories of behaviour change that are of potential value to social marketers: 1. Stages of Change, which shows that decisions about complex behaviour are often protracted, ranging from first beginning to considering the possibility of change through to the reinforcement of permanent change. 2. Social Cognitive Theory, which emphasizes the social as well as the individual causes of behaviour, particularly when extended by social norms, social capital and social ecology theories. 3. Exchange Theory (combined with values and relational thinking), which helps us think about how people can be encouraged to change. This chapter is not – nor is it intended to be – an exhaustive list of theories. Its primary goal is to illustrate the enormous potential for theory to help, and hopefully in the process has removed some of the negative connotations the word can have. Finally, remember theory is only as useful as it is practical; in the next few chapters, we turn to these more applied considerations, starting with the strategic planning process.

Reflective questions 1. What is theory? What are the strengths and weaknesses of theories. 2. Model and explain the Stages of Change theory. 3. Social Cognitive Theory draws attention to the social determinant of behaviour. Critique 2 other social theories which help analyse the social determinant of behaviours. 4. Explain how Exchange Theory is foundational to social marketing. 5. How are values defined? What role do values play in social marketing exchanges.

Reflective assignments 1. Critique any of the UN SDGs and identify a health or environmental theory together with a social theory that could be used in conjunction with Exchange Theory for a social marketing intervention or programme 2. Download scholarly papers about the “Food Dudes” social marketing offering. Describe how Exchange Theory is combined with theories from other fields to change children’s behaviour about trying new fruits and vegetables. 3. Identify one behavioural theory and one behaviour change theory that could be applied to an issue facing an organisation of your choice. Outline the behaviour change implications of these theories for this organisation. 4. You are the social marketing manager for the WHO’s Healthy Cities in your area. Choose one aspect of Healthy Cities, such as gardening, cycling, waste management or drunk driving and develop a theory grid to identify relevant behavioural and behaviour change theories that

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS could potentially underlie a social marketing initiative. The more specific you can be about the particular intervention, the better to guide the selection of theories. 5. Consult the Journal of Social Marketing and/or Social Marketing Quarterly to read a classic or contemporary article, on social marketing’s use of theories, especially exchange, to advance your understanding of this key principle.

Notes 1 Glanz, K. & Bishop, D.B. (2010). ‘The role of behavioral science theory in development and implementation of public health interventions’, Public Health, 31: 399. 2 Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science; Selected Theoretical Papers. Cartwright D. (ed). New York: Harper & Row, p. 169. 3 Prochaska, J.O. & DiClemente, C.C. (1983). ‘Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3): 390–395. 4 Andreasen, A.R. (1995). Marketing Social Change – Changing Behavior to Promote Health, Social Development, and the Environment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 5 Davidson, R. (1992). ‘Prochaska and DiClemente’s model of change: A case study (Editorial)’, British Journal of Addiction, 87(6): 821–822. 6 Basler, H.D. (1995). ‘Patient education with reference to the process of behavioral change’, Patient Education and Counseling, 26: 93–98. 7 Davidson (1992) op cit. 8 Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C., & Norcross, J.C. (1992). ‘In search of how people change’, American Psychologist, 47: 1102–1114. 9 Newspaper article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/02/cop26-indigenousactivists-climate-crisis Video: https://youtu.be/Nm8Ctb2w81Y 10 Bandura 1986; 11 Maibach, E.W. & Cotton, D. (1995). ‘Moving people to behaviour change: A staged social cognitive approach to message design’, Ch. 3 In E.W. Maibach & R.L. Parrott (eds), Designing Health Messages: Approaches from Communication Theory and Public Health Practice. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, pp.41–64. 12 See for example: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/15/extinction-rebellionprotest-ban-chilling-assault-on-civil-rights 13 Sussman, S. (1989). ‘Two social influence perspectives of tobacco use development and prevention’, Health Education Research, 4: 213–223. 14 Hansen, W.B. (1992). ‘School-based substance abuse prevention: A review of the state of the art in curriculum’, Health Education Research, 7(3): 411. 15 e.g. Coggans, N., Cheyne, B., & McKellar, S. (2003). The Life Skills Training Drug Education Programme: A Review of Research. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Drug Misuse Research Programme, Effective Interventions Unit. Crompton, T. (2010). Common Cause the Case for Working with Our Cultural Values, Available at: http://valuesandframes.org/ 16 Jones, J. (2011). ‘Lessons learned from the London riots’, The Irish Times, Tuesday, 30 August, p. 20. 17 Hyndman, D., Hodges, A., & Goldie, N. (2007). National Landcare Programme Evaluation 2003–06, p. 25, The Department of the Environment and Energy and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, Australian Government, https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/ documents/nlp-review-final-report-2017.pdf 18 Alderson, W. (1957). Marketing Behaviour and Executive Action: A Functionalist Approach to Marketing Theory. Illinois, US: Richard D. Irwin Inc.

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THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS 19 McHugh, P. (2013). The Use of Social Marketing and Innovation Theory for the Development of Process Indicators for Science Communication. PhD thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. 20 Zak, P. (2011). ‘Moral markets’, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 77(2): 222. 21 Bagozzi, R. (1979). ‘Toward a formal theory of marketing exchanges’. In O.C. Ferrell, S.W. Brown and C.W. Lamb Jr (eds), Conceptual and Theoretical Developments in Marketing. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association, pp. 431–447. 22 Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing Management – Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control. 10th Edition. London: Prentice Hall International. 23 Hastings, G. & Lowry, R. (2010). ‘Social marketing: a tale of beer, marriage and public health’. in A.e.a. Steptoe (ed), Handbook of Behavioral Medicine. New York: Springer Science & Business Media, pp. 275–287. 24 McHugh, P., Domegan, C., Devaney, M., & Hastings, G. (2015). A Set of Sea Change Guiding Principles and Protocols. EU Sea Change Project, Whitaker Institute, University of Galway, Ireland. 25 Schwartz, S.H. (2012). ‘An overview of the Schwartz theory of basic values,’ Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1): 3–4. 26 Bagozzi (1975) op cit p. 38. 27 World Tourism Organization. (2013). Sustainable Tourism for Development Guidebook. Madrid, Spain: UNWTO. Available at: https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284415496 28 Brennan, L., Binney,W., Parker L., Aleti, T., & Nguyen, D. (eds). (2008). Behaviour Change Models: Theory and Application for Social Marketing. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 29 Donovan, R. (2011). ‘Theoretical models of behaviour change’, ch. 1 In G. Hastings, K. Angus, & C. Bryant (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Social Marketing. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Bibliography Darnton, A., & Martin, K. (2011), Finding Frames: New ways to engage the UK public in global poverty, London, UK: Bond French, J., Blair-Stevens, C., McVey, D., and Merritt, R. (2010) Social Marketing and Public Health: Theory and Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hastings, G., Bryant, C., & Angus, K. (eds). (2011). The Sage Handbook of Social Marketing. London: Sage Publications Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-84920. Krzysztof, K., Parker, L., Domegan, C., & Brennan, L. (eds). (2023). The Routledge Companion to Marketing for Social Impact. UK: Routledge.

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Chapter 

Strategic planning The social marketer’s roadmap Implementing any worthwhile change intervention needs careful thought and preparation – a clear idea of where we want to get to, how we will get there and the indicators that will help us determine when we have arrived. We need a plan. This chapter explains the importance of strategic thinking in social marketing, the key elements of a strong plan and how we can construct one and guide its implementation. It provides us with our roadmap.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: ✓✓ Explain how planning guides strategic and tactical decision-making, taking account of social context. ✓✓ Undertake a stakeholder analysis. ✓✓ Discuss why segmentation and targeting are important, and how to do them. ✓✓ Outline the importance of setting measurable and realistic objectives. ✓✓ Evaluate why our offerings should be acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible. ✓✓ Demonstrate the practical application of positioning in social marketing.

Keywords Strategic planning – situation analysis – stakeholder analysis – marketing research – objectives– segmentation – targeting – acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible – positioning – implementation – evaluation DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-4

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It all starts with a vision We have already met Martin Luther King; he was a renowned leader in the US civil liberties movement and can teach us much about how to manage and plan social change. Critical Thinking Task 4.1 presents one of his most famous speeches, which he gave to a rapturous crowd in Washington in 1965. Read his words, or better still follow the link and hear him deliver the entire speech and think through what he tells us about effective planning.

CRITICAL THINKING 4.1:  THE IMPORTANCE OF VISION Martin Luther King Jr, August 28, 1963 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. Watch him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHNG_u48PnM What does Dr King’s speech tell us about effective planning?

King reminds us that any enterprise needs a vision statement; a clear declaration of what its authors seek to achieve. He uses the word dream rather than a vision, perhaps reflecting the massive challenges that stood in the way of racial harmony at that point in US history, but spelling out his destination – however distant – in this way was a key initial step towards success. First, it put all his followers and colleagues on the same page: they could agree, argue or even leave the movement – but they knew where they stood. Second, it expressed the vision in a deeply engaging way: a perfect example of the creative orientation we discussed in Chapter 2. King connected with his listeners’ hearts as well as their minds. Third, and most importantly, he laid the basis for action. Having identified the destination, the route could now be planned. In this chapter, we take up his cue. Like him, we need a vision; like him, we must remember that our efforts depend on voluntary cooperation and consensus; like him, we need to think long term. Tactics have to be embedded in strategy; transactions built into relationships. A social marketer starts by appraising the situation, defining the problem, and assessing the competing forces (for King these were all too clear – he was assassinated less than four years after this speech). This avoids the danger of making assumptions about the challenges at hand or how we should consider

STRATEGIC PLANNING addressing them. It also helps answer the three crucial strategic questions at the heart of any social marketing endeavour: who we would like to do what, and how we can best empower them to do it? King’s speech suggests there were many possible answers to these questions for the Civil Rights movement in 1963. The who includes the ancestors of both sides of the slave trade; state and federal political leaders and the next generation. The what is, respectively, to come together in mutual understanding; to pass enlightened race relations policies and to carry on the struggle. The third strand, empowerment, comes from his inspirational presentation. The social marketer has to assess these alternatives and chart them against the current situation to decide which show most promise and how they can best be implemented. More specifically, for us social marketers, the who question leads us to “segmentation and targeting,” which helps improve our understanding of our clients and lays the groundwork for helping to meet their needs more effectively. Similarly, the what question makes us think about our objectives – the milestones en route to our vision – a crucial first step in identifying our direction of travel and then checking our progress. These preparations bring us to the crux of the matter: how do we devise an offering that will encourage the priority group to engage in an exchange with us not just once but repeatedly? What is our equivalent of Martin Luther King’s inspiration? And how do we ensure that this offering is as acceptable (meets the client’s needs) appealing (our clients know about it, and like what they know), affordable (it is worth the effort of getting involved) and accessible (both literally and emotionally)? Finally, to cement in the strategic progress being made, marketers pull this thinking together with the idea of positioning. Where do we want to sit in our client’s mind? How do we want our offering to be framed? Are we killjoys or the bringers of opportunities? Do we patronise or empathise? Are we one-hit wonders or in it for the long haul? King made sure his followers understood the full power and potential of his offer – nothing short of a new dawn. We social marketers need to be equally far-sighted and ambitious, especially with challenges like equality and climate. We also need stamina. Sixty years after King’s speech there are still appalling racial inequalities in the US, as witnessed by the George Floyd protests which started in the USA in 2020 when a 46-year-old African American man was murdered during his arrest by a Minneapolis police officer.1 Progress has been made but there is still much to do, and; so it is with many social marketing problems.

The social marketing strategic plan Constructing a successful programme to change behaviour is like climbing a Himalayan peak. You need to acquire or devise a map, take careful compass bearings, check your equipment and ensure you have the skills and resources to reach the top. Social marketing therefore puts great emphasis on planning and any social marketing enterprise worthy of the name begins with a plan; Figure 4.1 presents a typical schema for one. As can be seen, it comprises a number of standard steps that guide the marketer through accepted best practice from problem definition through to outcome evaluation. Before discussing the detail of these steps, two general points should be noted. First, the plan summarises everything we are trying to achieve; it is our equivalent of Martin Luther King’s dream. It puts the whole team on the same page, clarifies the goal and sets the scene for detailed action.

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Figure 4.1  The social marketing strategic plan Second the plan provides a systematic means of learning about the issue being addressed and its client group(s). For example, with a cycling proficiency intervention for schoolchildren, it will enable social marketers to improve their understanding of the children’s cycling behaviour, knowledge and preferences, and thereby enhance their intervention. Do they lack road safety know-how, for example, or is the problem attitudinal (e.g. do they like taking risks)? Or structural (e.g. a lack of cycle lanes)? This learning also takes place between interventions. The social marketer will be able to use the lessons learned from her first intervention to inform subsequent cycling proficiency campaigns. Thus the process is not just progressive, it is also cyclical; hence, the “return arrow” in Figure 4.1. Furthermore, the development of understanding is not restricted to repeated cycling proficiency interventions; social marketing efforts in quite different areas, such as pedestrian safety or sexual health, may well provide useful insights. The link between cycling and sex may seem tenuous, but both are social behaviours that are heavily influenced by perceptions and imagery. Both also have to address the competing interests of safety and social acceptability. Condoms and cycling helmets, in fact, have at least one key thing in common: adolescent behaviour. In this way, when social marketing planning is seen in the whole and as an ongoing process, it can maximise the chance of success both for a particular intervention and, more importantly in the longer term, for health, safety and the environment in general. Thus, as well as providing the tactical support through various social marketing tools, planning also guides strategic thinking. This idea of progressive and continuous learning is absolutely fundamental to social marketing.

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Problem definition The first strategic planning task is to gain a thorough understanding of the problem being tackled. What is the vision for a better, healthier, more sustainable future? What is the desired behaviour change and how will it contribute to this vision? What are the chances of success? Are there better alternative initiatives that could be pursued? Take a look at all the Case Studies and you will see each one begins with a discussion of the problem and how it fits into the broader context. This initial analysis can also help you to answer important ethical questions. As we noted in Chapter 1, social marketing is powerful, and we need to make sure it is genuinely being used to bring about responsible change. You would, for example, be right to have concerns about working on an intervention which sought to discourage certain groups – poor people, people of colour – from voting, as some Republican-controlled states have been accused of doing in the US.2 Or a project that is tackling a worthwhile issue – say teen smoking – but doing so in a way that is likely to do more harm than good as with the Philip Morris Unsmoke campaign which has been heavily criticised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for being misleading and potentially encouraging smoking.3 You also need to be comfortable with the funding organisation: whatever their proposed change programme, you would be right to have doubts about working with a tobacco, fossil fuel or any other organisation with an obvious conflict of interest.

The situation analysis The second step in strategic planning is to conduct a “situation analysis” (the second box in Figure 4.1), that is to examine the broader context – the Macro Environment – in which your intervention has to operate (See Figure 4.2). This can be divided into six key types of influence:

Figure 4.2  The social marketing environment

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STRATEGIC PLANNING Political; Economic; Social; Technological; Environmental; and Legal factors. These are easily recalled in the acronym PESTEL. Think back to Critical Thinking 2.1 and consider how each of these factors might influence your response to the Government’s Call for Tenders on Carbon Neutrality. Some may make things more difficult: Political forces might, for example, include the presence of strong climate-denial groups; Economic concerns may exist about the loss of jobs in fossil fuel industries and Legal obstacles might be expected in defence of these jobs. On the other hand, Social support may be building up for radical change through organisations like Extinction Rebellion or 350.org; Technology and innovations, such as wave energy, could help ease the pain of transition and regular alarms about the state of the Environment keep government motivated to act. Thus, your PESTEL analysis will reveal a range of potential threats or barriers and opportunities or enablers. These are typically beyond your – the social marketer’s – control, so your decisions need to focus on how best to minimise the threats and barriers while making the most of the opportunities and enablers. These decisions are guided by mapping the strengths and weaknesses of your social marketing organisation against these opportunities and threats. This is often referred to as a SWOT analysis (the Strengths and Weaknesses of the organisations are laid alongside the Opportunities and Threats of the environment). In this way, your thinking is guided not just by what is out there, but also by your capacity to respond. In the case of the climate tender, the social marketing team needs to think about their capacity to overcome the climate deniers and the economic and legal power of fossil fuel interests. This capability may be considerable, and an upstream approach (refer back to Figure 2.3) can be contemplated. Alternatively, you may conclude that your power in this domain is actually very limited and the best thing, at least in the short term, is to focus on downstream efforts targeting individuals. Have a look at Case Study #12 (O’Shea et al) on gender inequality and you will read about the influence of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal factors which explain, in part, the underrepresentation of Australian women and girls in all facets of sport, including coaching and sports journalism. So a good situation analysis helps you make strategic decisions about how to proceed. But, you might say, many social marketers are faced with a “done deal;” you respond to a tender for a much more specific task than achieving carbon neutrality. You are asked to reduce binge drinking among teens, for example, or some other behaviour in a particular group. The approach is already defined – perhaps specifying a public education or school-based intervention – and the budget limited to its delivery. What then is the point of strategic analysis, of the PESTEL and the SWOT? Even in these circumstances, it is still useful. At the very least, it will give you a realistic idea of the task you face, and useful insights into any shortfalls. For example, if your strategic analysis shows that teen binging is being driven by uncontrolled alcohol industry marketing you will at least appreciate the limitations of an educational intervention. It will also enable you to engage constructively with the funder and help them to think more carefully in the future. Gradually, the result will be a very desirable increase in the strategic emphasis of all our work.

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Stakeholder analysis The planning process next focuses on your particular field of operations (or “the microenvironment” in Figure 4.2). Specifically, we need to identify the key stakeholders – “all of those groups and individuals that can affect, or are affected by our change proposal”4 and find out what they are doing or might do to help or hinder the project. Many of the change challenges we face – the racial disharmony King addressed, inequality and poverty and, most especially, planetary and climate breakdown – “are complex, society-wide issues which encompass and affect numerous people, groups and organisations…no one is fully in charge…instead many individuals, groups and organisations are involved or affected or have some partial responsibility to act.”5 In Case Study #8 (Duane et al) you’ll see a stakeholder analysis conducted to understand all the entities - individuals, organisations, institutions, communities and so on - who affect and are affected by the quality of recreational waters. You’ll also see that secondary sources of data and stakeholder interviews are used to deepen the understanding of the relevant stakeholders (we discuss research in detail in the next chapter). Note that as well as including those who selfdeclare an interest in the problem, it is important to include those stakeholders who may appear not to be interested in the problem but affect or are affected by the issue. This information will help determine a given stakeholder’s propensity to help or hinder your plans. Stakeholders may control assets, information, communications, networks and policy, so their support or opposition can have a big impact on any change that may or may not happen. The essential choice is between cooperation and competition. In the case of the climate tender, for example, stakeholders such as schools and environmental activist groups are likely to be helpful in changing behaviours and can become supportive allies with the opportunity for the coordination and integration of efforts. Such cooperative strategies are possible when there are many stakeholders with dispersed power and mutual benefits are available for all. Other stakeholders, such as oil companies or motorist organisations, may be less inclined to come onside, and see the climate issue as a threat to their current business model. Even here collaboration may be possible. For example, the Scottish Government recently sold off licenses for new oceanic wind farms in the North Sea, and some were bought by oil companies whose experience of drilling for oil in the same region will be invaluable. But caution is needed: the oil companies may use their assistance as a bargaining counter to get support for their oil exploration activities or as part of a subsequent “greenwashing” campaign (refer forward to Critical Thinking Task 5.3). In such cases, or where stakeholders are completely opposed to your efforts your only option will be a competitive strategy. For example, if our fight to save the planet takes the form of a drive to reduce consumption, many corporations would be unreliable and dangerous partners. Here the social marketing norm of looking for mutually beneficial exchange or win-wins is replaced by confrontation. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)6 is one of the world’s most successful international treaties provides an excellent example of how even very powerful opponents like multinational tobacco corporations can be taken on and defeated. The FCTC has,

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STRATEGIC PLANNING for example, led the movement to ban tobacco advertising and smoking in public places in multiple countries, which are both immensely successful public health measures. Article 5.3 of the treaty explicitly prohibits any involvement of tobacco companies in public health policy making. This cooperative/competitive analysis can change overtime and needs continual updating. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 4.2

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 4.2:  CONDUCTING A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Stakeholder analysis involves three broad steps: 1. Identify, map and prioritise stakeholders 2. Establish stakeholder propensity to be helpful or harmful 3. Choose your stakeholder strategy: collaborate or compete Apply these steps to a behaviour change option of your choice. When you have done this, take a look at Case Study#8 (Duane et al) and Case Study#10 (Lopez Cordova et al) to reassess your work.

In Case Study #10 Lopez Cordova et al., are concerned with the problem of leaves entering the storm water system increasing nutrient loads and sediment runoff and the growth of blue-green algae, which affects the quality of lake water and the health of the communities around it. As part of their stakeholder analysis, a total of 46 organisations and community members were identified including water quality scientists, community groups/schools and householders. The stakeholders played a vital role, helping co-design a change programme with 11 key priorities laid down in formal Partnerships Agreements.

The rest of the planning process Once these macro and microenvironments have been examined and factored in, social marketing planning focuses down on the nitty-gritty of who needs to do what, and how they can be encouraged to do it. Or more formally: segmentation and targeting, setting objectives and devising an offering.

Segmentation and targeting Marketers recognise that we are all unique: we all have different make-ups and experiences and live in varied circumstances. This means we will also have diverse needs, and, because social marketing is all about meeting these needs as well as possible (client orientation), the ideal would be to make a unique offer for each and every one of us. This is clearly impractical in most instances, so we compromise by dividing the population into reasonably homogenous segments and then choosing particular segments or “priority groups” to approach with an offering that better matches their needs than would one designed for the population as a whole.

STRATEGIC PLANNING 1. Personal characteristics: demographic, psychographic (psychological qualities like attitudes and aspirations) and geo-demographic (related to location) variables can all link to behaviour. 2. Past behaviour: how we have behaved in the past is a good guide to what we will do in the future.  3. Benefits sought and Barriers to overcome: why people do as they do at present – and how these motives vary – can be a sensible way of subdividing the population as can their reluctance to engage in a particular behaviour. Figure 4.3  Commonly used segmentation criteria in social marketing

There are a number of criteria which we can use to segment the population (see Figure 4.3). Personal characteristics – typically subdivided into demographic, psychographic and geodemographic variables – present an obvious option. Case Study #15 illustrates how segmentation and targeting works in practice. In it Rowena Merritt and Nanna Skau focus on healthy breakfasts for children 8–18-year-olds in Armenia. They adopted a very broad perspective on nutrition taking in the cultural, social, and behavioural dynamics which influenced food preferences and habits. They found Armenians love and praise their children very much but are reluctant to say no to unhealthy foods (personal characteristics, past behaviours and barriers). Armenians are often very traditional and conservative – traditions are kept alive through their practices, eating habits, festivals and celebrations (past behaviours and benefits sought). They have a sense of humour (benefits). The research also found that children had enormous influence and control over what they ate and were often allowed to snack on unhealthy foods (barriers and past behaviours). These insights helped greatly with segmentation and targeting. A potential problem with segmentation and targeting may have already occurred to you. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 4.3

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 4.3:  IS SEGMENTATION AND TARGETING UNFAIR? Social marketers address serious issues, such as cervical screening services, clean water or needle exchanges, which have a profound impact on people’s wellbeing. They are quite literally matters of life and death. It seems wrong therefore to be dividing people up in order to decide which of them will or will not get life-saving services. Surely all those in need should be included, regardless of factors like where they live or their past behaviour. Isn’t segmentation and targeting just a form of rationing, and profoundly unfair as a result? How would you respond to this concern? Jot down your ideas before you continue; thinking about inequalities might help.

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STRATEGIC PLANNING Segmentation and targeting can seem unfair, but further consideration shows otherwise. Remember what we agreed above, that we are all different – our bodies, experiences and needs all vary. This means we will respond differently to a generalised offer. As Lefebvre et al. put it “the reality… is that – depending on how the health message is executed and distributed – certain groups will always be reached and others will not.”7 Segmentation and targeting, they point out, is an inevitable product of human diversity; “the only issue” they continue “is whether the targeting is done based on research and strategic analysis or by happenstance and default.” Lefebvre et al are discussing communication campaigns, but the same points apply to any type of social marketing intervention. Their view dovetails with the inequalities literature. This shows that health behaviours and outcomes are strongly linked to relative wealth. In the United Kingdom, for instance, these differentials have emerged and remained despite decades of population-wide health promotion and a universally available free health service. In Ireland, health inequalities are reinforced by spatial and geographical inequalities.8 The most highly resourced, educated and motivated sections of society – and the least in need – are best able to avail themselves of standardised provision. Thus, it seems that an egalitarian, level playing field might make the provider feel morally satisfied but does relatively little for the most in need. The inequalities experience also suggest that past efforts have, albeit inadvertently, actually been of most benefit to the better-off, and thereby increased social divisions. Well-devised segmentation and targeting strategies can help undo these harms.

Choosing the priority group Having chosen the segmentation variables and divided the population into groups, the next task is to decide which to target. Three principles guide this decision. First, the chosen group should be big enough to have the potential to make an impact on the problem being tackled – it should be viable. This will be determined by the size of the group and their level of need. Picking up the example of disadvantaged groups, these are likely to score highly on this criterion. Second, it must be accessible. Usable channels of communication and service delivery must exist. Again, low-income groups are likely to meet this condition – as noted above, they are frequently geographically clustered, and if we focused down further to women or teenagers then community groups and schools offer good access. Third, the priority group should have needs that the social marketer can successfully meet. It should be, at least potentially, responsive. Think carefully about this. As we have just noted, experience suggests that low-income groups are typically unresponsive to behaviour change interventions. But, since their need is great this is likely to be explained by inadequacies in the offerings rather than inflexibility in the priority group. As one seasoned public health doctor put it: “There is no such thing as a hard-to-reach group, there are just hard-to-access interventions.” This just reinforces the importance of designing an offering that genuinely meets the needs of the priority group. Have a look at Case Study #7, The Humble Egg, from Malawi. It tackles malnutrition, a major contributor to preventable child deaths, by targeting children aged between 6 months to 5 years as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women. It does this based on an understanding of their aspirations, concerns, and their idea of what a healthy child looks like and eats. The case study also reminds us that segmentation and targeting are just as important with stakeholders as with the

STRATEGIC PLANNING final client. Backyard farmers are segmented into small groups to enable the project to support them “in setting up a medium scale poultry farm (720–1200 bird size farm), complete with cages and bio-security clothing.” Without the resulting improvement in egg supply, it would simply not have been possible to boost the consumption of eggs in the target population.

Objectives: Measurability and achievability Once the target(s) has (have) been determined, the next step is to clarify exactly what we would like them to do: to set our change objectives. This typically comprises an overarching aim (e.g. a specific behavioural change) supported by secondary objectives which break the primary aim into more manageable tasks. This thinking is informed by the strategic planning process. Look again at Case Study #7 for a good example of behaviour change objectives. Recognising behaviour change takes place over time (revisit Stages of Change Theory in Chapter 3) you’ll see the primary aim was to increase the consumption of eggs in the target group. Secondary objectives related to changes in knowledge, attitudes, and perception of benefits in relation to eggs and the recall of key campaign messages and campaign branding visuals. The secondary objectives provide interim outcomes to help check that the target audience is moving in the right direction for positive change. In Case Study #2, Trust the Meat Thermometer by Marisha Anand and Aileen McGloin, the behaviour change objectives are based on the COM-B model of Capability, Opportunity and Motivation. Meat thermometers enhance the taste and food safety of the prepared meat (increases motivation); meat thermometers are accessible and socially acceptable (increased Opportunity) and correct insertion of a meat thermometer supports reaching the temperature of 75°C (increased Capacities). The Case also illustrates how theory (Chapter 3) can inform objective setting. Setting clear objectives brings two important benefits (see Figure 4.4). First, they ensure consensus about the intent of the intervention by all those involved. This includes people both within the organisation and outside it. For example, if an advertising agency is being used, well-defined and

Clear objectives bring two benefits: 1. Improved collaboration between the stakeholders in the intervention. Everyone knows what they are trying to do. 2. Enhanced evaluation: if you know exactly where you are trying to reach, it is much easier to confirm whether or not you have arrived. To provide these benefits, objectives need two qualities: 1. Measurability: there must be an agreed way of calibrating whether or not they have been achieved – or at least a suitable proxy. 2. Achievability: you need a realistic hope of success. Figure 4.4  Setting objectives

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STRATEGIC PLANNING agreed objectives can ensure that they are absolutely clear about what their advertising has to achieve from the outset. Similarly, good objectives facilitate communication with superiors and controlling bodies. This can be particularly important in social marketing where funding agencies or politicians may have to be convinced of the value of an intervention. Second, objectives provide an excellent measurement tool. They give a clear focus to intervention design and make it possible to monitor progress and ultimately assess effectiveness. It follows, therefore, that good objectives are measurable. It may be very desirable, for instance, to run an intervention with the objective of making people happier, as Richard Layard9 suggested, but actually calibrating this will present great challenges. Measurability is also a function of resources. As we will discuss in Chapter 6, determining whether a particular programme has brought about a change in a population demands a complex and expensive research design that would probably swamp the budget of most small interventions. This raises the challenging question of whether or not we should set objectives – however desirable – that cannot be measured. One solution is to do so, but only if you can agree reasonable proxy measures to mark progress. Have a try at Critical Thinking Task 4.4.

CRITICAL THINKING 4.4:   PROMOTING SAFER SEX You have been awarded a contract to improve the sexual health of Brownton’s teenagers. You have six months, a modest budget and a large supply of free condoms. What objectives might you set for the programme?

Direct, attributable measures of changes in the sexual health of Brownton’s teen sexual health is going to be beyond your means; so setting this as an objective will not be very helpful. Indeed, measuring any change in the population is going to be very challenging, unless there just happen to be existing surveys in field on which you can piggyback. Assuming not, it makes much more sense to set more modest but measurable objectives – such as encouraging a specified minimum proportion of Brownton’s teenagers to access the free condoms and do so in a way that they find empowering and acceptable. The need for measurability leads naturally to the second key attribute of good objectives: that they are achievable. That is, they should be within the capability of the organisation and the programme budget. Again, the strategic planning process helps here, especially the process of matching external threats and opportunities with internal strengths and weaknesses. The temptation in social marketing is to be overambitious, perhaps because the jobs we are trying to do are so obviously desirable and worthy. Giving people the support they need to quit tobacco or get their baby immunised are quite literally matters of life and death; and the rewards for success are immense. However, as we noted in Chapter 3 when discussing theories of human behaviour, changes are usually hard won. This is particularly true of the sort of engrained lifestyle behaviours we tend to focus on, which often have an element of addiction thrown in for good measure. So, it behoves us to cut our cloth accordingly. In time, this may also help, as we noted in our discussion of strategic

STRATEGIC PLANNING planning, to educate funders and policymakers about the long-term and systemic work that is usually needed to generate real improvements in health and environmental status.

Formulating the offer So we come to the crux of any social marketing effort: the development of an offer that will encourage the priority group to engage with us and in the process of change. How do we get the teenager to start thinking about healthy eating or the politician about regulating junk food marketing? Always remembering that social marketing deals in consensual and voluntary change, the starting point has to be the client. We need to understand why they are currently behaving as they are, the perceived attractiveness of behaving differently and how the latter might be enhanced. We need an acceptable but effective (i.e. capable of delivering change) offering. Research with these client groups will help provide this information, but it will need to be skilfully executed and is unlikely to reveal the full story. Teenagers will not know all the factors that influence their diet – they are not social scientists. A politician might be unwilling to admit that the soft drinks plant in her constituency makes her reluctant to take on the junk food industry. So, yes, the offering is designed around the needs of the client, but the task of divining these is complex as we will see in Chapter 5 when we discuss research. In Case Study #10 from Lopez Cordova et al in Australia, we can see client-centred thinking in action. The Case addresses the problem of Eucalypt leaves in stormwater drains, and their co-designed change process involved 8 teams from the community who identified 308 strategies and ideas that could be included in a 6-week pilot programme. Key ideas uncovered included a competition to get community groups involved in picking up leaves, adopt a tree or drain, incentives such as free leaf bags and composting discounts to support residents to pick up leaves and information about gardening and composting. These were further refined into Tell Me; Show Me; Share the Collection and Regular Promotion. For another excellent example of offerings designed around the client’s needs, read Case Study #5 (Donnar et al) which explores masculinity using participatory co-design to define and support healthier perceptions. The complexity of this issue required an offering capable of addressing interconnected relationships and involving the target group throughout the co-design process to gain a deeper understanding of the target market. Participants reported that this was the first time they had agency to tackle some of the problems of harmful or “toxic” masculinities, thereby increasing their sense of self-empowerment and situational control; shifting their perspectives and consequently increasing their ability to communicate across diversity. As well as making the core offer acceptable, we need to think about how we can maximise the chances of it being adopted. Specifically, we need to ensure that our client group(s) find it: 1. Appealing: they need to know about it, and like what they know. This involves communication, which we will discuss in Chapter 6. At this point, we will just note that communication is a two-way process, and like the rest of the social marketing effort is built around the concept of mutually beneficial exchange. 2. Affordable: all change takes some effort, some investment from the changer – giving up smoking, improving your diet, taking on the vested interests. This effort can take many forms – it

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STRATEGIC PLANNING may be emotional (e.g. resisting the teasing of our friends), financial (e.g. buying nicotine patches, giving up the financial support from vested interests) or physical (e.g. taking up exercise). In each case, we social marketers must ensure that our clients feel it is worth the effort of getting involved. 3. Accessible: we can think of this in literal terms – are the smoking cessation services easy to get to, or the leaflets on healthy eating readily available. However, it also has a strong psycho-social dimension: does the client group feel the intervention is for people like them; is it located in a sympathetic environment; will there be other people like them involved? In Case Study #4 (Raciti et al) which concerns the cultural safety of Australian universities for First Nations Peoples, we see and hear about a host of accessibility issues. For example, First Nations people do not have access to course content in which they can “see themselves”, nor it is clear how they use what they learn to better their communities. It would help if First Nations students were able to interact more with First Nations academics but, as the authors explain, “there are very few First Nations academics in Australian universities and they are typically overloaded with other university-focused cultural duties on top of their academic roles, which is known as ‘cultural taxation’.”

Positioning During this chapter we have gradually focused down to very specific tools. The idea of positioning helps us to keep the big picture in mind; to ensure that tactics don’t drown out strategy. It describes how our clients see or “frame” our offerings relative to the alternatives, the competition. “Frames are the mental structures that allow human beings to understand reality – and sometimes to create what we take to be reality …They structure our ideas and concepts, they shape how we reason, and they even impact how we perceive and how we act. For the most part, our use of frames is unconscious and automatic – we use them without realising it.”10 Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 4.5.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 4.5:  POSITIONING AND FRAMING 11 Take a few minutes out to watch Harrison Ford and David Attenborough talk about our Oceans and Planet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6txLtoaoc And here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/auSo1MyWf8g?rel=0 How does each speaker frame the issue? Which one is an example of Strict Parenting framing? Which one is an example of Nurturing Parent framing?

No doubt you’ll have picked up on tone of voice, mood, colours, music and compelling content which position the first clip as the “strict parent” and the second as the “nurturing parent.” In Case Study #6, “Standing Strong Together,” Donovan et al illustrate how Aboriginal people’s

STRATEGIC PLANNING focus on family, community, and the social care of others overlaps with Act-Belong-Commit’s positioning on social connectedness and a sense of belonging; connection to land, culture, spirituality, and ancestry; living on or near traditional lands; and passing on of cultural practices.

Monitoring and evaluation The final stage in the Social Marketing Strategic Plan (Figure 4.1) is monitoring and evaluation. This is a complex topic and is discussed fully in the next chapter, which focuses on research. For the moment let us just note that it is vitally important and takes place throughout the planning process. To ensure the social marketing plan is on track, we need to pause, reflect and take stock of what works well and what does not. It is important to assess what change is happening and adapt the offering along the way to the desired change, if needed. Typically, awareness levels, interest, attitudes, beliefs, motivation, and actual behaviours are monitored as are tactical issues such as communication materials, delivery mechanisms and partnerships. The monitoring and evaluation research in Case Study #7 showed that despite a boost in egg supply, egg consumption did not increase in the target audience, it went up among visitors to the household! At the same time, the evaluation provided key insights, such as the importance and value of word of mouth for rural communities with low literacy rates.

Wrap-up This chapter began by evoking one of the twentieth century’s greatest exponents of social change, Martin Luther King. From his lead, we have examined how a clear vision enables us to put together an effective strategic plan. We then examined how environmental and competitive analysis set the context for the deployment of three key marketing functions: segmentation and targeting help us to get a better fix on whose behaviour we want to change; objective setting helps us pin down precisely what we want them to do; and how we ensure that our offer will encourage people to engage with the idea of empowered change. Specifically, we want to make it as acceptable, appealing, affordable, and accessible as possible. This tactical activity is guided by the strategic idea of positioning, monitoring and evaluation. We will continue this practical theme in the next chapter when we discuss research in social marketing.

Reflective questions 1. What is strategic planning? What are the key steps in strategic social marketing planning? 2. Define a situation analysis. Explain its role and function in strategic social marketing planning. 3. A stakeholder analysis is about those who affect and are affected by a problem and/or behaviour change. Elaborate. 4. What should a social marketer consider when setting objectives? 5. ‘Positioning is guided by two things: how the clients see the product and how it measures up to the competition. Detail with examples.

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Reflective assignments 1. Partnerships, both operational and strategic, are a part of the social marketing planning process; UN SDG #17 is about partnerships. Visit https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal17 and based on available reports, videos and materials, present a critical analysis of partnerships for a complex problem of your choice. 2. Locate and review a strategic social marketing plan. 3. A renowned university in the top 100 has approached you to use your behaviour change skills in tackling campus student binge drinking which is now considered out of control. How might you use a strategic focus and the social marketing planning process? 4. Devise a strategic plan for a local community who wish to increase the number of community members who harvest rainwater. 5. Consult the Journal of Social Marketing and/or Social Marketing Quarterly and read a classic or contemporary article(s) on the social marketing planning process to advance your understanding of the theory and practice in this area.

Notes 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests 2 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/27/gerrymandering-republicans-electoralmaps-political-heist 3 https://landing.ggtc.world/dmdocuments/Dangers%20of%20Unsmoke%20Campaign_Final%20 Version.pdf 4 Freeman, R.E. (1984). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pitman. 5 Bryson, J.M. (2004). ‘What to do when stakeholders matter?’, Public Management Review, 6(1), 21–53. 6 https://fctc.who.int 7 Lefebvre, R.C., Doner, L., Johnston, C., Loughrey, K., Balch, G.I., & Sutton, S.M. (1995). ‘Use of database marketing and consumer-based health communication in message design: An example from the office of cancer communications’ “5 A Day for Better Health” program’, in E. Maibach and R.L. Parrott (eds), Designing Health Messages: Approaches from Communication Theory and Public Health Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA. 8 Domegan, C., Kindermann, G., Ó Brolcháin, N., Britton, E., Carlin, C., Osagie, E., O’Loughlin, M., Cormican, M., Donovan, F., Mulcahy, M., Sice, A., Yanta, C., & O’Donovan, D. (2021). Our Environment, Our Health, Our Wellbeing: Access to Blue/Green Spaces in Ireland, EPA Research Report, Dublin, Ireland. 9 Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a New Science. London: Allen Lane. 10 Darnton, A., & Kirk, M. (2011). Finding Frames: New ways to engage the UK public in global poverty, Bond, London, UK. 11 McHugh, P., Domegan, C., Devaney, M., & Hastings, G. (2015). A Set of Sea Change Guiding Principles and Protocols. EU Sea Change Project, Whitaker Institute, NUI Galway, Ireland.

Bibliography Hastings, G. (2003). ‘Relational paradigms in social marketing’, Journal of Macromarketing, 23(1): 6–15.

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Research The social marketer’s satnav This chapter examines the role of research in social marketing. It explains how it helps us to answer the key questions thrown up by the strategic planning process we have just discussed. In other words, it enables us to decide whether and how to intervene and determine if our interventions are working. In the process, we will be discussing philosophy, methodology, storytelling and digital innovation, as well as uncovering some potential pitfalls.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: ✓✓ Discuss the importance of research in social marketing. ✓✓ Outline the research decisions social marketers have to make. ✓✓ Model the research steps and methodologies that can help guide them. ✓✓ Understand what is meant by participatory research. ✓✓ Discuss the role of the story in social marketing research. ✓✓ Outline the dangers of over-reliance on research, which, paradoxically, can hinder decision making.

Keywords Action research – primary and secondary data – qualitative – quantitative – individual/group interviews – social media – digital marketing – participatory research – data – stories and storytelling.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-5

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Action research Research serves a very practical purpose in social marketing. It helps us make decisions about our interventions – what problems to tackle, for example, or which priority groups to select and work with – which are based on sound evidence. The strategic plan we have just been discussing is essentially a series of questions, which research helps us to answer. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 5.1.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 5.1 : THE SOCIAL MARKETING RESEARCH QUESTIONS You want to submit a bid to the Government Tender on Carbon Neutrality (Critical Thinking Task 2.1). Using the schema for a social marketing plan (Figure 4.1) jot down all the questions you will need to answer before bidding and, should you be successful, throughout the intervention.

Your questions divide broadly into three groups: I) First, there are Preparatory Questions that need to be answered before the detailed work of devising an intervention can begin. These focus on whether you should proceed with a given intervention. They begin with problem definition and a go/no go question: “is this an ethically sound and potentially helpful intervention being funded by a trustworthy organisation?” If the answer to all three is yes, you will progress to the situation analysis and start to answer questions about the macro and microenvironments. Again, the emphasis is on whether to proceed – for example, are there opportunities out there that your organisation has the skills and resources to exploit. II) When the answers to these initial questions are encouraging, you can move on to questions about how to intervene: to Intervention-Building Questions. You now need to establish who you want to do what, and how to make them an offer which is acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible. III) Finally you need to answer Evaluation Questions: did your efforts produce the desired results? This will not only determine your success, but as we noted in Chapter 3, help you to think about future interventions. The research methods you choose will vary with the different sorts of questions. In this chapter we will discuss these methods and examine their pros and cons. This focus on practical decision-making can be traced back to the work of Kurt Lewin1 who coined the term “action research” to emphasise the need for empirical research to go beyond the production of books and articles and help us to take action and make decisions on social phenomena. Lewin underlined the importance of incremental learning using a range of methodologies and expressed this in a cyclical research process (Figure 5.1). This cycle of research feeds into a plan of action that defines ultimate goals/objectives as well as immediate and intermediate steps, all of which are honed and adapted as the plan is implemented.

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Figure 5.1  Action research At the same time, however, the sequential model should not be applied too rigidly; because social phenomena are complex and subtle, the researcher has to be both flexible and sensitive. All these lessons transfer neatly into social marketing thinking (Figure 5.2), which sees research as a process that provides progressive learning, not just about whether and how we should intervene, but about the people with whom we want to work and build relationships.

Figure 5.2  Social marketing research – cyclical and action oriented

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RESEARCH Secondary research: uses libraries and other resources to answer questions from existing data. Primary research: collects original data to answer questions. This is essential when there are no existing studies that can be used – e.g. in gauging reactions to a new poster or intervention idea. Primary research can be: •• Qualitative: typically involving small samples of individuals who are studied in depth to cover a wide range of knowledge, attitudes, emotions and behaviours. •• Quantitative: typically involving larger samples of individuals who are more systematically selected than qualitative samples and are asked standardised questions. Digital tools have added a new dimension to these methods. Figure 5.3  The basic types of research method

We will now go through the principal stages of this research process – Preparatory, InterventionBuilding and Evaluation Questions – and consider the methods that are most appropriate for each. Figure 5.3 provides a brief typology of these methods, all of which, in the pragmatic spirit of Kurt Lewin, are used by social marketers.

Preparatory research questions As we have noted both in this chapter and in Chapter 4 when we discussed planning, these are the questions we need to consider before we even decide to proceed with a particular intervention. For the most part, they can be answered using existing data, so our principal methodology is secondary research. This data is available in libraries, especially, although not exclusively, university and other academic libraries, and also increasingly online. Google Scholar is, for example, an excellent resource. Searching secondary sources can be done with great rigour and precision using “systematic review”: “A review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. Statistical methods (metaanalysis) may or may not be used to analyse and summarise the results of the included studies.”2 This thoroughness and transparency ensures that all possible studies are included and the reader can revisit the methodology and question the findings if desired. It is invaluable when we need to resolve specific issues of cause and effect (e.g. does tobacco advertising encourage teen smoking, or do speed cameras reduce speeding?), which are likely to be hotly contested – and can even

RESEARCH finish up in the courtroom. The same qualities are also useful when testing whether a particular behaviour change approach produces results, like the studies cited in Chapter 1 showing that social marketing works. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 5.2.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 5.2:   SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Select one of the studies cited in Figure 1.2: Systemic Reviews of Social Marketing Effectiveness (Chapter 1) and examine the search methodology used. You will see how it ensures a wide coverage of the literature whilst controlling for the relevance and quality of all included studies.

Systematic reviews, however, are a time consuming and expensive procedure, and when strict cause and effect do not need to be established, a simpler narrative review will suffice. This does not demand the same level of coverage and transparency – it is more of a dip into the evidence base rather than a comprehensive appraisal. Narrative reviews will suffice for most of social marketing’s Preparatory Questions. Critical Thinking Task 5.3 illustrates how it can help you to make the first decision on any project: whether or not to go ahead (Go/No Go in Critical Thinking Task 5.3).

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 5.3: A GO/NO GO DECISION ABOUT FOSSIL FUEL FUNDING You work for an independent social marketing agency and have been approached by a major oil company, which wants to commission you to help them run a campaign to encourage cycling among teenagers as part of its “Greener Future” corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign. You are concerned that there may be a conflict of interest here and have heard that the oil industry is untrustworthy. Conduct a brief narrative review of the literature to see if your concerns are justified.

Your search should quickly reveal that the oil industry is a dubious source of funding which has for long time hindered action on climate. We will discuss this problem, and the other harms caused by overpowerful corporations putting their own financial interests before all other concerns in Chapter 7, when we address critical marketing. At this point, we need simply note that there is a massive conflict of interest at play here. The oil industry makes billions of dollars every year out of selling fossil fuels so its interest in a “Greener Future” is very questionable. Indeed, there is every chance that this CSR campaign is no more than “greenwashing” – a phoney attempt to look good whilst continuing to do harm – and so will actually be counterproductive. You should have nothing to do with it. Secondary research can also enable you to get up to speed on a particular issue. You may, for example, be responding to a government tender on illicit drug use among young people. It can tell you about the prevalence of this problem and how this compares with other social issues like

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RESEARCH Cycling is a sustainable mode of transport which is closely linked to all the complexities of modern life - urbanism, town planning, energy provision, healthcare - and involves a wide range of stakeholders. The analysis of these stakeholders made extensive use of secondary research. The literature included (a) policy papers, reports, press releases, official plans and guidelines, from national / local governments and NGOs, often in collaboration with business entities and experts; (b) academic and non-academic publications; (c) citizen submissions (mainly cyclists); (d) media coverage; (e) websites of cycling- and transport-related organisations, clubs and associations; and (f) other sources. In total, 105 highly relevant published documents were catalogued and analysed. Identified stakeholders were categorised into three groups: Incumbents who dominate and favour the status quo; Challengers who seek change; and Regulators who are responsible for running the system. The literature review was enhanced by content analysis (which reduces data to a set of categories) using Leximancer software. This produced heat-colour-coded maps representing the main concepts within the text and how they were related (themes). Keywords helped to analyse the literature too. The results of this literature review then informed the primary research. You can read more about this work here.3 Figure 5.4  Secondary research and systems thinking poverty or unemployment. Secondary sources can also reveal how previous campaigns and interventions have fared, providing valuable clues about the best way forward. Note we are not now talking simply about whether previous interventions worked, but answering the broader questions about how they were received and why. This will help you to start thinking about how you are going to proceed. Secondary data can also help with more complex tasks. Figure 5.4 describes a social marketing study about cycling, which used literature review to build up a system-wide picture of all the forces working for and against this ecological way of getting around. Thus, secondary research is a useful tool in these early stages of a social marketing project. Note though, whilst narrative reviews are less exacting than systematic reviews, there is still a need for rigour. Searches should be conducted with due care and sources carefully vetted. In particular, online searching can be hazardous if we don’t take careful note of both who funded and conducted the study, and where it is published. For example, following the points made in Critical Thinking Task 5.3, a study on youth smoking funded and conducted by a tobacco company – or any other organisation with an obvious conflict of interest – is of doubtful worth, while research published in a respected, peer-reviewed journal will be much more reliable and trustworthy.

Intervention building questions Once you start to think about how you intend to intervene, primary research – reaching out directly to your clients and stakeholders – rapidly becomes necessary. As we have already noted, it divides broadly into two types: qualitative and quantitative. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 5.4 to familiarise yourself with the basic characteristics of each.

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 5.4:  PRIMARY RESEARCH METHODS Qualitative

Quantitative

Qualitative interviewing is typically done in-depth with small, non-randomly selected samples. Rather than detailed questionnaires, interviews are guided by a schedule of “points to be covered” or a loose “script.”

Quantitative methods seek descriptive, numeric data e.g. 45% of men smoke or 83% of nurses are Covid-19 vaccinated. Collecting this reliably depends upon two key factors:

Sample selection: Samples have to be representative of a given population. Ideally, random selection is used, which ensures that each potential respondent has an equal chance of inclusion. But, as Harris4 explains, this assumes we have an accurate “sampling frame” or list of the population in question, which is often not there for vulnerable (e.g. young children, older people), underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minorities), or sensitive issues (e.g. teenage pregnancy or drug usage). It also makes sample Qualitative interviewing procedures also replenishment difficult in longitudinal allow a range of responses to be examined. research. Quota sampling methods sidestep For example, when checking reactions to an intervention idea, fairly straightforward matters these problems by identifying the key such as knowledge can be assessed, as well as variables (e.g. gender or ethnicity) and more complex issues, such as likes and dislikes ensuring these are fairly represented in the final sample. As a result, they provide a and emotional responses. The subtlety and flexibility of qualitative methods also help when pragmatic solution but lack a certain degree of statistical rigour. Whether random or researching sensitive issues such as sexual quota, quantitative research requires large health or life-threatening illness. samples – hundreds or thousands compared Qual research can be done with individuals, pairs to a few dozen in a typical qualitative study. or small groups. Individual in-depth interviews Questioning procedures: quantitative provide a clear and longitudinal view of each person’s perspective; avoid the problems of peer studies use standardised questions. It is vital and group pressure and permit the discussion of that each respondent is asked exactly the same things in the same order and, as far as extremely intimate issues. possible, the same way. Hence, we move The strengths of focus groups, on the from the free-flowing interview sequences of other hand, stem from the interaction that focus groups and depth interviews collecting takes place between respondents. In a well unique data, to carefully constructed and moderated group, the respondents are piloted questionnaires, combined with detailed essentially interviewing each other. It is this interviewer instructions, collecting common dynamic process that contributes to the data. This is necessary because answers will be “gestalt” of group discussions – the tendency summed. If we want to know how many people for the whole to amount to more than the sum use a particular service, or how pleased they of the parts. Benefits include the generation are with it, we must be able to add up their of new data, a more comfortable atmosphere answers. The questions and answers therefore for respondents and the chance to examine have to mean the same thing – otherwise, we differences in opinion and peer interaction. are adding up apples and oranges. The main advantage is the depth of the data obtained. Researchers can approach topics in an open-ended way, starting from the perspective of the respondent, using their language and ideas to develop the discussion and letting their experiences illustrate it. Thus, in contrast to questionnaire-based research, no assumptions are made about what the important issues are, how to label these, or the type of responses that might be expected.

You have been asked to build an intervention on sustainability with inner-city teens; are qualitative or quantitative methods going to be most useful? Give your reasons.

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RESEARCH As you can see, both methods have strengths and weaknesses. Qualitative methods are well suited to in-depth study, particularly of sensitive issues. Quantitative methods lend themselves to enumeration and statistical analysis – and both are valuable research attributes. It is not a matter of one being better than the other, but simply that they are suited to answering different types of questions. As the proverb has it, it’s a matter of horses for courses. The Intervention-Building stage of the social marketing process tends to lean most heavily on qualitative methods. Your key questions are who do you want to do what, and how to make them an offer which is acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible. Answering these will need the flexibility and depth of qualitative methods. In asking who, for instance, you want to know in detail what the people you are going to work with are like. Not just their demographics, such as age and gender, but their priorities and concerns, their hopes and dreams. As we said in Chapter 2, we need to understand their view of the world, to “walk a mile in their shoes.” In particular, we need to gain a thorough understanding of how they stand in relation to the topic our social marketing intervention aims to address – to define the problem from their perspective, whether it be Covid-19 vaccines or planetary breakdown. Qualitative research, whether with individuals or groups, can then examine what role, if any, a particular intervention might perform. Assuming it has a role, the what question can now be addressed: campaign objectives can be clarified, and a precise brief given to the production and delivery teams. Working out how to bring about change, and design offers that meet the social marketing ideal of being acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible require the same depth of insight. A dynamic process of formative and pretesting research can gradually perfect solutions. If we add to this ideas about relationship building and turning our clients (and stakeholders) into partners who can become actively involved in the co-creation of value rather than mere targets, research takes on a more complex and sophisticated form. The term that is used for this deeper approach is “participatory research” and it involves a process of learning and reflection, followed by action, and then by more learning and reflection, and so on. Crucially, research is carried out with people rather than on them; potential “subjects” of research are given the power to help define the research problem, collect and analyse the data, interpret its meaning and communicate it to others. They – not the research team or the funder – own the findings and the goal is to take action, rather than simply to create knowledge.5 The Case Studies illustrate the power of this type of research. In Case Study #17 (Jones et al), ground-breaking research into lived experiences empowered the autism community to express their desire for the public to have an increased awareness of five common challenges: difficulties in social situations, anxiety about unexpected changes, needing extra time to process information, sensory sensitivities and meltdowns. In Case Study #15, Merritt and Skau, in their efforts to make children’s breakfasts in Armenia healthier, ran co-design workshops with 30 children and their parents to create the campaign messages, logo and materials. Similarly in Case Studies #5 (Donnar et al) and #10 (Lopez Cordova et al), participatory research, co-designing and co-creating insights into the problem and ways forward were key to progress on both gender and ecology. Participatory research connects to the importance of stories and storytelling. In his book Sapiens, Yuval Harari explains how vital these are to human development. They enable us to develop and express a shared understanding of the world, and to pool our collective imaginations. “Churches,”

RESEARCH he explains, “are rooted in common religious myths … states are rooted in common national myths … judicial systems are rooted in common legal myths … Yet none of these things exist outside the stories that people invent and tell each other. There are no gods in the universe, no nations, no money, no human rights, no law and no justice outside the common imagination of human beings.”6 Stories and storytelling, he points out, have made it possible for us to cooperate with each other in much greater numbers than would otherwise be possible. They explain the development of human society beyond small tribes – to cities, nation states, international and global institutions. This ability to work together is going to be vital in the effort to combat the complex, multifaceted problems – inequalities and the climate crisis – we now face, and we will discuss the power of the story to provide solutions to these in subsequent chapters. But here our interest is in research: listening to our client’s stories, enabling them to tell them and so explain their view of the world, which provides invaluable social marketing insights. Critical Thinking Task 5.5 concerns breastfeeding (See Case Study #14, The Baby Killer Revisited, for a discussion of the benefits of breast feeding over bottle feeding.). You are a social marketer charged with the task of promoting breast feeding in Kate’s community. What does her story tell you about how you would set about the task? Think about this using the client, collective, competitive and creative orientations we discussed in Chapter 2.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 5.5:   KATE’S STORY Well I just live up the road really. Eh . . . I’ve already got two kids, this is ma third. Em I’ve got a brother, a sister, and a mum . . . em never really knew ma dad. Eh . . . basically a bottle-fed em . . . the two before and I’m not dead against breastfeeding, I just . . . I can’t really be doing wi’ people like pushing stuff on me so I . . . like breastfeeding’s something that . . . it’s not really a done thing to do around here . . . I’m not . . . like ma friends just . . . I know none of ma friends do it and a don’t really wanna be like gettin’, you know, ma boobs out in public an’ that, like, I don’t wanna have the physical changes and . . . but the main thing is that I just really can’t be doing wi’ people talking down to me. I didn’t really do well at school, I left school when I was 14, so I really couldn’t have, like, a tolerance for people in authority, so you know, an’, I’ve decided that it’s just easier if a try make ma mind up myself but you know . . . and speak to midwives and stuff like that . . . they just forcing it an’ it’s making me like a bit apprehensive and a little bit anxious an’ a just can’t be doing wi’ it to be honest . . . so it’s something that I’m a little bit like indecisive about. Eh, Bradley’s 4 and Louise is 18 months now. A don’t know whether she’s doing her job properly or not to be honest because all the information she gives me I just dun’t even listen to her because it’s the way she says it, it’s the . . . she’s not asking . . . well she’s not advising me, she’s like telling me and it’s more of a . . . she’s saying stuff that . . . what’s on her form what she needs to fill out and a don’t . . . I just don’t like the attitude, so it’s probably my own fault really (continued)

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(continued) for switching off, but I automatically do cos I don’t like somebody talking down to me about something that I feel that is totally my decision an’ it makes me a little bit . . . well, not bothered really, so a can’t even be bothered. So if, you know, like a say I’m not even against breastfeeding, a just don’t like everything that comes with it an’ the pressure of being told that breastfeeding is best an’ a know that it’s best, but you know it’s a big responsibility an’ . . . bottles just ten times easier and I have got a big social life . . . an’ you know, midwives like, ‘yeah well you can express and stuff’, but I’ve heard that hurts so . . . she talks down to me a little bit, a just don’t like her attitude so I tend to switch off.

Kate’s dislike of authority, having stuff pushed on her, being talked down to and being told what to do all seriously detract from any sense of agency and empowerment she might have around breastfeeding – which as she says is “totally my decision”. Kate is telling you there is currently no client orientation happening. She is ‘switched off’ and not open to behaviour change. The collective picture reinforces this unease about breastfeeding which is not the ‘done thing’ where she lives or among her friends. Meanwhile the competition – infant formula – is doing well: expressing milk is associated with pain, while bottle-feeding is easier, more acceptable and fits with her social life. Finally, creativity is clearly in short supply; Kate feels she is simply being hectored. Thus Kate’s story tells you a great deal about the challenges in promoting breastfeeding among her and her friends. It is going to need something much more profound than some clever communications or a catchy slogan. The problems are structural: Kate is marginalised and her circumstances are deeply unsupportive of breastfeeding. Any intervention needs to address this social context as well as her as an individual. In Lawrence Wallack’s terminology, there is a need to move upstream (refer back to Figure 2.2): to address inequalities, to improve the culture of social services and regulate the marketing of infant formula. We will return to this broader approach in Chapter 10. But telling her story is, as educator and philosopher Paulo Freire argues, a vital first step: “the silenced are not just incidental to the curiosity of the researcher but are the masters of inquiry into the underlying causes of the events in their world.”7 This illustrates the core principle of participatory research: that people who wouldn’t usually have a great deal of power or influence are empowered, through research, to change things for themselves and their communities. So, the participatory researcher becomes a catalyst and facilitator of the process, rather than the sole seeker, interpreter and owner of knowledge. As the liberation theologist Víctor Codina argues: “it is not about giving them a fish; it is not even about teaching them to fish – it is about recognising their stewardship of the river.”8 We in social marketing need to remember that, when it comes to their own lives, our clients – our partners – are always stewards of the river. Furthermore, as we noted in Chapter 1, the right to be involved in the process of progressive change, to be the authors of our own fate, is now recognised in international law. We will return to this participatory theme when we discuss ethical issues in Chapter 9.

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Online research As in secondary research, digital research tools can help with intervention-building questions. Increasingly there is both a dynamic and synergistic relationship between our behaviours on and offline, and research methods which respond to this can capture our experiences and reactions in great detail and as they happen.9 Jones et al.,10 for example, found that “social media use was frequently, and often spontaneously, discussed when talking about drinking behaviours, illustrating the extent to which alcohol and social media use have become conjoined in young adults’ lives, and suggesting efforts to reduce alcohol-related harms in this age group will need to appreciate and accommodate the relationship between these two pastimes.” Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn), along with apps and online games, contain massive quantities of data about their users on a vast range of topics. Researchers can engage with this in a number of ways. Social media monitoring involves the collection of data on metrics such as the number of topic mentions and engagement rates. Go to Case Study #16 (Earl and Kennedy) on the fashion sector to see the metrics that were monitored among consumers, industry and policy makers. Social Listening is another possibility. It again involves tracking social media platforms for mentions and conversations associated with particular topics or activities (Newberry, 2021), but the aim is to go a step further and uncover the language being used and stories being told. There are many paid and free platforms available (e.g. Hootsuite, Hubspot, Social Mentions) that will carry out the data collection aspect of social listening. The crucial point is to have the appropriate key terms identified and have a full understanding of what the different platforms can offer you. Once you have collected your data you need to put it all together and analyse it. Some useful procedures include: ••

Sentiment analysis, which captures emotional responses in text, rating buttons and emoticons. These might be categorised into positive, negative or neutral.11

••

Content analysis, which examines topics, words, phrases or other units of content and distils them into meaningful categories.12

••

Narrative analysis: “in which stories are used to describe human action.”13

To see the application and outcomes of Social Listening research, consult Case Study #18 (Domegan et al) which examines the relationships we all have with the natural world – a vital issue for the planet. Digital place analysis, mapping how people navigate between their virtual and real lives, is another research option. Tools such as Google’s Campaign planner, Google Trends and Keyword Planners can help identify client segments, partners, key online influencers and channels and understand the client’s journeys.

The pros and cons of digital research Online research has some practical advantages over analogue research. The data is collected automatically without need for pre-planned interviews or detailed questionnaires, which minimises data recording errors and avoids the artificiality of formal interviews. Because it is essentially a

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RESEARCH form of eavesdropping (the speaker doesn’t know you are listening), the data is not prone to the interviewer bias that can result from direct questions. For example, a teenager’s comments about his drinking may be edited to please an adult interviewer but not when posting on social media. (On the other hand, this doesn’t mean he is telling the truth!) Digital channels also make it possible to study issues that might raise problems if raised directly with certain populations. For example, discussing attitudes and behaviour around alcohol with young teens in a focus group may unintentionally normalise drinking behaviour (Jones et al, 2017); the passivity of social listening avoids this danger. But online research also has significant pitfalls. It can undermine inclusivity; not everyone is online, and internet access is skewed towards advantaged populations. You have to be able to buy and run a smart phone or live in a country with good broadband reach to be included in studies. Digital methods will be of much less use, for example, if you are working with refugees, low-income groups or people living in the Global South. There are also serious ethical concerns, particularly regarding privacy. Even with protective regulation such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), much online research remains a form of eavesdropping – which is another name for spying. Finally, exploiting the full power of digital research also requires extensive financial and technological resources, which are beyond the reach of most social marketers. You need access to powerful data harvesting tools, sophisticated algorithms, and the capacity to harness artificial intelligence. Indeed, the most impressive (or alarming) examples of big data manipulation need the active collaboration of the tech giants, who control access to so much online data. The company Cambridge Analytica became notorious when it used digital tools to influence voting behaviour. We will discuss the case in detail in Chapter 7 where we examine Critical Marketing (see, for example, Critical Thinking Task 7.6); at this point though we can simply note that Cambridge Analytica needed Facebook’s help to do what it did.

Evaluation questions The third phase of the social marketing research cycle focuses on outcomes: what progress has been made as a result of the intervention? There are two ways of thinking about this: 1. Process Evaluation: was your intervention delivered as intended? 2. Outcome Evaluation: did your intervention have the intended effect; did it fulfil its objectives? In both cases, the focus turns more to quantitative methods. Qualitative methods can play a useful role in explaining why an intervention did or didn’t work for example, but the emphasis is on the “descriptive, numeric data” examined in Critical Thinking Task 5.4. Process Evaluation focuses on whether your intervention is delivered as intended (how many training courses were run, or leaflets handed out and so on). Figure 5.5 gives the example of a complex drug education programme where there was a need to check how faithfully and consistently materials were delivered. It also shows how the

RESEARCH Think, for example, about a drug education package designed to be taught by classroom teachers in 20 different schools, by 50 different teachers. Even if teachers are supplied with exactly the same package, the same written instructions on how to use it and the same training in its methods, how they teach the package is likely to vary widely depending on how confident they feel about drug education, whether they agree philosophically with the approach taken in the package, whether they volunteered to teach the package or are doing it unwillingly, whether their classroom space is suitable for the activities, whether their head teacher values drug education and makes them feel it is worthwhile, whether parents support or oppose teaching their children about drugs, and many other factors. Process evaluation of programme implementation is an essential part of any social marketing research study, not only because it yields valuable learning in itself (for example, about the challenges of doing drug education in schools) but also because it can help explain the final results of a research study. Supposing our drug education research study finds that the package does not seem to have produced any changes in pupils’ attitudes towards drugs: without process evaluation, we cannot know whether this is because the package was a bad package or whether it was just poorly implemented. Figure 5.5  The Benefits Process Evaluation14 monitoring of implementation fits in with other stages of research, reminding us that social marketing research fits into an ongoing cyclical process as depicted in Figure 5.2. In Case Study #15 (Merritt and Skau), on childhood nutrition in Armenia, process evaluation showed how egg consumption had increased among visitors to households. The starting point for outcome evaluation must be our objectives, as the social marketing planning process teaches us (Chapter 4). It is not possible to measure achievements without clear original intentions. This reinforces the importance of well-defined objectives in any project. There are essentially two kinds of objectives. First, there are those concerned with the target’s reactions to an intervention – whether they are aware of it, have participated in it, understood it and so on. Second, there are objectives concerned with changes in the priority population – whether, for example, there are fewer accidents as a result of a safe driving intervention, or whether, following a seatbelt promotion campaign, the priority population has become more aware of the value of seatbelts, more in favour of them or more likely to use them. These two types of objectives require different evaluation procedures, but both are essentially quantitative. Measuring reactions to an intervention is fairly straightforward. Once the intervention is complete, the audience simply has to be asked about it (e.g. have they seen the relevant advertising, or used the service?). Provided that the research methodology is sound, reliable data will result. However, it may be argued that objectives and evaluations that are restricted purely to response are too limited. Social marketing aims to bring about social change, so change is what should be measured when evaluating its effectiveness. Thinking again about Case Study #15, outcome evaluation measured healthy breakfast consumption in both parents and children pre and post their respective interventions. This showed an

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RESEARCH Thalidomide was developed in the 1950s by the West German pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal GmbH to expand the company’s product range beyond antibiotics. It was an anticonvulsive drug, but instead it made users sleepy and relaxed. It seemed a perfect example of newly fashionable tranquilisers. ... Animal tests did not include tests looking at the effects of the drug during pregnancy. The apparently harmless thalidomide was licensed in July 1956 for prescription-free over-the-counter sale in Germany and most European countries. The drug also reduced morning sickness, so it became popular with pregnant women. . . . There was an increase in births of thalidomide-impaired children in Germany and elsewhere. However, no link with thalidomide was made until 1961. The drug was only taken off the market after the German Widukind Lenz and the Australian William McBride independently suggested the link. Over 10,000 children were born with thalidomide-related disabilities worldwide. There was a long criminal trial in Germany and a British newspaper campaign. They forced Grünenthal and its British licensee, the Distillers Company, to give financial support to victims of the drug. Thalidomide led to tougher testing and drug approval procedures in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Figure 5.6  The thalidomide scandal15 increase in the number of parents and children eating a healthy breakfast across all groups receiving the interventions, with the greatest increase seen in the school where the full programme was implemented. Furthermore, a “control” school, a school with no intervention, showed a decrease. This research design – pre and post intervention measures with a control group – is an excellent example of robust evaluation. However, measuring change in a population and attributing it to a particular intervention or policy change is a complex process. It requires a rigorous experimental and longitudinal design, randomly ascribing subjects to either an experimental or a matched control group. The first group is exposed to the intervention, and both are monitored before and after the trial. Inferential statistics are then used to determine whether (or not) the intervention had any effect. The overriding aim is to separate out the effects of the intervention from any other possible change agents – most notably there is a need to discount the impact of the characteristics and volition of the different populations. The methods were perfected to test new medicines, and the importance of doing this with great thoroughness is illustrated by the thalidomide scandal (see Figure 5.6). As we discussed with systematic review above, these methods can also be useful in assessing major policy changes – such as control on tobacco or fastfood advertising – which are adversarial, and measures can be challenged. Hard and fast proof of effectiveness can also ensure the development of an evidence base, which will be helpful in other jurisdictions. For example, a carefully constructed analysis of the effects of alcohol advertising on young people’s drinking in the UK, using control groups, and longitudinal design (the study took 4 years to complete) provides a helpful basis for controls on alcohol advertising in other countries.16

RESEARCH However, these methods can be less useful for assessing the complex social and behavioural interventions typical in social marketing. It is not that we can be less cautious about our offerings than a surgeon or the policy maker. A badly conceived drug prevention programme that hectors and patronises might actually increase the attractiveness of illicit substances. In addition, the programme will typically use public money, so it is important to know this is being well spent. Furthermore, as we will discuss in Chapter 9, there are serious ethical issues to consider in behaviour change. All of this demands that we treat our offerings with great care. On the other hand, the Hippocratic principle, advising us first and foremost to do no harm, can be too limiting a guide when inactivity is also dangerous. Think of the UN SDGs or any of our Case Studies: doing nothing allows the harmful behavioural and structural forces at work to perpetuate the problem, or worse accelerate the negative trajectory already locked into the system. Focusing on testing the intervention before we proceed also underrates the importance of the client in the change process. Think again about our discussions of relationship building in Chapter 2 and the idea that satisfaction, trust and commitment are key outcomes. How people feel about what we are doing will help determine what behaviour change results. Add to this the idea that our clients are not just recipients, but co-designers of improved health or community safety with whom we conduct participatory research. From these perspectives, limiting our studies to the isolated influence of the intervention seems overly narrow. Or, as Stead et al.17 put it, “the traditional biomedical approach to evaluation, with the randomised controlled trial as its gold standard, has limited relevance for the analysis of complex health promotion interventions.” The danger with the “intervention testing mentality” is that the people we want to reach, to build relationships and work with, become marginalised. Their volition, their agency is seen as a distraction to be factored out, rather than a resource to be built on. This both limits our effectiveness and risks alienating our clients. As the songwriter Jez Lowe expresses it: So you people in power and position I tell you beware, I tell you beware Of your facts and your figures to tell you what, when and where ‘Cos your facts and your figures are the likes of me And don’t try and tell me how me life should be – or you won’t make old bones18 Getting overconcerned with measuring directly attributable change also undermines the idea of the progressive, cyclical research process in social marketing (Figure 4.2). The evaluation of effectiveness is only part of the research function that takes place throughout the development and implementation of a given programme of change. As we have already discussed, relationships and value co-creation take time – time to be established, time to be built and time to be maintained. Nothing stands still. This process needs constant monitoring more than expensive and time-consuming ad hoc attempts to determine if it worked. Patricia McHugh et al and the EU Sea for Society team capture the notion of monitoring this constant change through continuous mindful evaluation in Figure 5.7. This is exactly the sort of long-term thinking you need if you are going to tackle the challenges in Government Tender on Carbon Neutrality in Critical Thinking Task 2.1.

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Reflective question Preparatory What’s happening?

Co-discovery – Your intervention is in development. • Partners are assembling the core elements of their offerings and interventions, developing action plans and exploring different strategies and activities. • There is a degree of uncertainty as to what will work and how.

Reflective question

• New questions, challenges, and opportunities are emerging. What needs to happen?

Intervention building

Co-design – Your intervention is evolving and being refined.

What’s happening?

• The core elements of your intervention are in place and partners are implementing agreed strategies and activities. • Outcomes are becoming more predictable.

Reflective Question

• The context of your intervention is increasingly well-understood. How well is your intervention working?

Evaluation

Co-delivery – Your intervention is stable and established.

What’s happening?

• Your intervention is well-established. • Implementers have significant experience and increasing certainty about “what works.”

Reflective question

• Your intervention is ready for a determination of impact, merit, value, or significance. What differences did your intervention make?

Figure 5.7  Reflective evaluation research19

Don’t overdo it This chapter has shown how research is vital to the social marketing process. It guides our progress through the strategic plan, and beyond, helping not just to produce more effective interventions, but understand our clients, stakeholders and the whole change process more thoroughly. It is our satnav, and if applied adroitly will light the way to long-term progress. This strategic vision is essential with profound and complex problems like climate breakdown. But like any other satnav, if followed too slavishly, research can get us into trouble, like the driver who followed the in-car GPS into a lake!20 It is perhaps surprising to end a chapter about social marketing research with a warning against becoming too dependent on it, but there are such dangers. They stem from misunderstanding about how research and decision-making fit together, and the importance of strategic purpose. As we have seen, a mix of research methodologies is used to guide decision making and intervention strategies in social marketing. However, it is important to recognise that research does not make decisions for us; it is not a matter of delegating the tough choices to a focus group or a survey. The client group’s expertise is in responding, not social marketing or intervention design.

RESEARCH For example, fear campaigns are sometimes justified on the grounds that priority groups ask for them, opting for some variant on the blackened, cancerous lung or bloody car smash – the gorier the better. This misses the point of pre-testing. Smokers and drivers have a great deal to tell us about what it is like to be on the receiving end of different interventions, but they do not know which ones are most effective. They are clients, not consultants or social scientists. In other closely related spheres, we readily accept this argument. We recognise, for instance, that most people are not experts in human behaviour, not even their own. So we would not simply ask smokers why they smoke, and take their answers at face value. Indeed, in the 1980s, when the tobacco industry did precisely this to try to show that advertising had no effect on children’s smoking (Jenkins 198821), their research was rightly dismissed. There are also times when decisions have to be made without any research. Social marketers have to cope when there are no data available and leave space for imagination, lateral thinking and educated guesses. For the truth is, all research can do is lessen the risk that we get things wrong. It can reduce uncertainty; it cannot produce certainty. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink (200522), reminds us of the power of intuition. He tells the story of a Kuoros, an ancient Cretan statue that was offered to the John Paul Getty Museum in California. The museum subjected the potential exhibit to 14 months of very careful and highpowered scientific analysis to try to ascertain whether it was genuine. Their research provided reassurance, and they were on the verge of buying the Kuoros when a visiting expert looked at it and immediately warned against the purchase. He had done no research, no science, but just felt the statue was dubious. Other experts then responded in a similar negative way, again on the basis of intuition. The statue was a fake. Gladwell does not conclude that we should therefore abandon science and go back to guess work. Indeed, he points out that gut feel can be just as misleading, and in any case the experts will have educated their instincts with years of scientific rigour. He simply argues that we should leave space for intuition in our decision making. Social marketers agree.

Wrap-up We started this chapter with the strategic plan and went on to show how social marketing research helps answer all the questions it throws up. Like the plan, social marketing research is a cyclical, dynamic process which adopts a strategic perspective combining long-term planning with empathy for our partners. It is our satnav guiding us to progressive social change. The Swiss response to the challenge of HIV/AIDS provides a good example of the value of this type of integrative, strategic research model. In 1987, they were faced with an urgent problem of having the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Europe. A wide-ranging prevention programme was instigated, and, after an initial assessment of the first wave of publicity, a comprehensive and ongoing evaluation approach was adopted. They describe this as a “comprehensive, utilisationfocused evaluation” that “seeks to produce results of immediate value to the development of the prevention strategy and includes a continual process of questioning and feedback between the

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RESEARCH strategy makers and other potential users of the findings and the evaluators.”23 They conclude that this approach to research “allows for a ‘real world’ verification of strategic choices that in turn can guide further resource allocation and, last but not least, can help to maintain a high level of commitment of the different stakeholders.”24 Social marketing suggests that this thinking can be applied not just to HIV/AIDS prevention programmes as in Switzerland, but to social and behavioural change more generally. Indeed, given the scale of the climate crisis we now face, it is the only sensible way to proceed. It is now three years since the UN gave us ten years to save the planet; we can’t afford to spend another four years finding an effective intervention – like the Swiss, we just need to get on with it.

Reflective questions 1. What is the purpose of research in social marketing? 2. Secondary research lends itself to systematic or narrative reviews. Explain. 3. Critique the two types of primary research: qualitative and quantitative and discuss when they might be used in social marketing. 4. Discuss the navigational and empathetic benefits of research in social marketing. 5. Quantitative research is concerned with sampling and questioning in a way qualitative research is not. Discuss with brief examples.

Reflective assignments 1. Choose a health and an environmental UN SDG and devise a research plan for positive behaviour change. 2. Find a large-scale social marketing survey and develop three success stories around the data.2 3. You are a team comprising of (a) social marketing consultants, (b) a local city council and (c) a PR agency. You have been charged with developing and running an intervention to encourage rainwater collection. How will you use research to help you to develop and evaluate your intervention? What research methods would you use? 4. Evaluate how your answers to question 2 might change if you were just using online research? 5. Go to the Journal of Social Marketing or Social Marketing Quarterly, download and read an article on qualitative or quantitative research to challenge your thinking on this topic.

Notes 1 Lewin, K. (1951). Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers. Cartwright D. (ed). New York: Harper & Row. 2 https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/research-methods/ 1a-epidemiology/systematic-reviews-methods-combining-data 3 Brychkov, D., Domegan, C., & McHugh, P. (2022). “Coming and going in loops: Participatory modelling of a system with all its complexity’, Journal of Macromarketing, 42(1), 12–29. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/02761467211062504

RESEARCH 4 Harris, F. (2011). ‘Measurement in quantitative methods’, ch. 15 In G. Hastings, K. Angus, & C. Bryant (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Social Marketing. London: Sage Publications Ltd. 5 Dietrich, T., Rundle-Thiele, S., Schuster, L., & Connor, J. (2016). ‘Co-designing social marketing programs’, Journal of Social Marketing, 6 (1), 41–61, doi: 10.1108/JSOCM-01-2015-0004 6 Harari, Y. (2011). Sapiens a Brief History of Humankind. Vintage, pp. 30–31. 7 Freire, P. (1982). ‘Creating alternative research methods. Learning to do it by doing it’. In B. Hall, A. Gillette, & R. Tandon (eds), Creating Knowledge: A Monopoly. New Delhi: Society for Participatory Research in Asia, pp. 30–31. 8 Codina, V. (1985). ‘Teología de la liberación y teología oriental: una aproximación’, Revista latinoamericana de teología 2(5): 147–170. 9 Suzan Burton Paul Nesbit. (2015). Capturing experiences as they happen: Diary data collection for social marketing’, Journal of Social Marketing, 5(4), 307–323, doi: 10.1108/JSOCM-09-2014-0061. 10 Jones, S., Pettigrew, S., Biagioni, N., Daube, M., Chikritzhs, T., Stafford, J., & Tran, J. (2017). ‘Young adults, alcohol and Facebook: A synergistic relationship’, Journal of Social Marketing, 7(2) pp 172-87. 11 Newberry, C. (2021). ‘What is social listening, why it matters, and 10 tools to make it easier’, Available at: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-listening-business/#:~:text=Social%20listening% 20is%20tracking%20social,to%20discover%20opportunities%20to%20act (Accessed 17 May 2022). 12 Neuendorf, K.A. (2002). Defining Content Analysis: Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 13 Polkinghorne, D.E. (1995). ‘Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23. 14 Stead, M., Hastings, G., & Eadie, D. (2002). ‘The challenge of evaluating complex interventions: A framework for evaluating media advocacy’, Health Education Research Theory and Practice, 17(3): 351–364. 15 www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/controversies/thalidomide.aspx 16 Casswell, S., Meier, P., MacKintosh, A.M., Brown, A., Hastings, G., Thamarangsi, T., Chaiyasong, S., Chun, S., Huckle, T., Wall, M., & You, R.Q. (2012). ‘The international alcohol control (IAC) study— evaluating the impact of alcohol policies. Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research’, 36(8): 1462–1467. 17 Stead et al. (2002) op cit p. 354. 18 Lowe, J. (1985). Old Bones Lowe Life Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S71vvfWVtTk 19 McHugh, P. & Domegan, C. (2017). ‘Evaluate development! Develop evaluation! Answering the call for a reflexive turn in social marketing’, Journal of Social Marketing, 7(2): 135–155. 20 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/14/woman-following-sat-nav-drives-car-straightinto-lake/ 21 Jenkins, J. (1988) ‘Tobacco advertising and children: Some Canadian findings’, International Journal of Advertising, 7(4): 357–357. 22 Gladwell, M. (2005) Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. London: Allen Lane. 23 Dubois-Arber et al. (1999), p. 2573. 24 ibid., 2580.

Bibliography Dietrich, T., Rundle-Thiele, S., Schuster, L., & Connor, J. (2016). ‘Co-designing social marketing programs’, Journal of Social Marketing, 6(1): 41–61, doi: 10.1108/JSOCM-01-2015-0004 Harari, Y. (2011). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Vintage.

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Chapter 

How social marketers communicate The search for compelling content This chapter looks in detail at communications: how they work and the crucial role they can play in our efforts to bring about progressive change. We say “can play” because the media is a tool that needs to be selected with care, honed with research, used with sensitivity and combined with other social marketing techniques. In addition, social marketing communications need to speak to our hearts as well as our heads and recognise the profound role of stories for us humans. Once again, this emphasises the need for strategic thinking. Like all powerful tools, we also need to treat the media with caution: in unscrupulous hands, it can and does do great harm.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: ✓✓ Explain that social marketers recognise that the message sent is not necessarily the same as the message received – and that it is the latter that matters, ✓✓ Recognise that this underpins the need for careful developmental, process and outcome research to guide and monitor campaigns, ✓✓ Justify the potential of positive emotion and branding in social marketing, ✓✓ Discuss the role of digital marketing in social marketing and ✓✓ Explain that communications are only part of the social marketing process.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-6

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE

Keywords Communication – active audiences – opinion leaders – participatory communication – projective techniques – source effects – branding – stories and storytelling – Mitakuya Oyasin – caution.

Lessons from Gettysburg As we have already noted, communication lies at the heart of any collective human project. Our ability to exchange ideas with each other – to talk, to listen, to share and to explain – enables collaboration. Our stories take this to a grander scale and help us construct shared purpose and meaning. International trade, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our response to climate breakdown, all depend on our ability to reach out to one another. Inevitably then, communication also plays a crucial role in social marketing. Furthermore, both human communication and social marketing have in common the vital insight that success depends as much on the recipient – the audience for the communication or the client in a social marketing programme – as the message sender or the social marketer. Abraham Lincoln understood this very well when he gave his famous speech in the Gettysburg military cemetery at the end of the American Civil War. He can also teach us some other important lessons about effective communication and – although he would certainly not have heard of it – social marketing. Try and work out what they are in Critical Thinking Task 6.1.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.1:  LINCOLN’S LESSONS ON COMMUNICATION Read Lincoln’s speech (this is the whole of it) and think through why it proved so powerful and memorable. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, 18631

First, Lincoln clearly understood his audience. Speaking as he was on the remnants of a battlefield, with half the dead still unburied, he was careful to invoke the heroism of the soldier, and he used this powerful symbolism to reframe the war as a historic struggle for freedom and emancipation. In the century and a half since Gettysburg, our understanding of how mass communication works has been honed through decades of academic and applied research – and this understanding shows how astute Lincoln was. In particular, it is now clear that every audience is actively involved in the communication process: what we understand from and how we react to a particular message is as much a function of us and our experiences as it is of the content. It is therefore crucial for social marketers to use careful audience research to guide the development and monitor the impact of their communications. We will discuss these research challenges in this chapter. Lincoln also made very effective use of emotion. He understood that our intentions and behaviour are led by our hearts as well as our heads. Our feelings matter. Much public health and social change activity adopts a positivist perspective, assuming that, if we are told that behaviour A has negative consequences, we will respond by changing to behaviour B; that we will logically weigh up the pros and cons and do the sensible, healthy and safe thing. In reality, life is more complex than this; I will continue to eat chocolate and drink beer despite the health risks because they make me feel good – and for me, feeling good is an important part of being healthy. Similarly, my friend has bought himself a gas-guzzling SUV despite the damage he knows it is doing to the planet because it makes him feel successful and rugged, and he will speed in it on his way to work because, even though this will not get him there much faster (all the other SUVs on the road will see to that), it gives him the reassuring illusion of being in control. Life is imperfect and emotion plays a big part in the strategies we deploy to cope with it. Attempts to encourage us to change our behaviour for the better must take this into account, as we will discuss below. Thirdly, Lincoln told a story. As we discussed in the last chapter, we human beings love stories: they give our lives purpose, help us cope with uncertainties and above all enable us to hope. He presented the vision of an enlightened and responsive political system – government of the people, by the people, for the people. He was putting them in charge, and this at a time when democracy barely existed anywhere else in the world. The power of his story is demonstrated by its longevity. You may be surprised to learn that Lincoln was not the main speaker at Gettysburg; that honour went to Edward Everett, another eminent politician. Everett spoke for over two hours, but few now remember him or what he said. He recognised Lincoln’s accomplishment: “I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”2 That is the power of the story, which we will explore further in this chapter. Before we start, though, we must thank Abraham Lincoln for a final great lesson. His speech reminds us that communication – however well crafted, however appealing – is but a small part of what is needed to bring about social change. Remember, as well as making a great oration, he also had to get re-elected, win a war and abolish slavery! So it is with social marketing. Communications can form an important part of our work, but they are only one element of our offering – which, in turn, is but one step in the strategic planning process.

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE “RADIO LISTENERS IN PANIC, TAKING RADIO WAR DRAMA AS FACT” “RADIO PLAY TERRIFIES NATION” “RADIO FAKE SCARES NATION” “RADIO STATION’S ATTACK BY MARS PANICS THOUSANDS” “FAKE RADIO ‘WAR’ SPREADS TERROR THROUGH US” “WELLS’ FANTASY CAUSES FEAR IN THE US” Figure 6.1  Headlines after Wells’ broadcast5

How communication works In 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a new dramatisation of the science fiction story War of the Worlds by H G Wells. Listen to it here.3 The programme caused a great deal of public panic, as the headlines of the time show (Figure 6.1). You can also read a review of the broadcast which reinforces the point here.4 The effect was dramatic. Around a million Americans actually believed that the science fiction story was true, and little green men from Mars were invading Earth and about to march on to New York. The result was extensive public panic, with people actually getting killed in the ensuing rush to avoid the invaders – and the US rules of public broadcasting being changed forever. From our perspective, the events also had a more subtle impact: they engrained a perception that the mass media are extremely powerful, and that all that is needed to get people to do as you want is to design a suitably clever message. The contemporaneous rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and the central role played by Goebbels’ infamous Ministry of Propaganda, served to reinforce this omnipotent reputation. However, decades of research done since these events shows that this picture is misleading. Early models in communication theory did characterise the process as a one-way phenomenon, involving an active message sender and a completely passive recipient. Analogies are often drawn between this model and a hypodermic syringe: just as the doctor injects the drug into the patient, so the communicator injects the message into the audience. In both cases, the effects are both predictable and easily measured. The reality is more complex, and more sophisticated models were needed. These duly emerged. They included the multi-step models initially proposed by Katz and Lazarsfeld,6 involving opinion leaders and other key influencers in the process of communication; the use and gratification approaches,7,8 which depict the listener or viewer as deliberately using the media rather than vice versa, and cultural effects models, which place the media in a cultural context and see its effects as indirect and long term.9 We can add to this postmodernism and what it tells us about the importance of symbolism and cultural meaning to consumption, whether of products or messages.10 Deep waters indeed. Interestingly, thinking in communication theory is replicated in advertising. Early models of advertising conceptualised the process as a hierarchy of effects on consumers – typically cognitive (e.g. product awareness), affective (e.g. product liking) and then conative (e.g. product purchase). However, these “linear sequential models” have also been heavily criticised.11 As with

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE early communication theory, they assume a passive audience, ignore the effects of significant others and present an overly tidy picture of how communication actually works. Indeed, it has become increasingly apparent that it is at least as relevant to ask “What do people do to advertising?” as “What does advertising do to people?”12 The realisation that communication is a two-way street and that the audience is an active participant in message design rather than just a passive recipient, fits well with social marketing thinking. The concepts we have discussed in previous chapters – client orientation, relationship building and the co-creation of value – fit well with the notion of change being achieved by doing things with rather than to people. The idea that our clients’ views, concerns and priorities have to guide the communication process is not a revelation or a problem, but a natural way forward. Which brings us back to Mr Welles. He was undoubtedly a very talented communicator and his production was immensely innovative. He tried to imagine how the media would cover a real alien invasion, and then painstakingly set about creating this effect. Although a radio theatre slot, the production began as a concert which was then interrupted with increasingly alarming news flashes building up the story from Mars. Senior astronomers, scientists and military figures were interviewed as if an alien invasion was actually happening. If you scroll down to the posts under the YouTube recording, you can read people’s actual experiences: “My dad was 6 years old and living in Philadelphia, when he and my grandparents listened to this, on the radio. My dad said, that he remembered how the neighbours were all coming out of their houses, and looking up at the sky, to see if it was all real” “I was 12 years old listening to this with my Mother and Father and 2 brothers from Morristown New Jersey we were all scared to death except my Dad who kept saying screw those damn Martians.” It was brilliantly original; no one had done such a thing before. But the real power came from the audience. In 1930s’ America, the radio was a new and highly respected source of information; its speed of dissemination meant it had displaced the press as the primary channel of urgent news. At the same time, the stock market crash and resulting depression had shaken belief in capitalism and the American Dream. Fascism was also on the rise in Europe and Asia, and there was genuine concern of an invasion of the west coast by Japan (Pearl Harbour was only three years away). So the US population was both trusting and vulnerable. More specifically, those who tuned in late, and so missed the announcement that this was a piece of theatre, thought they were listening to a real concert and were much more likely to be taken in by the phoney news flashes. They then rang friends, advising them to tune in – adding people to the audience, who were already convinced they were listening to a news broadcast. These two groups drove the panic. The lesson for social marketers, then, is not that the media is in and of itself all powerful, but that if you get to know your audience well enough – their hang-ups and vulnerabilities, their aspirations and disappointments, the times in which they live, who they listen to and believe – you can use mass media to connect with them very effectively. Welles’ genius lay in his ability to see his production through the eyes of his audience. He understood their trust in the radio, their susceptibility to word of mouth, their insecurity caused by the depression and the rise of fascism in

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE Europe and especially Japan. We social marketers, for the most part, do not have Welles’ artistic sensibilities or skills, so we compensate with research.

Digital confirmation The advent of digital communications technology has reinforced these lessons. It enables active participation in the communication process with features like user-generated content, the opportunity to reject or subvert messages and the ability to influence who sees what. We now know that audiences, especially young ones, are extremely sophisticated consumers of digital and social media and that meaning and content must be negotiated, not imposed.13 Technology, it seems, has caught up with communication theory, and at first glance it feels liberating. However, care is needed here. Genuine liberation depends on equality – of access to information; of understanding about how the technology works and of resources to use it effectively. As we discussed Chapter 5, this is far from being the case with the tech giants. Nonetheless, the advent of digital does confirm that communication is a two-way street and the audience an active participant in the process. Think back to what we said about participatory research in Chapter 5; exactly the same thinking applies to communication and the idea of the story is equally relevant.

Participatory communications Before continuing, have a go at Critical Thinking Task 6.2 and jot down some notes. We will return to this later in the chapter.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.2:  COMMUNICATION AND CLIMATE BREAKDOWN Your social marketing team is responding to the Government Call for Tenders on carbon neutrality (Critical Thinking Task 2.1). You have been asked to think through what, if any, role mass media communications will have in your bid. What research would you do to answer this question? Assuming the answer is yes, it does have a role, what subsequent research would you do to guide its deployment?

The conclusions we have drawn about the two-way nature of communication demonstrate that the only certain way of knowing what is being communicated by a particular media effort is, in the words of the quiz show, to ask the audience. The more obvious manifestations of this conclusion are unlikely to be disputed. Thus, the need to check that an audience understands the language in a leaflet or that the images on a website are decipherable needs little justification. However, the implications are more fundamental than this. An active, engaged and participating audience means more than testing the understanding of particular words or passing verdicts on completed posters. It implies a need to design communications, from inception to dissemination and beyond, with the intended audience’s needs and perspectives clearly in mind. To do this, social marketers must maintain continuous contact with their clients – ideally through formal consumer research – as Safefood does in Case Study #2. This contact – qualitative and quantitative – will provide invaluable insights at every stage and on all aspects of a campaign.

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Starting at the beginning At the very beginning of a project, research with the client group can help define the nature of the problem to be tackled, determine what role, if any, media has to play and, if it has a role to play, what objectives it might fulfil. Let’s assume that, like Raciti et al in Case Study #4, we want to develop a culturally safe environment that supports and empowers First Nations university students in Australia. As a first step, research could examine “connection to place,” which concerns the perceptions and experiences of body, mind and spirit, shared across generations. It is known as “country” to First Nation people and is profoundly important. Their findings show that university campuses are “third” places for First Nation students away from home and work, but that they feel disempowered as they cannot see themselves in the course materials – all suggesting that a culturally safe campaign needs to focus on academics providing appropriate courses rather than simply communicating the benefits of attending University or securing a degree. Arguably, in the process, it suggests that this is not principally a communication problem and, hence, a media campaign is not the right solution. In fact, something more engaging and better able to develop a suitable and safe cultural interface is needed – a combination of universitycurriculum development, relational work and greater inclusion of First Nation academics, among other possibilities.

Shared creativity Assuming initial contact with the client does define a role for the mass or digital media, further research can help determine the relative merits of different creative ideas or approaches on which to base a campaign. For instance, in Case Study #10, households could have been instructed to remove leaves from stormwater drains around their houses and local community as part of a water quality improvement campaign. Based on a conventional educational emphasis, this approach would stress the drawbacks of not practising leaf collection – the increasing nutrient loads and sediment runoff, resulting in the growth of blue green algae, decreasing lake water quality and non-usage of the lake for recreational purposes. Alternatively, as Lopez Cordova et al illustrate so well in their Case Study, the communities can co-design a more positive plan involving a competition between two community groups, leaf drop-off events and a communication campaign “to motivate behavioural change” and specifically “the collection and sustainable management of native leaf litter (leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, and nuts).” Research with the client can also provide invaluable feedback on all aspects of a communications campaign, including the choice of medium, content and language and images. This content and language must be compelling and understandable to the intended audience. Reading-age tests can help in this respect, but the only certain check is to expose the material to your audience and ask for their reactions. This assesses not only comprehension, but also equally important issues such as acceptability and emotional connections. In the Leaf Collective Case Study, issues considered in both traditional and digital communication included: frequency, engagement, creative fit, budgetary constraints and target market preferences focused on awareness (education and offers), consideration (website traffic), conversions (offer downloads), behaviour (collecting and recording leaf litter), and ended with loyalty

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE (sharing with others and supporting programme delivery through local drop-off events). Content marketing, social media advertising and promotions, influencer and referral marketing, public relations and media advertising were integrated across online and offline media channels to target two segments which were named “Environmental Stewards” and “Lake Lovers.” In Case Study #15 (Merritt and Skau), about encouraging healthy breakfasts for children in Armenia, you’ll see how a bold and humorous campaign was developed based on research with children and parents. It challenged unhelpful social norms by presenting breakfasts as a way of showing love to family members and helping them achieve more. You can also read about their campaign’s personality, tone, messaging, materials, channels, PR and digital operation and how these contributed to an increase in healthy breakfast eating.

Emotion and empathy Compelling communications are often built on emotions; change depends on the heart as well as the head. As French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry expressed this: “If you want to build a ship, don’t start by gathering wood, cutting planks and organising a workforce. Instead awaken in people’s hearts a yearning for the vast and endless ocean.”14 What he is reminding us of is that progress isn’t just driven by facts and figures; we also need to engage emotions and values. If things are going to change, we need to get angry about the current situation, trust others to work with us and have hope about the future. Figure 6.2 shows how anger was harnessed to the cause in the fight against slavery. It is the text of a leaflet quoting a parliamentary enquiry into the horrors of slavery and was used to get ordinary people engaged in the fight. We have just seen the power of emotion in Case Study #15, where healthy breakfasts were equated with love. Case Study #17 (Jones et al), on the other hand, shows the power of negative emotions. It shows how more than half of autistic Australians have feelings of social isolation and experience negative day-to-day interactions, with 81% receiving stares and 61% being subjected to “tutting” and “headshaking” from community members when in public. Measuring emotions – positive and negative – can be challenging. Direct questions don’t always get at our feelings because we like to present a very rational face to the world. A teenager might not want to admit that he smokes to look big, and a middle-aged man may be reluctant to tell you that he bought his new motorbike to help him cling on to his disappearing youth. Nevertheless, we need to try and understand these issues if we are to build lasting and productive relationships

A woman was one day brought to us to be sold; she came with a child in her arms. The captain refused to purchase her on that account, not wishing to be plagued with a child on board; in consequence of that she was taken back to the shore. On the following morning, however, she was again brought to us, but without the child, and she was apparently in great sorrow. The black trader who brought her on board said that the child had been killed in the night to accommodate us in the sale.15 Figure 6.2  An anti-slavery campaign leaflet from 1783

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE with our clients. Projective techniques, where the answer is projected away from the respondent to a third party, can help here. To learn more, do Critical Thinking Task 6.3.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.3:  FIVE USEFUL PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES 1. Personification: e.g. if the product (image/slogan) were a person, how would you describe him or her/what kind of life would they lead/how would they be different from each other, etc. (adaptable and easy to use). 2. Choice ordering: e.g. place these products (images/slogans) in order from the one you like best to the one you like least (provides a way of understanding the factors that differentiate subjects or items – straightforward to use). 3. Mapping: e.g. position each product (image/slogan) on the two-dimensional grid to indicate how much you like each one and how popular each is (a more sophisticated version of choice ordering, allows you to explore the relationship between different attributes – more difficult to administer). 4. Clustering: e.g. position the products (images/slogans) according to how closely related they are to each other (useful way of understanding the dimensions people use to judge products – can be difficult to administer). 5. Completion: e.g. so . . .? /what springs to mind . . .? /what about that one . . .? (useful way of understanding the factors that shape a person’s view about a subject (product/ image/slogan) – naturalistic form of enquiry, simple and extremely adaptable). Try them on a fellow student using the theme of climate. Note how they can help people to express subtle ideas and feelings.

Building trust: Source effect and branding Of all emotions, trust is perhaps the most important in social marketing. In Chapter 2 we discussed its vital role in building sustained relationships and in Chapter 3 we saw trust as an essential ingredient to exchanges; it is equally important in communications. If we don’t trust the messages we get, we will not act on them. More precisely, we need to trust the source of the message. We have already touched on this in our discussion of quality control when reviewing secondary research sources (Chapter 4): as we noted, high-quality, peer-reviewed journal articles are, for example, worthy of our trust whereas a post on Facebook is much more questionable. Once we leave the library however, trust can be more elusive. Try Critical Thinking Task 6.4. Your first step might be to suggest some research with anti-vaxxers to understand their point of view. This might reveal that some have lost trust in the mainstream sources of scientific evidence – university researchers, the public health community and medical leaders – who they feel have “a hidden agenda” to control their lives. Instead they favour alternative sources – “free-thinking” health professionals, socially-aware celebrities, populist politicians – who they feel are “on their side.”

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.4:  WINNING OVER THE ANTI-VAXXERS You have been approached by the Health Ministry who are seeking your help to combat the anti-vaxxing movement. It is having a damaging impact on public health: around 20% of the population are refusing to get vaccinated and this is putting many vulnerable people at particular risk. How would you respond?

They have no scientific training, do not understand clinical research methodology and have never even heard of peer review. They do not trust “experts,” but do trust Donald Trump and Novak Djokovic. Your research might also reveal other sceptics who have a more nuanced position. They may feel that medicine needs to be more holistic – treating the person, not the symptom. By the same token, they see Covid-19 itself as a symptom of what is wrong with our excessively materialistic economic system. In their view, what is needed is a fundamental rethink, not a medicinal fix to keep the show on the road. The Ministry of Health has betrayed their trust by placing economic drivers before public health. Your advice to the Health Ministry might be that there is a need to repair this broken trust and that this is unlikely to be done with facts and figures, statistical analysis or scientific method. Nor will denigrating or even prosecuting the anti-vaxxers help. It is a matter of rebuilding relationships. To do this, public health, you might argue, needs more than data, it needs an identity, a presence that people can connect with and feel good about if it is to regain its role as a source they can trust. The private sector was faced with similar concerns about trust a hundred years ago when the first modern business corporations emerged. These rapidly grew into massive, impersonal conglomerates and the worry was that people would not be able to relate to them. Joel Bakan16 explains how one such corporation, General Electric, responded by developing a more friendly and personable identity. It did this by representing the company with attractive photos of the workers – linemen, factory staff, delivery drivers – in an advertising campaign. The idea worked extremely well and has developed into our modern understanding of the brand. Your response to the Health Ministry might conclude by recommending that they follow General Electric’s lead and start building a brand that the public in general and antivaxxers in particular can trust. The truth campaign is a social marketing campaign that has done exactly this. It began in Florida, where, just over 20 years ago, funds for fighting youth smoking – released by litigation against the tobacco industry – were used to do some in-depth research with teenagers. The researchers talked to smokers and non-smokers to gauge knowledge, attitudes and behaviour regarding tobacco. This revealed that they knew full-well about the health consequences of smoking, but didn’t give them much importance. At their age they had little grasp of their own mortality and even less inclination to think about the risk of heart disease or cancers that might strike decades hence. It was soon clear to the research team that traditional public health messages about the dangers of smoking would have little traction.

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE By contrast, the deceit and duplicity of the tobacco industry did strike a chord. We noted in Chapter 2 Irish poet W B Yeats’ insight that education is not a matter of filling buckets but lighting fires, and teaching the young Floridians about Big Tobacco’s crimes started a blaze. They were already critical of the adult world, and when they had the long list of industry sins explained to them – the lies, the denial, the manipulation of nicotine, the deliberate targeting of kids like them – this added fuel to their inclination to rebel. The truth brand was born. The research also confirmed that this was far from being a passive group who needed adults – however well meaning – telling them what to do. Little would be achieved by a public health equivalent of the Marlboro cowboy ads. What was needed was something more active: not just a communications campaign but, as with fighting slavery, a social movement. At the same time however, it needed to attract attention if it were to make a difference – so mass media could play an important role. The result was a series of youth-driven events to point up the hypocrisy and ruthlessness of Big Tobacco, which were filmed and turned into television commercials. “For example, one wellknown “truth” commercial, known as “Body Bags,” features youths piling body bags outside of a tobacco company’s headquarters and broadcasting loudly via megaphones that these represent the 1200 people killed daily by tobacco.”17 The campaign organisers explain that the truth brand builds a positive, tobacco-free identity through hard-hitting advertisements that feature youths confronting the tobacco industry. This rebellious rejection of tobacco and tobacco advertising channels youths’ need to assert their independence and individuality, while countering tobacco marketing efforts. The campaign was immensely successful. It reached three-quarters of American teenagers and succeeded in alerting them to the unscrupulous practices and deceptive marketing of the tobacco industry. It also hit the gold standard for such efforts: it successfully reduced youths’ smoking prevalence.18 And the story continues: The campaign is still running today and the truth brand continues to be a powerful public health force.19 Do Critical Thinking Task 6.5.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.5:   THE TRUTH CAMPAIGN Log on to the campaign website https://www.thetruth.com and scroll through it to see how the campaign uses the techniques we have been discussing: • Active audience and partnership working: “This isn’t an About Us. IT’S ABOUT YOU. Because ultimately, we exist to give you the facts and tools to make change. From exposing Big Tobacco’s lies and manipulation, to battling the Vaping and Opioid epidemics, we stand with you to fight against addiction and forces that fuel it.” • Emotional values: “Social Justice: Truth Over Money”, “Mental Health: It’s Messing With Our Heads” • Branding: Truth is a byword for trust and respect

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The power of the story Putting together the points we have made so far in this chapter – the active role of the audience in communication; the need for continuous dialogue between communicator and audience; the renewed emphasis of relational/partnership working and the power of emotions and branding leads us directly back to the story. The truth campaign is, at base, telling a compelling story. In the last chapter we discussed the story’s role as a research tool; we will now consider its role as an intervention tool. Critical Thinking Task 6.6 explores how Nelson Mandela used the story to connect with young African men.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.6:  A STORY FROM NELSON MANDELA When Nelson Mandela was serving his sentence in the prison on Robben Island, he took on the task of briefing each new intake of prisoners. These were young men whose lives had been turned upside down; a few weeks previously they had been fighting the hated Apartheid regime with Molotov cocktails and stones, now they were prisoners of this same brutal system. They were angry and frustrated. Mandela’s talk was designed to help them adjust and survive in what were very difficult circumstances. Perhaps surprisingly, he found time to touch on tobacco. However, he was far too wise to wag the finger or invoke horror stories about premature death. Instead, he simply remarked that he had noticed some of the new prisoners were smoking, and reminded them that tobacco is dependence-inducing. He also noted that the guards were well aware of this and would on occasion supply prisoners with tobacco. In return, of course they would ask favours of the prisoners. Sometimes, he continued, the inmate’s need for tobacco would be small, and the favours small; but sometimes the need would be big and the favour would grow accordingly . . . That is all Mandela said; he left his audience to complete the story. Put yourself in the shoes of one of these the young men. How would you react? How would it make you feel about your smoking? What would you do? Now think about how you would have reacted if Mandela had taken a more traditional approach, telling you that smoking causes lung cancer – and anyway was prohibited by the prison’s new smoke-free ordinances.

Mandela used the power of the story to connect with these angry young prisoners and provided them with a constructive way forward. He knew they were united by a hatred of the Apartheid regime, and he aligned tobacco use with this regime – an indictment that easily surpasses its carcinogenic properties. He then presented the rejection of tobacco as an act of rebellion against the regime, as a means of undermining the guards. Thus, tobacco became a part of their political struggle, of their fight for justice, freedom and status, and of their story – and quitting smoking a means of becoming heroes in this story.

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE Case Study #13 (Pérez-Escamilla) shows how a compelling political story and strong alliances uniting civil society enabled the implementation of a crucial public health policy – a tax on sugary drinks or sodas – despite powerful and unscrupulous opposition from the soda producers. “This was a Mammoth challenge given that industry invested heavily in a strong anti-tax alliance with food retailers and sugar producers; lobbied congress and policy makers claiming (the tax) would lead to strong discontent among the population and the closure of factories and the loss of jobs.” They also labelled it the “Bloomberg tax,” thereby “injecting a xenophobic sentiment” into the mix and could afford “a strong presence in mainstream media channels that did not give space to the civil society organizations’ efforts to reach to the public to counteract many of its unfounded claims.” Nonetheless, the social marketers won the day, and their success has had a “ripple effect” both within Mexico where other public health measures have been implemented and in neighbouring countries where the Mexican success has been contagious.

Stories and climate The power of stories and storytelling in tackling the climate crisis is now being recognised. A recent review by Mithra Moezzi notes how a range of disciplines addressing a variety of climate challenges use as a research tool as we explored in Chapter 5 and also “as a way of understanding, communicating, and influencing others” which “invites something new and different results.”20 The review also reminds us that a story is an extremely rich resource to exploit. Because we humans have always told stories to help us make sense of the world, it provides a rich library of wisdom on which to draw. In particular, in the case of climate, indigenous wisdom – the stories of cultures that have proved themselves to be more sustainable than our own – can, as Zahraa Saiyeda and Paul Irwin explain, help us “to better understand the fragile nature of humans’ relationship to the earth and its provisions and its application to sustainable design paradigms today.”21 As an example, they look at Native American storytelling which introduces us to the term “Mitakuya Oyasin,” a Lakota phrase meaning “We are all related” and argue that “the oral traditions of Native Americans retain a critical and compelling attitude of humans’ relationship to the earth, one that realises the importance of teaching this obligation to earth and preserving ecologies for future generations.”22 Specifically, they draw our attention to the idea of “Seventh Generation Stewardship,” an Iroquois concept that “urges the current generation of humans to live and work for the benefit of the seventh generation into the future. This amounts to approximately 140–175 years into the future, considering a familial generation to be 20–25 years. It looks to ensure that decisions made today would benefit children of the future, and it is a concept that has been frequently coupled with sustainability yet remains much broader in context.”23 How might “Mitakuya Oyasin” and seventh generation stewardship influence your thinking about Critical Thinking Task 6.2?

Critical awareness and the big picture Stories and storytellers are very powerful. As we have seen, this makes them a very useful vehicle for studying and encouraging social change. However, it also means we need to be careful. As Moezzi et al warn us, stories “are not benign or neutral” – anti-vaxxers, populist politicians and

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE conmen can all tell powerful stories. “So,” they continue, “a critical stance is needed.” Once again, we need to think critically, check our sources and only put our trust in those that measure up. Do Critical Thinking Task 6.7.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 6.7:   A DECEPTIVE STORY The Crying Indian is still a very powerful ad, despite being over 50 years old. Watch it here. It was produced by the US Ad Council, and its website explains: “The Ad Council partnered with Keep America Beautiful to create a powerful visual image that dramatised how litter and other forms of pollution were hurting the environment, and how every individual has the responsibility to help protect it. The ad, which featured actor Iron Eyes Cody, The Crying Indian, first aired on Earth Day in 1971. Created by ad agency Marstellar, Inc., the campaign used the line, ‘People Start Pollution. People can stop it’." It goes on to proclaim that “the ad became one of the most memorable and successful campaigns in advertising history and was named one of the top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th Century by Ad Age Magazine.” What’s not to like?

Actually there is a lot not to like about the Crying Indian, as subsequent analysis reveals.24 Keep America Beautiful was a consortium which included private companies as well as public organisations, and these included the soft drinks industry. The environmental movement was becoming more active – 1971 was the first Earth Day25 – and was very much targeting industrial polluters. A number of states were considering legislation to mandate refillable bottles and cans and prohibit disposable drinks containers which were just being developed. This threatened the strategic business plans of companies like Coca-Cola, as it would require small local bottling plants rather than must bigger centralised facilities. The point of the ad was to shift the focus to the individual: ‘People Start Pollution. People can stop it’ putting the onus on us to pick up litter rather than on industry to use less wasteful business practices. On top of all this, the Crying Indian wasn’t even an Indian – “Iron Eyes Cody” was of Italian extraction. The Simpsons pinpoints the irony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvJ4_sa4gno

The limits of communication There is one final point to note. In this chapter, we have focused on communications. Before we finish, we should recall Abraham Lincoln’s final lesson and remember that media, traditional or digital, is most likely to work if it is used in conjunction with other intervention tools. It is just one of the devices social marketers use to ensure their offerings are acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible. In this way, communication research dovetails with the rest of the social marketing research effort which we discussed in Chapter 5. And it too guides strategic thinking by not just helping to improve individual media efforts but, because it ensures

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HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE continuous contact between everyone involved, our understanding of our clients. It is another relationship-building tool.

Wrap-up We began this chapter with some resounding historical communications – first from Abraham Lincoln, then Orson Welles – but both connect directly to our digital era. They show how important the audience is to the crafting and deployment of effective messages. This sits comfortably with the wider social marketing principle of client orientation, and confirms that, once again, careful research is needed to guide decision making. We also learned how important emotions can be in connecting with people, and that, despite their complexity, they are also susceptible to study using projective techniques. With sustained effort, these communications can build trust, which as we noted in Chapter 2, is the key prerequisite to developing relationships with our clients. Branding can help make this trust visible and recognisable. This led us back into the story and storytelling, which we have now seen is not just a valuable research tool, but also a great way of intervening. Finally, we noted the need to heed a couple of warnings. First, keep your critical faculties tuned in: communications, brands and stories are very powerful and can do harm as well as good. Just as the truth campaign has been a powerful force against the death and disease of nicotine addiction, so the Marlboro brand has told a very different story to do the opposite. Second, powerful though well-developed communications can be, they are only a small part of the social marketing playbook. They are just one of the tools that can be used to make our offerings more acceptable, appealing, affordable and accessible (Chapter 3).

Reflective questions 1. What is meant by the two-way communication process? Why is it important to the social marketer? 2. Explain the function of research in social marketing communications. 3. How can you study something as elusive as emotion? 4. How can social marketers use branding? Discuss with examples. 5. Give an example of a good social marketing story and explain its strengths.

Reflective assignments 1. Locate and critique a social marketing communication example that harnesses emotions. 2. Locate and review UN SDG examples of good and poor branding. 3. Locate and document social marketing examples of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn.

HOW SOCIAL MARKETERS COMMUNICATE 4. How might stories and storytelling help social marketers to tackle the climate crisis? 5. Identify and discuss a social marketing campaign that does not use mass media.

Notes 1 https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/gettysburg-address 2 Ibid. 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g 4 https://www.theguardian.com/news/1938/nov/01/mainsection.fromthearchive 5 https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=newspaper+headlines+after+orson+Wells%e2%80%99+ war+of+worlds+Broadcast&form=HDRSC2&first=1&tsc=ImageHoverTitle 6 Katz, E. & Lazarsfeld, P. (1955). Personal Influence. New York: The Free Press. 7 McQuail, D., Blumer, J.G., & Brown, J.R. (1972). The television audience, a revised perspective. In D. McQuail (ed), Sociology of Mass Communications. Harmondsworth: Penguin. 8 Rosengren, K.E. & Windahl, S. (1972). Mass media consumption as a functional alternative. In D. McQuail (ed), Sociology of Mass Communications. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp. 166–194. 9 Tudor, A. (1997). On alcohol and the mystique of media effects. In T. O’Sullivan, & Y. Jewkes (eds), The Media Studies Reader. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 174–180. 10 Elliot, R. & Wattanasuwan, K. (1998). ‘Brands as symbolic resources for the construction of identity’, International Journal of Advertising, 17(2): 131–144. 11 Barry, T.E. & Howard, D.J. (1990). ‘Review and critique of the hierarchy of effects in advertising’, International Journal of Advertising, 9(2): 121–135. 12 Hedges, A. (1982). Testing to Destruction: A Fresh and Critical Look at the Uses of Research in Advertising. London: Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. 13 Stephan, D., Lynne, E., & David, L. (2015). ‘Integrated marketing communications and social marketing: Together for the common good?’, Journal of Social Marketing, 5(3): 226–240, doi: 10.1108/ JSOCM-07-2012-0031. 14 https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/384067-if-you-want-to-build-a-ship-don-t-drum-up 15 Smith, R. (2012). ‘Learning from the abolitionists, the first social movement’, BMJ, 345: e830. 16 Bakan, J. (2004). The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Toronto: The Penguin Group (Canada). 17 Farrelly, M.C., Healton, C.G., Davis, K.C., Messeri, P., Hersey, J.C., & Haviland, M.L. (2002). ‘Getting to the truth: Evaluating national tobacco countermarketing campaigns’, American Journal of Public Health, 92(6): 901. 18 Farrelly, M.C. (2005). ‘Evidence of a dose–response relationship between “truth” antismoking ads and youth smoking prevalence,’ American Journal of Public Health, 95(3): 425–431. 19 https://www.thetruth.com 20 Moezzi, M., Janda, K.B., & Rotmann, S. (2017). ‘Using stories, narratives, and storytelling in energy and climate change’, Research Energy Research & Social Science, 31: 1–10, p. 1 http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.034 21 Saiyed, Z. & Irwin, P.D. (2017). ‘Native American storytelling toward symbiosis and sustainable design’, Energy Research & Social Science, 31: 249. 22 Ibid p. 251. 23 Ibid. 24 https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-indian-crying-environmentads-pollution-1123-20171113-story.html 25 https://www.earthday.org/history/

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Bibliography Bakan, J. (2004). The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Toronto: The Penguin Group (Canada). Farrelly, M.C. (2005). ‘Evidence of a dose–response relationship between “truth” antismoking ads and youth smoking prevalence’, American Journal of Public Health, 95(3): 425–431. Moezzi, M., Janda, K.B., & Rotmann, S. (2017). ‘Using stories, narratives, and storytelling in energy and climate change’, Research Energy Research & Social Science, 31: 1–10, p. 1, http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.034

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Critical marketing Addressing the commercial determinants of ill-health and planetary harm This chapter looks critically at commercial marketing and the harms it is causing. It shows how such concerns are nothing new; they have preoccupied social scientists for at least a century. This critical analysis also fits with our discussions of theory in Chapter 3 which showed the need to address the wider determinants of our health and ecological behaviour. We will examine the workings of the modern business corporation: its focus on profits to the exclusion of all else; the power and ubiquity of its marketing and the harm the resulting hyperconsumption is having on human and planetary wellbeing. It will conclude that critical analysis of these forces enables us social marketers to better address the problems we now face and improve our own interventions.

Learning outcomes By the end of the chapter, you will be able to think critically about corporate marketing and: ✓✓ Define and explain the fiduciary imperative and the dangers of corporate power. ✓✓ See why a leading psychiatrist diagnosed the corporation with psychopathy. ✓✓ Explain some of the individual, collective and planetary harms that can be done by corporate marketing, and how these come about. ✓✓ Critically discuss the commercialisation of hyperspace. ✓✓ Explain why these critical insights are so important to social marketing. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-7

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Keywords Critical thought – fiduciary imperative – inequalities – consumption – materialism – competitive analysis – individual, collective and planetary harm – ice cream.

Why it is critical to be critical In the WHO European region, 88% of us now die from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.1 We often refer to these as “lifestyle illnesses,” which makes them sound normal, an inescapable part of our daily lives. But when we look more closely, a different picture emerges. These deaths are premature, and driven, not by inevitable or natural factors, but very specific and carefully curated consumption decisions: the predominant disease vectors are tobacco, alcohol, sugary drinks and ultra-processed food. The markets for these commodities are controlled by multinational corporations, which have grown so large in recent decades that they now dwarf many countries. They use extremely well-resourced and increasingly powerful marketing techniques to encourage consumers to buy their products and policy makers to support their business plans. The result has been a spate of “industrial epidemics”: diseases caused by corporate marketing. The methods used by corporate marketers are also raising questions and have been doing so for at least a century. Is it right, for example, to target children who do not fully understand what an advertisement is or to produce and promote trivial products and services when so many in the world are living in poverty? The impact of our dysfunctional consumption patterns has spread inexorably beyond a limited number of hazardous commodities. Massive overconsumption of all sorts of products and services is now jeopardising the planet and ushering in climate breakdown. Covid-19 is just one symptom of this unsustainable system and provides a much-needed teachable moment. Do Critical Thinking Task 7.1.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.1:   LEARNING FROM COVID “COVID-19 is bringing hardship and tragedy. Health workers are having to take appalling risks; loved ones are being lost; lockdown is causing great distress. And, as always in testing times, the disadvantaged are being hit worst. As we emerge from the shadows, the call from the vested interests, from the system’s current winners, will be for a rapid return to business as usual. We must resist this; business as usual got us into this mess. COVID-19 is trying to tell us something; we health educators and social marketers must listen, think and, above all, take action.” This is the abstract to a recent article called COVID-19: Our Last Teachable Moment, which you can access here2. Read it and consider whether or not you agree with the points being made. You don’t need to agree – the important thing is to think about them. We will return to this issue at the end of the chapter.

This chapter argues that we need to study, critique and control these commercial determinants of ill health and planetary harm. It will start by showing that concern about corporate marketing is nothing new; people have been critiquing the discipline since its arrival on the scene. It then shows how

CRITICAL MARKETING Wider social issues have always been a concern of marketing thought, as Wilkie and Moore’s summary of the broader questions early marketers were addressing shows: • Are there too many middlemen? Does distribution cost too much? • Does advertising raise or lower prices? • What control, if any, should be exerted over new combinations in distribution? • Of the total costs paid by consumers, which elements are desirable? Indispensable? • What about “non-essential” services such as credit availability; should these be eliminated? Wilkie & Moore (2003)4 Figure 7.1  Marketing concerns in the early twentieth century behaviour change theory confirms the need for critical marketing. We will then turn to practicalities and show how critical thinking justifies and guides the regulation of commercial marketing as well as the production of corrective social marketing. Digital technology has greatly increased the power of the corporate marketer and so increased the urgency of this work. A final section will then examine the planetary harms being caused by consumer capitalism and the lessons that emerge from Covid.

A century of critical marketing The idea of addressing the social consequences of business is far from being a new issue for marketing. It takes us back to the origins, not just of social marketing thought, but of marketing thought. An extensive review of the field, published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, points out that what the authors call “marketing and society” has been a concern of social scientists since the turn of the twentieth century. They go on to note that well before the Second World War marketers were not limiting themselves to studying managerial issues, but addressing much wider social questions (see Figure 7.1), such as whether advertising is desirable, easy credit dangerous, or some conglomerates (or “new combinations”) too big. They were interested in how the relationship between consumers, marketers and Government could “facilitate the maximal operations of the system for the benefit of the host society.”3 This is an equally important concern today. Their review went on to conclude that this interest in the social impact of marketing needs to continue and indeed strengthen, a call reinforced by the Journal of Marketing in its millennium edition. Social marketing has a crucial role to play in this work.

Theoretical roots Behaviour change theory also supports the idea of thinking critically about corporate marketing. Think back to Chapter 3 and our discussion of Social Cognitive Theory which explains how the social and economic circumstances in which we live have a big influence on our knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. Corporate marketing is a big part of this wider environment. We noted, for example, how 24/7 corporate marketing encourages us to think that our heavy consumption is perfectly normal, whereas indigenous peoples who haven’t been exposed to it find it bizarre. Figure 7.2 looks again at Social Cognitive Theory and shows how commercial marketing can influence us at three different levels.

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Figure 7.2  The commercial determinants of behaviour If we consider one of our own behaviours, such as driving, it is easy to see how this works. There is the behaviour of other drivers: we might get frustrated or anxious, for example, if they speed or drive dangerously. And the roads can affect us. Speed bumps obviously will, but what about an improved road surface or the extra lanes on the newly extended motorway? And what factors influence us to drive at all? Can we afford a car? Is it just a matter of free will or does the absence of public transport make it essential? Do concerns about the environment inhibit our driving? It is apparent that we are not quite the free agents we might like to think; that our own capabilities and attitudes only partly explain our driving behaviour. Commercial marketers – in this case the car industry – are well aware of these wider influences and actively exploit them. Our new car’s green credentials, however dubious, may overcome our ecological concerns or help us to feel less guilty about burning fossil fuels. Its technical capabilities and design features may encourage us to speed, and its much publicised safety cage make us feel safer – and therefore a bit more reckless. The marketers may also target policy makers with lobbying and corporate social responsibility campaigns to keep fuel taxes low or boost road building, both of which might encourage our driving. They may also build alliances with other industries – oil and steel producers, for example – to increase the pressure on government.

The power of corporate marketing Corporate marketing has therefore become a big part of our lives. We see a constant stream of advertising, packaging, branding, point-of-sale display and sponsorship everyday – and as we will discuss below, digital technology has made this marketing even more intrusive. We noted in Chapter 1 how extensive the marketing industry has become, employing millions of people and influencing

CRITICAL MARKETING trillions of dollars of spending. We also noted that corporations have grown very big in the process – much bigger than many countries. This raises the problem of power. If I buy my groceries in a street market or at a small local shop, I can pick and choose where to buy, and if a trader behaves badly I can go elsewhere. On the other hand, if I am dependent on a large supermarket chain which has bought up all the outlets in the district, my options are much more limited. In recent decades, these corporations have become narrowly focused on profitability. In September 1970, the economist Milton Friedman5 published a landmark article in the New York Times magazine arguing that businesses should concentrate their efforts solely on maximising profits – in his famous phrase: “the business of business is business.” He was speaking of and to the corporate sector, the companies that have grown so large. His message of single-mindedness went on to define the subsequent era of neoliberalism where large companies concentrated on growth and expanded across the world. Supply chains globalised, production shifted to the cheapest locations and costs were minimised to ensure the highest possible levels of profitability. Competition ensured that this narrow focus was tirelessly maintained: profits and investor returns were pursued to the exclusion of all else. In particular, harms to health or the planet were conveniently ignored. They were simply defined as “externalities” and kept off the balance sheet. Tobacco companies could and did disregard and deny lung cancer; the oil industry has done the same with climate (see Critical Thinking Task 7.2).

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.2:  CLIMATE DENIAL BY THE OIL INDUSTRY Oil companies spent decades denying the link between their products and climate breakdown, despite their scientists being among the first to know about it. As long ago as 1959, before the Beatles had recorded a song or Kennedy been assassinated, the US oil industry was clearly warned by Edward Teller, the guest speaker at their centennial conference, about the drastic harm carbon fuels were doing to the climate: Whenever you burn conventional fuel, you create carbon dioxide…. Carbon dioxide has a strange property. It transmits visible light, but it absorbs the infrared radiation which is emitted from the earth. Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect …. It has been calculated that a temperature rise corresponding to a 10 per cent increase in carbon dioxide will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York. All the coastal cities would be covered, and since a considerable percentage of the human race lives in coastal regions, I think that this chemical contamination is more serious than most people tend to believe.6 Sixty years later, in 2019, an investigation by InfluenceMap shows that the five largest global oil and gas companies spend nearly $200m (£153m) a year lobbying to delay, control or block policies to tackle climate breakdown, whilst at the same time parading bogus, “Beyond Petroleum”, green credentials in their advertising.7 Access and read the InfluenceMap report. Write down your reactions.

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CRITICAL MARKETING “You must be the generation that succeeds in addressing the planetary emergency of climate change,” … “Despite mountains of evidence of looming climate catastrophe, we still see mountains of funding for coal and fossil fuels that are killing our planet. But we know investing in fossil fuels is a dead end – no amount of greenwashing or spin can change that. So we must put them on notice: accountability is coming for those who liquidate our future.”…. “You hold the cards. Your talent is in demand from multinational companies and big financial institutions. You will have plenty of opportunities to choose from. My message to you is simple: don’t work for climate wreckers. Use your talents to drive us towards a renewable future.”8 António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations (2022) Figure 7.3  The planet-wrecking fossil fuel industry António Guterres the Secretary General of the United Nations has very strong feelings about this. In his 2022 speech to graduates at Seton Hall University in New Jersey he said bluntly “Don’t work for climate wreckers” of the fossil fuel industry “Use your talents to drive us towards a renewable future” (see Figure 7.3). This disregard for consequences is driven by the structure of the corporation, which separates executive decision making from ownership. CEOs spend other people’s – investors’ – money (they are typically called “shareholders” or “stockholders” in the US). Because of this, very strict rules are put in place by government to make sure that shareholders’ interests always come first. In recent decades, following Friedman’s lead (see above), this interest has been defined in narrow, financial terms. This “fiduciary imperative” has meant that profit has become the only arbiter of success. Joel Bakan,9 in his book and film analysing The Corporation, argues that it has become so dysfunctional as to be psychopathic. The problem we face then is one of power. Marketing in the hands of a small company can mislead and deceive, but its capacity to do great harm is limited because the perpetrator is relatively weak. With the multinational, this is not the case. Furthermore, their wealth and power mean they can afford the best marketing expertise, employ the most persuasive tools and gain nearubiquitous reach. Arguably then, marketing only causes real problems when it becomes corporate marketing.

Branding five-year-olds Concerns about the power of corporate marketers become even more serious when we think about children. Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 7.3. Immediate alarms are raised by the vulnerability of the children. A five-year-old struggles to distinguish a TV commercial from a programme. They have no idea that the message it contains is innately deceitful; that it will tell you all the good things about a product but none of the downsides. The brand, with its emotional short-circuits, is also beyond their comprehension. Is it fair for a company with the resources of McDonalds to exploit this naivety? The longterm implications

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.3:  BRANDING FIVE-YEAR-OLDS A research study in California among 3–5-year-olds shows that children’s food preferences are being moulded by branding even before they have learnt to tie their shoelaces.10 The children were served food in both branded and unbranded packaging. Items that came in McDonald’s wrappers were thought to taste better, even if they were foods like carrots, which McDonald’s didn’t sell. On the other hand, McDonald’s products didn’t taste as good without the liveried packaging. These effects were apparent across the group, but most marked amongst those who had been more exposed to McDonald’s and its advertising. How do you feel about this? Are these small children being treated fairly?

might also give you pause. In the UK, more than six in ten adults are now overweight or obese, making it the fattest country in Europe. Around 30,000 die each year as a result.11 As Rafael PérezEscamilla explains in Case Study 13, the situation is even worse in Mexico. Does it make sense to encourage children to follow us adults down this dangerous and unhealthy road? The baby milk industry’s marketing impacts an even younger section of society. For many mothers-to-be, the first official recognition of her condition will come, not from a gynaecologist or a prenatal nurse, but from an infant formula marketer. As Hastings et al show in Case Study #14, The Baby Killer Revisited, a simple post on Facebook about buying folic acid supplements or missing a period, can mean your details will probably be captured. Sign up to a manufacturer’s Baby Club or ring their helpline, and they certainly will be. Then, as a former formula marketer explains, “you step into a series of emails that are timed to your stage of pregnancy.” What may seem like an objective source of help (brand names are kept deliberately low key) is straight marketing: companies have “very good evidence to show that if a woman is in the [baby club], if a woman has called [the telephone advice line], there is a significant correlation with her ultimately buying [corporation name’s] products.” So “The first key moment [of pregnancy],” “the departure point,” is “really not addressed by anybody except the brands.” And “first-time mothers are the holy grail,” the marketer continues, because “how a woman feeds her first baby is how she is likely to feed her subsequent babies.”12 But formula, as the companies all agree, is markedly inferior to breast milk. Most obviously, as WHO research demonstrates,13 if all babies who could be were breast fed rather than bottle fed, over 823,000 infant lives would be saved every year. Infant formula also harms the intellectual development of the baby to such an extent that it is possible to detect the impact on GDP of a predominantly bottle-fed population. In addition, there is an increased risk of breast cancer for the mother, and significant ecological harm: packaging, supply chains and bottle-feeding apparatus all have a carbon footprint and introduce durable plastics into the environment. The competition, breast milk, has none of these drawbacks, and comes with natural antibodies that turn it into “a personalised medicine for infants”; manufactured products cannot begin to replicate these benefits.14

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CRITICAL MARKETING If we think from the baby’s or the planet’s perspective, then, instead of the company’s, the only justification for using formula is when the real alternative is unavailable. These circumstances do occur and formula fulfils an important role; it can be a lifesaver – but the industry’s assiduous marketing from the earliest point in the parent’s journey means it is used way more often than is necessary or desirable. Surprisingly, the impact of marketing on our lives starts even earlier than this, as an epigeneticist at WHO explained to us. His job, he said, is to study the short-term effects of genetic makeup on our health and wellbeing. Whilst our genetic code changes very slowly, he elaborated, the (epigenetic) switches that make it function change more quickly. So a child born to parents who eat a lot of junk food will enter the world with an established liking for foods high in fat, salt and sugar. If they are then bottle fed (another ultra-processed food) and move onto a diet like their parents’, these tastes will be further reinforced. Epigenetic mechanisms hardwire these developments, pre-programming future weight problems. So he concluded: “by age ten it is game-over.” It is, then, difficult to see how marketing to children can be justified. There is, however, one argument that has been proposed, which uses the concept of “consumer socialization.” Try Critical Thinking Task 7.4.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.4:  CONSUMER SOCIALISATION As we have already noted, ours is a society dominated by marketing. It is argued that each new generation needs to learn about the ways of the commercial world. They will have to navigate them when they grow up – when they become adults – so it is better that they start learning early. Academics call this “consumer socialisation” and define it as the “processes by which young people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace.”15 What do you think? Are you convinced by this idea?

There are two counterarguments to consumer socialisation. The first is a matter of process. That children need to learn about commerce, capitalism and how markets work is a valid point; that they should learn about it by being directly and continuously exposed to its risks is much more questionable. It seems a bit like teaching road safety by letting children play in traffic. So, yes they should learn about our economic system – including its cons as well as its pros – but shouldn’t they do so in the home and the classroom? The second concern is a matter of outcome. The implicit assumption underpinning consumer socialisation is that we actually want our children to grow up like us, to become excessive shoppers and over-enthusiastic consumers. But given the problems with the climate, perhaps this is not so. UN experts are telling us to cut emissions by half and reach zero carbon by the year 2050, and that doing so “requires nothing less than a total and rapid reversal of our present direction as a civilization.” Similarly, as we noted in Chapter 1, climate scientists are telling us we must consume much less, not just of certain products, but of everything. Perhaps, then, rather than

CRITICAL MARKETING training the new generation to shop, we should be encouraging them to seek new ideas and different ways of living. What do you think?

The regulation of corporate marketing Regulating corporate marketing is therefore a priority for both our health and our planet. It depends first on the development of a strong evidence base. This work is ongoing and supporting it is an important critical marketing task. Case Study #14 shows, for example, how qualitative interviews with corporate marketers provided important insights about the marketing of infant formula. Marketing’s capacity to encourage consumption has been proven in multiple studies for tobacco, alcohol, processed food and infant formula.16,17,18,19 So well established have these effects become that a new descriptor – the “industrial epidemic”20– has been coined. It is defined as: “The concept of an epidemic associated with the commercialisation of a dangerous product was first developed in the instance of tobacco” then extended “to epidemics related to the consumption of commercial products (e.g. alcohol, illicit drugs, food, cars and guns). We further modified that concept to cover diseases of consumers, workers and community residents caused by industrial promotion of consumable products, job conditions and environmental pollution, respectively, and to endemic as well as epidemic conditions.”21 However, evidence is not always enough on its own. The power and size of these industries have enabled them to resist attempts at regulation and develop very effective lobbying and corporate affairs functions with which to engage policy makers. So, soda makers can influence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,22 oil companies undermine climate science23 and the paint industry exonerates lead,24 and in the process regulation is avoided, delayed or contained. There is, therefore, a valuable role for social marketers in facilitating enlightened regulation. Case Study #13, from Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, describes how social marketing by civil society helped in “Advancing the Sugar Sweetened Beverages Tax Policy in Mexico,” but had to withstand powerful opposition from commercial interests. The taxes were being introduced to combat Mexico’s urgent obesity crisis: “the prevalence of overweight and obesity reached 70 per cent among adults and 30 per cent among children in 2012” and the spread of “non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes that were bankrupting Mexico’s health care system.” The case describes how social mobilisation, a “multi-sectoral participatory process” and “evidence-based advocacy” helped “to defend and keep the policy in place in spite of the strong opposition from the powerful food industry.”

Digital marketing – A critical problem Digital technology has greatly enhanced the power of corporate marketing. As we noted in Chapter 1, effective marketing depends on a thorough understanding of the customer. To sell us things successfully, marketers need to know not just our needs and wants, but everything about us – our hopes, vulnerabilities, aspirations, prejudices…. We have also noted how the same need to understand our clients applies to social marketing, and in an analogue world this requires a

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CRITICAL MARKETING great deal of market research. Both commercial and social marketers regularly conduct surveys, depth interviews and focus groups. However, this takes time and resources. It also requires our freely declared collaboration, and the process is protected by a complex system of research ethics (discussed further in Chapter 9) to ensure this happens and no harm comes to respondents. All this limits the amount of intelligence that can be collected. These realities have been changed profoundly by digital technology. We now live in an attention economy where our personal data can be harvested continually to devise ever more targeted and powerful marketing campaigns. Our “behavioural surplus,” provided with every keystroke, is combined with additional data from specialist providers such as Equifax and Experian. This data is remarkably personal and its sheer scale is daunting: one study uncovered more than 52,000 unique attributes being used by Facebook to classify users.25 Mark Zuckerberg is right when he says Facebook does not sell its users’ data; it collects it and buys it. It then uses artificial intelligence (AI) to convert it into tools that can, at a price, enable precision targeting by anyone who wants to influence behaviour. The Cambridge Analytica26 story shows how algorithms, big data and AI-enabled unscrupulous behaviour change professionals threaten democracy itself. Try Critical Thinking Task 7.5.

CRITICAL THINKING 7.5:   CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA In March 2018, Christopher Wylie, “a 28-year-old Canadian and former research director at Cambridge Analytica, revealed how the company had exploited Facebook data harvested from millions of people across the world to profile and target them with political messages and misinformation, without their knowledge or consent.” A subsequent UK Government enquiry called Facebook “digital gangsters” and said that Britain’s electoral laws no longer worked. It was a report that drew on hours of testimony from Cambridge Analytica directors, Facebook executives and dozens of expert witnesses: 73 in total, of whom MPs had asked 4,350 questions. And its conclusion? That Silicon Valley’s tech platforms were out of control, none more so than Facebook, which it said had treated parliament with ‘contempt’.” The Cambridge Analytica scandal shows how powerful and potentially harmful marketing can be – because, minus the law-breaking data breaches – the company was just using the commercial marketing techniques that are used to influence our consumption to change our voting behaviour. Christopher Wylie, a whistle blower from the company, explains that the company was “a full service propaganda machine” and that “if you want to change politics you have to change culture, because politics flows from culture. If you want to change culture you have to understand what the units of culture are. People are the units of culture.” As with all marketing, it starts with gaining a detailed understanding of the individual voter, in this case from tens of million Facebook profiles. “We could build a psychological profile of each voter. We would know what kinds of messaging you would be susceptible to, including the framing of it, the topic, the content, the tone,

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whether it’s scary or not, that kind of thing. So what you would be susceptible to and where you would consume that and then how many times we have to touch you in order to change how you think about it.” In short, standard corporate marketing. This, he points out, completely undermines the principles of democracy: “instead of standing in the public square and saying what you think and then letting people come and listen to you, and have that shared experience as to what your narrative is, you are whispering into the ear of each and every voter and maybe whispering one thing to this voter and another to this one.” In this way “we risk fragmenting society into one where we don’t have any more shared experiences, we don’t have any more shared understanding.” And, as he concludes, “if we don’t have any shared understanding how can we be a functioning society?” It is unsurprising that Carole Cadwalladr, the journalist who broke the Cambridge Analytica story, wrote a reflective article last year, called starkly: “If you’re not terrified about Facebook, you haven’t been paying attention.” You can read it here.27 When you have done so, consider the implications for social marketing.

As we noted in Chapter 1, Shoshana Zuboff has labelled these developments “the Age of Surveillance Capitalism.”28 Digital capability, she argues is delivering “guaranteed outcomes” to corporate marketers; she even warns that our right to the future tense is being jeopardised. French philosopher Bernard Stiegler29 uses the term “computational capitalism” but is equally disturbed by a system which he argues is undermining our ability to think authentically and critically. Given what we have already noted about the importance of independent critical thought, these are grave concerns. Figure 7.4, which presents testimony from industry insider Tristan Harris to the US Senate, illustrates the sinister capabilities digital technology can provide. Critical analysis of these developments is vital, and can again inform two levels of response. First, we can seek to constrain digital commercial marketing where it is doing obvious harm. Its use by the infant formula industry discussed above, for example, to pre-empt health authorities in reaching out to new mothers, is now being challenged by WHO.31 We can also learn from it to inform our behaviour change campaigns. Arguably, digital technology, social media, influencers and immensely accurate data sets can greatly enhance our efforts, always assuming we have the large budgets needed to access them. Cambridge Analytica did succeed in influencing voting behaviour, the bedrock of democracy; so could not the same methods shift other vital behaviours which determine our health and welfare – smoking, domestic violence, racism – and thereby do great good? If Mark Zuckerberg lent us his platform and programmers, would we do our own Cambridge Analytica to fight obesity? When we learn that “Facebook is using sophisticated algorithms to identity and exploit Australians as young as 14, by allowing advertisers to target them at their most vulnerable, including when they feel ‘worthless’

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CRITICAL MARKETING On June 25, 2019 – Tristan Harris, a tech industry insider, gave evidence to the US Senate Commerce Committee. In his testimony he said: “the race to the bottom of the brain stem… starts with techniques like ‘pull to refresh’ so you pull to refresh your newsfeed that operates like a slot machine, it has the same addictive qualities that keep people in Las Vegas hooked to the slot machine….…This is what has caused 70% of You Tube's traffic to be driven by recommendations – not by human choice but by the machines. It’s a race between Facebook’s voodoo doll and Google’s voodoo doll as to who can better predict your behaviour.…..Facebook has something called ‘loyalty prediction’ where they can actually predict to an advertiser when you are going to become disloyal to a brand …so they can predict things about us that we don’t know about ourselves…... Imagine a world in which priests only make their money by selling access to the confession booth to someone else; except in this case Facebook listens to 2 billion people’s confessions and has super-computer next to them and is calculating and predicting the confessions you are going to make before you know you are going to make them.” You can hear and see him here30. Figure 7.4  A whistle blower’s testimony on big tech to the US Senate and ‘insecure’ and so exploit ‘moments when young people need a confidence boost’ in pinpoint detail” does it disturb us, or help us to choose the best moment to insert our anti-suicide message? (In Australia and New Zealand, it’s Wednesday afternoon apparently.) When the Chinese Government embraces this technology to devise a system of social credit, which guarantees public adherence to desirable standards of behaviour,32 do we shudder or think of how this could improve road safety? Or do we, like Stiegler, set a premium on authentic critical thinking and set about trying to encourage and bolster it? These are vital questions, and we will return to them in Chapter 9, but for the moment let us just be clear that the study, critique and control of surveillance or computational capitalism, as with other forms of commercial influence, has a vital role to play in social marketing.

Climate breakdown Climate breakdown in the biggest of all industrial epidemics. It is already killing hundreds of thousands of people every year, and scientists across the globe are warning us that unless urgent action is taken, we will soon have destroyed “the Earth’s ability to support complex life.” We will cease to exist. There is no sign of humanity responding to this challenge: more than half the CO2 in the atmosphere has been put there since the IPCC’s first report was published in 1988.33 A recent study published in Nature34 notes that in 2020, the amount of stuff we humans produce exceeded the natural biomass for the first time. In other words, all the cars, plastic containers, asphalt, tech devices, shopping trollies and other paraphernalia we need to live as hyperconsumers – along with the associated waste – now weigh more than all the life – plant and animal – on earth. Plastic alone outweighs animals two to one. The proportion was only 3% in 1900, and, if we continue as we are, there will be three times as much stuff as life by 2040.

CRITICAL MARKETING Marketing and its influence on our shopping habits is at the root of the problem, as scientists also point out: “humanity’s consumption as a fraction of Earth’s regenerative capacity has grown from ∼ 73% in 1960 to 170% in 2016 with substantially greater per-person consumption in countries with highest income”35 (note for those living in Europe, North America and Australasia this last group means us). By the same token, the IPCC scientists see our consumption behaviour as a source of hope. It is currently so wasteful that correcting it could bring about great improvements. They give three reasons for this36: ••

First, we consumers are currently causing more planetary harm than any other part of the economy: “the final use of energy has long been identified both as the least efficient part of the global energy system’37 (we fail to insulate our houses, insist on driving a few hundred metres to the shops and throw away half the food we buy) and consequently ‘as having the largest improvement potentials.”

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Second, our downstream behaviour is much easier and quicker to change than upstream activity: we consumers can switch from cars to bikes overnight, whilst moving from coal to nuclear power generation takes decades.

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Finally, meeting our incessant demand for more stuff involves enormous waste: “the conversion efficiency of total primary energy inputs into services delivered is conservatively estimated at 14% on average for the global energy system in 2020. This means that improving energy efficiency at the service level by 1 unit yields a reduction in primary resource requirements by a factor of 7.” In other words, every SUV we buy costs the energy equivalent of seven SUVs to produce, and not making or consuming it will produce equally impressive savings.

This reinforces the need for those interested in progressive social change to look critically at our business practices. We began this chapter by discussing Covid-19, itself a product of our unsustainable economic system, and asking what lessons it had taught us. Read Figure 7.5.

“COVID-19 has also delivered up a remarkable experiment: what happens when neoliberal capitalism is put on hold? When the factories close, the supply chains fracture, the shopping stops? A study which would never have been deemed ethical or feasible heretofore has gone ahead almost unnoticed, and the data is now in. The two-month economic shutdown in China improved air quality to such an extent that 77,000 lives were saved, including those of 4,000 under-fives. This is twenty times more than were taken by the virus. Far from the cure being worse than the disease, it turns out to be far better than business as usual; switching off capitalism not only protects us from the virus, it protects us from ourselves. Le Monde sees compelling evidence of systemic problems with neoliberal global capitalism, as does the French President, whose March 12 address to the nation argued that we need to cross-examine our economic system which has been shown by COVID-19 to be so conspicuously flawed.”38 Figure 7.5  A key lesson from COVID-19

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CRITICAL MARKETING It explains that the forced shutdown of production during lockdown saved many more lives by improving air quality than by arresting the virus. It shows that business as usual was in fact more of a danger than Covid-19. Now try Critical Thinking Task 7.6.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.6:  CRITICAL MARKETING AND CLIMATE BREAKDOWN Return to Critical Thinking Task 2.1, the Government Tender on Carbon Neutrality, and think through how our discussions of Critical Marketing in this chapter will influence your thinking about how to respond.

Competitive analysis Analysing corporate marketing can serve another valuable social marketing purpose. We can also use the analysis of their activities to learn from them. The cigarette companies see the tobacco control movement as a competitor and study it carefully to inform their fightback; we can return the compliment. This “competitive analysis” is widely used in business: Figure 7.6 illustrates how a commercial marketer working for McDonalds might use it. As with so much else in marketing, it starts by looking at the world through the eyes of the customer, but instead of asking direct questions about McDonalds, which risks producing only obvious responses, it does so by asking about their perceptions of the competition (refer back to our

Think for a few moments about what needs a fast-food outlet may be satisfying for a father and his two small children. As a good marketer you would seek to answer this question with a bit of market research asking them why they have come to the Golden Arches. The obvious answer you will get is food; McDonald’s is satisfying their hunger – but it is likely that this is only part of the picture. Competitive analysis leads you to examine alternative options, with questions like: I) Where might you have gone today if not to McDonald’s? II) What other places do you like going together? III) How good are these alternative offerings? The answers may produce predictable responses such as KFC or Burger King (maybe they have better free toys). More unsettlingly, but still reasonably predictably, the answer may be new juice bar (because the food in healthier). However, the father and his children may also suggest less obvious alternatives, like a picnic in the park (because you can also feed the ducks and try out the swings) or a trip to the cinema to see the latest Disney (because it has been trailed on children’s television and all their friends have seen it). Figure 7.6  What customer needs does McDonald’s meet?

CRITICAL MARKETING discussion of projective questioning techniques in Chapter 5). Where might you have gone today if not to McDonald’s? What other places do you like going to together? What do you like about these alternatives? This has two benefits for the marketing team: it helps them understand both their rivals and their customers. With their rivals, the answers in Figure 7.6 will enable McDonald’s executives to see who they are up against – Burger King, the juice bar or the cinema. They can then think through how they should respond. Is it straight them or us rivalry or are there also cooperative opportunities? For example, in the case of the juice bar, direct competition is probably needed, perhaps by adding healthier options to the menu; the picnic option, on the other hand, may suggest that opening a franchise in the park has potential. Similarly, in the case of the cinema, the best strategy may not be to compete head on, but form an alliance and begin serving McDonald’s meals to theatre goers. As far as their customers are concerned, the answers in Figure 7.6 start to give McDonald’s a much better fix on the precise need they are seeking to meet. It becomes clear, for example that this is about much more than food and hunger. Fun, entertainment and a child friendly atmosphere are all also in there. Indeed some people actually patronise McDonald’s despite the food. Competitive analysis is also a useful social marketing tool. Try Critical Thinking Task 7.7.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 7.7:   COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS You work for a social marketing agency which has been commissioned by a local health authority to design a campaign that will combat the rising rates of obesity in the local teenage population. The authority is particularly concerned about the amounts of junk food being eaten. How might the sort of competitive analysis discussed in Figure 7.6 help?

The insights from Figure 7.6 will be just as useful to a nutritionist as the McDonald’s marketing team. They would help her design interventions and better connect with her overweight clients. In this way, critical marketing helps us think in a more sophisticated way about the full complexities of behavioural and social change.

Wrap-up This chapter has looked at the dark side of marketing, and you might have found this disturbing. But the purpose is not to shock, it is to reinforce the importance of independent critical thought. Just as corporations sometimes have a vested interest in behaving badly, so they have a vested interest in covering this up. It is our responsibility as social marketers – and as people – to look beneath the surface and ask questions. The Nazis were possibly the worst example of moral degeneracy in the tewntieth century. Yet New York Times journalist Charles Higham, in his forensically researched book “Trading with

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CRITICAL MARKETING the Enemy,”39 shows that leading corporations like Ford, ITT and the Chase Manhattan Bank worked with the regime throughout the war. ITT literally helped Hitler’s regime to perfect the doodlebugs that so devastated London. This extreme example of keeping the focus on the bottom line was, he explains, hidden behind “an ice cream mountain of public relations.” Our job is to look behind the ice cream.

Reflective questions 1. What is “fiduciary imperative” and why is it important? 2. The dark side of marketing results from an imbalance of power in the marketplace, giving rise to individual and environmental harm. Explain in detail. 3. Social marketers should be “concerned with analysis of the social consequence of marketing policies, decisions and activities.”40 Elaborate with examples. 4. Is marketing driving unsustainable consumption? If yes, what would you do about it? 5. Is Consumer Socialisation going to save the planet? If yes, how; if not, why not?

Reflective assignments 1. Apply critical thinking to one of the following controversies: ••

Social marketing is (not) social media marketing.

••

Social marketing critically examines commercial marketing so as to learn from its successes and (not) curb its excesses.

••

Social marketing is (not) about sustainable, ethical and responsible behaviour change.

2. Locate three social marketing case studies or papers that show the dark side of marketing. 3. You are social marketing manager with Jigsaw, a non-profit entity focused on mental health in young adults in inner cities. You have been tasked with designing a mental health intervention specifically targeting suicide; how could you use critical thinking? 4. How, where and why does critical thought integrate with our discussions of social marketing in Chapters 1 and 2? 5. Consult the Journal of Social Marketing and/or Social Marketing Quarterly and read a classic or contemporary article(s) on the critical thinking in social marketing to advance your understanding of the theory and practice in this area.

Notes 1 WHO. (2016). http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.CODREG6EURV?lang=en (Accessed 5 April 2017). 2 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9463-8480 3 Wilkie, W.L., & Moore, E.S. (2003). ‘Scholarly research in marketing: Exploring the “Four Eras” of thought development’, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 22(2):118.

CRITICAL MARKETING 4 Ibid. 5 http://ethicalecon.org/Micro/Articles/A%20Friedman%20doctrine.pdf 6 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jan/01/onits-hundredth-birthday-in-1959-edward-teller-warned-the-oil-industry-about-global-warming 7 https://influencemap.org/report/How-Big-Oil-Continues-to-Oppose-the-Paris-Agreement38212275958aa21196dae3b76220bddc 8 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/24/do-not-work-for-climatewreckers-un-head-tells-graduates-antonio-guterres 9 Bakan, J. (2004). The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. Toronto: The Penguin Group (Canada). 10 Robinson, T.N., Borzekowski, D.L., Matheson, D.M., & Kraemer, H.C. (2007). ‘Effects of fast-food branding on young children’s taste preferences’, Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161(8): 792–797. 11 https://www.healthexpress.co.uk/obesity/uk-statistics 12 Ibid. 13 Rollins, Bhandari, Hajeebhoy, et al. (2017) op cit. 14 Selling second best. 15 Roedder John, D. (1999). ‘Consumer socialisation of children: A retrospective look at twenty-five years of research’, Journal of Consumer Research, 26(3): 183–213. 16 National Cancer Institute. (2008). The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use. Tobacco Control Monograph No. 19. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. 17 Jernigan, D., Noel, J., Landon, J., Thornton, N., & Lobstein, T. (2017). ‘Alcohol marketing and youth alcohol consumption: A systematic review of longitudinal studies published since 2008’, Addiction, 112(Suppl 1): 7–20. 18 Smith, R., Kelly, B., Yeatman, H., & Boyland, E. (2019). ‘Food marketing influences children’s attitudes, preferences and consumption: A systematic critical review’, Nutrients, 11(4): E875. 19 Piwoz, E.G., & Huffman, S.L. (2015). ‘The impact of marketing of breast-milk substitutes on WHOrecommended breastfeeding practices’, Food Nutrition Bulletin, 36(4): 373–386. 20 Jahiel, R.I., & Babor, T.F. (2007). ‘Industrial epidemics, public health advocacy and the alcohol industry: Lessons from other fields’, Addiction, 102: 1335–1339. 21 Ibid., p. 102. 22 Hessari, N.M., Ruskin, G., McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2019). ‘Public meets private: conversations between Coca-Cola and the CDC’, Milbank Q, 97(1): 74–90. 23 Supran, G., & Oreskes, N. (2017). ‘Assessing ExxonMobil’s climate change communications (1977– 2014)’, Environmental Research Letters, 12(8): 084019. 24 Kessler, R. (2014). ‘Lead-based decorative paints: Where are they still sold-and why? ’, Environmental Health Perspectives, 122(4): A96–A103. 25 https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-doesnt-tell-users-everything-it-really-knowsabout-them 26 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-uselection 27 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/26/with-facebook-we-are-alreadythrough-the-looking-glass 28 Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Profile. Polity London UK ISBN 13: 9781781256848. 29 Bernard, S. (2019). The Age of Disruption: Technology and Madness in Computational Capitalism, Polity, London UK. 30 Harris, T. (2019). Testimony to the US Senate. https://youtu.be/WQMuxNiYoz4 31 Lancet 2. 32 Lanchester, J. (2019). Document Number Nine London Review of Books, 10 October.

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CRITICAL MARKETING 33 Wallace-Wells, D. (2019). The Uninhabitable Earth. Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780525576709. 34 Elhacham, E., Ben-Uri, L., Grozovski, J., Bar-On, Y., & Milo, R. (2020). ‘Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass’, Nature, 588: 17. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-3010-5 35 Bradshaw et al. (2021). Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future. Front. Conserv. Sci. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419/full?fbclid=IwAR3JoVRbS5y2 Ogcgahy2D8s6O7I4GUCoQ1ZAaugpa-A-39P9AbFZFGO4kIQ 36 Grubler, A., Wilson, C., Bento, N. et al. (2018b). ‘A low energy demand scenario for meeting the 1.5°C target and sustainable development goals without negative emission technologies’, Nature Energy, 3(June): 515–527. Supplementary Information P3. 37 Ibid P3. 38 Hastings, G. (2020). COVID-19: Our last teachable moment. Emerald Open Research, 2, Art. No.: 20. https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13603.2 39 Higham, C. (2007). Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot 1933–1949. Lincoln: iUniverse, Inc., p.xv. 40 Lazer, W., & Kelley, E. (1973). Social Marketing: Perspectives and Viewpoints. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc.

Bibliography Hastings, G. (2022). Hyperconsumption: Corporate Marketing versus the Planet. Routledge UK. ISBN: 978-1-032-21464-1. Lanchester, J. (2019). Document Number Nine London Review of Books, 10 October. Wallace-Wells, D. (2019). The Uninhabitable Earth. Penguin Random House. ISBN 9780525576709. Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Profile. ISBN 13: 9781781256848.

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Chapter 

Alternatives In search of new wisdom This is the most challenging chapter. It broadens our critical analysis to examine our wider economic system: corporate consumer capitalism. It is challenging because it will confront us with some very difficult truths. It will show how our world of plenty, which has its roots in the empire and colonialism, is built on the ruthless exploitation of both people and planet. And that this unfairness continues into the present era. Specifically, it is driving climate breakdown and the related ecological harms that are now threatening the survival of our species. The good news is that there are alternatives, we can choose more sustainable systems. Furthermore, we have guides and teachers in indigenous societies who have long learned how to live ecologically. We will hear their voices and see how their insights complement key social marketing concepts.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you will be able to think critically about our economic system and: ✓✓ Discuss the benefits and limitations of capitalism. ✓✓ Explain the origins of our consumerist lifestyles in colonialism. ✓✓ Critique the ideas of Edward Bernays and his book Propaganda. ✓✓ Question the importance we give to materialistic solutions. ✓✓ Identify alternative ways of seeing the world. ✓✓ Recognise the value of indigenous philosophies.

Keywords The Wooded Isle – Global South – Global North – imperialism – colonialism – capitalism – Propaganda – Indigenous wisdom – Huma Betang – hope. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-8

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ALTERNATIVES Global North is a term used to describe the parts of the world with high levels of industrial and economic wealth, especially Western Europe and North America. Confusingly, it also includes Australia and New Zealand. Only about one in five people live in these privileged countries. The countries of the Global South are sometimes referred to as underdeveloped, but, given the enormous inequalities, they are perhaps better described as overexploited. Figure 8.1  The Global North

On being a consumer Ours is a world of plenty. The shops overflow with tempting consumer goods, we are welcomed when we visit them and offered excellent customer service. We can video call with anyone anywhere using a device which fits in our pockets; circumnavigate the globe in 48 hours and eat fresh grapes 365 days a year. The internet has further enhanced this spoiling, so now we can satisfy every need, want and whim at any time of the day or night. We have become the consumers of everything. At least it is a world of plenty if we are relatively well off and live in one of the rich countries of the “Global North” (see Figure 8.1). But only about 20% of the world’s population live in these privileged countries; the other 80% are more likely to be making iPhones, or mining the coltan that they depend on, than using them. Their miserly wages often make them better off than their peers, who live in even worse circumstances: “most people in the world live in poverty: 85% of the world live on less than $30 per day, two-thirds live on less than $10 per day, and every tenth person lives on less than $1.90 per day.”1 Even in the Global North, there is great inequality: witness the rise of foodbanks in the UK, and the Financial Times2 report that 15% of US citizens go to bed hungry. Consumerism in the Global North is also driving climate breakdown and the ecological harm threatening the planet, whilst the Global South is suffering most of the impacts. In particular, our disregard for the consequences of our actions and wrong-headed assumption that perpetual economic growth is possible in a finite world is causing immense harm. Do Critical Thinking Task 8.1.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.1:   THE GLOBAL NORTH “Twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive…. The warming caused by huge consumption on the part of some rich countries has repercussions on the poorest areas of the world, especially Africa, where a rise in temperature, together with drought, has proved devastating for farming. There is also the damage caused by the export of solid waste and toxic liquids to developing countries, and by the pollution produced by companies which operate in less developed countries in ways they could never do at home, in the countries in which they raise their capital”. The quote comes from Laudato Si,3 a formal document or ‘encyclical’ written by the Vatican. We could have used other sources, but we chose this one to show that

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questions about our economic system – about capitalism – that might once have appeared radical have now become mainstream. Download the full document and consult it. You don’t need to read the whole book, just dip into it. Note down your reactions. You may or may not agree with all the points made in Laudato Si; this does not matter. The point is that you should think about them. In the last chapter, we took a critical look at marketing; now we are following Lawrence Wallack’s advice (refer back to Figure 2.2) and moving upstream to think critically about higher-level drivers. About the factors that encouraged us to develop into the business and consumption-dominated society to which Noam Chomsky4 alerted us. We will start with some history to explain how we arrived at this point. This takes us back to Christopher Columbus and the European colonial expansion; we will discuss some disturbing truths about its brutality, particularly towards the indigenous peoples who were encountered as new empires were built. We will also see how these events link directly to the development of the modern business corporation, marketing and our current hyperconsumption. Fortunately, the encounter with indigenous peoples also brings us hope. They have a different, more sustainable view of life, which can help us find a way out of our ecological predicament. As we noted in Chapter 2, they are already playing an enormously important role in protecting the natural environment. We will follow Arundhati Roy’s advice and: “pay close attention to those with another imagination: an imagination outside of capitalism, as well as communism,” the indigenous peoples “who still know the secrets of sustainable living” and “are not relics of the past, but the guides to our future.”5 This will help us, as Laudato Si advises, to address such fundamental questions as: “What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts?” and even, reversing the usual consumerist focus on our needs, “What need does the earth have of us?”6

The good side of capitalism Before we delve into colonial history, we should start by counting our blessings. We began the chapter with a list of pretty trivial consumer gains, but corporate consumer capitalism has also brought profound benefits to humankind. A lot of wealth has been generated, and despite the glaring inequalities, this has been shared enough to improve the material well-being of many people on the planet. In China alone, it has lifted 700 million people out of poverty over the last 30 years.7 Cultural achievements, from Michelangelo to Banksy, have been immense. Technological progress has also been extremely impressive: from quill-penned letters to video calls; from sailing ships to space rockets; from leeches to open heart surgery. We have eliminated smallpox, developed anaesthetic dentistry, travelled to the moon and invented a communication system capable of connecting all eight billion of us. At the most fundamental level, the last four hundred years have also seen a remarkable increase in life expectancy. When Columbus set off on his first transatlantic voyage, people across the world could, on average, expect to live no more than three decades. As economic development and industrialisation gathered pace, life expectancy in rich countries increased steadily and by 1950 had more than doubled (Norway topped the league, at 72). Poorer countries have made up ground since and, although unacceptable inequalities persist both between and within states, UN data show that across the world, most people can now expect to live longer than did the post-war Norwegians.8

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ALTERNATIVES These are striking achievements. However, they are side effects of consumer capitalism, not direct outcomes. The improvements in life expectancy, for instance, have come from public health interventions – improved sanitation, access to clean water, vaccination against communicable diseases – not directly from the market or the corporations. It is true that wealth generation funded the education, science and interventions underpinning public health. But, as we have seen, this route to prosperity – the single-minded focus on profits regardless of the externalities (see Chapter 7), led by the multinationals – has also brought much direct harm to public health. The need for improved sanitation and clean water was driven by the appallingly unhealthy living and working conditions of the new urban poor as industrialisation took hold. Similarly, the progress in combatting infectious diseases has to be balanced against the fact that such diseases are now much more likely because of our rush to exploit the natural world. Covid-19 is just the latest in a long list of epidemics triggered by our materialism.9 It also has to be weighed against the growth in non-communicable diseases we discussed in Chapter 7. Finally, our hyperconsumption is also front and centre of our assault on the planet, which is now presenting an unprecedented threat to public health, life expectancy and all the cultural and material progress we have made.10 The biggest externality of all is the harm being done to a finite planet by economic models which assume perpetual growth. As anthropologist Wade Davis explains, “our economic models are projections and arrows when they should be circles. To define perpetual growth on a finite planet as the sole measure of economic wellbeing is to engage in a form of slow collective suicide. To deny or exclude from the calculus of governance and economy the costs of violating the biological support systems of life is the logic of delusion.”11 Despite the blessings then, it is clear that something is going badly wrong with our way of life, and we need to do some rethinking. To do this, it is useful to know a little more about how we got here; how our consumerism developed out of colonialism and the imperial ambitions of Western Europe. We will start on a tiny Atlantic island.

The wooded isle It is 600 years since Portuguese sailors first sighted Madeira a few hundred kilometres off the west coast of Africa and lit “one of the earliest flares of the modern world.”12 Initial raids to capture slaves from the indigenous Guanche people were followed by invasion, subjugation and exploitation. “The Guanches,” historian Clive Ponting tells us, “hold the dubious distinction of being the first people to be driven to extinction by the Europeans.”13 The principal business was sugar, which was immensely profitable, provided there was fuel and forced labour for processing (the work was so awful no one would do it except under compulsion). Both were finite resources and soon depleted. Madeira means “Wooded Isle,” so named because, as an early slaver remarked: “there was not a foot of ground that was not entirely covered with great trees.”14 These were cut down even faster than the Guanches. Columbus also had commercial intent when he sailed further west. The costs of his voyage were paid by bankers who were seeking returns on their investment. The European imperial ventures were not motivated by ideas or intellectual endeavour, “still less….some nebulous spirit of discovery. They took place over a long period of time, step by step, as immediate, easy profits could be seen. Financial considerations were always dominant and only once the potential for profit had been demonstrated did the monarch come in with support.”15

ALTERNATIVES When Columbus arrived in America, there wasn’t just one indigenous culture but many. This same wealth of diversity was present across the globe – as Maria Raciti and colleagues say of Australia in Case Study #4: “prior to colonisation there were approximately 750 distinct Aboriginal societies with different languages and dialects, histories and territories.” These cultures were treated with the same ruthless dispatch as the Guanches. Estimates are difficult to make, but in the Americas it is likely that around 90% of the indigenous population – some 100 million people – were killed. This is a uniquely appalling statistic: “death on this scale was the greatest any society had to bear in human history – and the few who survived faced an immense cultural shock as their whole way of life disappeared as their communities died around them and what was left was destroyed by the European invaders.”16 Maria Raciti and colleagues’ project is working to repair some of the recurrent harms from colonialism. Importantly, in good social marketing tradition, they use partnership working, recognising that “First Nations peoples are the experts in their own lives and … interventions and programs” need to be “co-designed and co-implemented.” Donovan and colleagues also recognise the immense value of indigenous wisdom and its potential to help tackle the climate crisis; at the end of Case Study #6 they conclude: “Further, with respect to issues facing all nations, a major benefit of increasing First Nations peoples’ wellbeing and sense of agency is that they are then better placed to pass on their long existing knowledge about the environments they have occupied for thousands of years about how to better look after our planet. For example, in Australia and elsewhere, people are now realising that passing on lessons about cultural fire practices not only reduces the risk of bushfires, nurtures the land and protects wildlife species, but also gives younger First Nations people the opportunity to practise their culture and learn from their Elders.” Doing justice to all indigenous cultures that Columbus and his colleagues encountered is the work of lifetimes. Furthermore, to suggest these cultures were all good would be gross over-simplification. They were human, and therefore inevitably flawed in many ways. There was war, human sacrifice and cruelty. Nonetheless, as historian Fabrice Delsahut17 explains, there are certain positive themes that recurred across the continent. He speaks evocatively of how welcoming the locals were of the first European arrivals (how does this compare with our present-day treatment of refugees and migrants?). Two further traits highlighted by Delsahut are particularly relevant to our current predicament: the indigenous peoples’ relationship to private property on the one hand, and the natural world on the other. Their views on property were entirely at odds with those espoused by the Europeans and being seeded in the empires they were constructing. Common goods like land and hunting or fishing grounds were held in joint trust for the benefit of all, with only personal things – clothing, tools, decorative items – being owned by the individual. Furthermore the accumulation of these personal goods was discouraged because it contradicted their ideas of happiness, which depended on goods and possessions being circulated, not accrued. Banks and money make no sense with this world view, as Chief Maquinn of the Nootka nation explains “We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank.”18 Delsahut points out that children were taught from an early age that greed and accumulation are weaknesses to be surmounted. Try Critical Thinking Task 8.2.

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.2:  CHILDREN AND MARKETING AGAIN Charles Eastman, a doctor and ethnologist from the Sioux people, explains: “Children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving.” “Happiness” he continues “emerges from a circular economy which, through barter and potlatches, ensures good things are passed around.”19 Compare and contrast this philosophy with the discussion in Chapter 7 about marketing to children. What do you think Charles Eastman would make of the idea of consumer socialisation? (Refer back to Critical Thinking task 7.4)

A Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life: “A fight is going on inside me,” he said “it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought for a minute and then asked “Which wolf will win?” His grandfather replied: “The one you feed.”20 Figure 8.2  Two wolves – A Cherokee parable Figure 8.2 provides a Cherokee response. Arguably, we have developed an economic system that continuously feeds the wrong wolf. Wade Davis makes the same point in different way: “a child raised to believe that a mountain is the abode of a protective spirit will be a profoundly different human being from a youth brought up to believe that a mountain is an inert mass of rock ready to be mined. A Kwakwaka’wakw boy raised to revere the coastal forests as the realm of the divine will be a different person from a Canadian child taught that such forests are destined to be logged. The full measure of a culture embraces both the actions of a people and the quality of their aspirations, the nature of the metaphors that propel them onward.” By metaphors he means stories (refer back to our discussion of stories in Chapter 6). Sharing and the idea of interconnectedness also inform Amerindian attitudes to nature, and lie at the core of their spiritual lives. For them, human beings are part of the natural world, mutually dependent on and respectful of it; the planet is Holy Mother Earth and “the trees and all of nature are witnesses to your thoughts and deeds.”21 “The old Lakota was wise” another chief tells us, “he knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.”22 Their ecological thinking has become familiar in recent years, and is more compelling as the climate statistics worsen. Do Critical Thinking Task 8.3.

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.3:   CANADIAN TAR SANDS Destruction So Vast and Deep It Challenges the Existence of Land and People “Oil companies have replaced Indigenous people’s traditional lands with mines that cover an area bigger than New York City, stripping away boreal forest and wetlands and rerouting waterways…. And despite the extreme environmental costs, and the growing need for countries to shift away from fossil fuels, the mines continue to expand, digging up nearly 500 Olympic swimming pools-worth of earth every day.” Look online to find out more about Alberta’s Tar Sands oil extraction industry. Here is a good place to start.23 What would you expect the local indigenous people to think about the tar sands development? Jean L’Hommecourt, Environmental Consultant with the Fort McKay First Nation, gives her answer here.24

But, you might argue, these people had none of the material benefits we enjoy; their philosophy might have been noble, but surely their lives were hard and unhappy. You would be wrong. Amerindian culture also succeeded in bringing its people contentment. Three centuries after the arrival of Columbus, when the US had still only been partially conquered, US president Thomas Jefferson was moved to remark: “I am convinced that those [Indian] societies which live without government enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under European governments.”25 There is no better test for a civilisation, not even life expectancy, than the contentment of its people. Jefferson knew this full well – he also coined the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” which was enshrined in the American Declaration of Independence, and subsequently the new country’s Constitution.

The birth of hyperconsumption It is a long way from the Wooded Isle to the Canadian Tar Sands and much has happened in between. However as far as our consumption behaviour is concerned, two phenomena, which emerged in the USA and then swiftly globalised, are particularly significant. First, commerce, which had been dominated by lots of small businesses, began to coalesce into a much smaller number of much bigger companies.26 The modern business corporation, which as we have already noted, has now outgrown most of the world’s countries, was born. Hand in glove with this, mass production methods were developed, which vastly increased the availability of consumer goods. Cars, washing machines and vacuum cleaners could be produced in unprecedented numbers at a much reduced cost. The age of plenty was born. Case Study #13 from Rafael Pérez-Escamilla and #14 from Hastings et al show how this has played out in the infant formula and sugary drinks markets respectively. However, this sudden abundance of consumer goods raised a big potential problem. If supply increased so much that it exceeded demand, then the new corporations’ wealth and power

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ALTERNATIVES would quickly seep away. It is relative scarcity that determines value: if there are more things to sell than needs to satisfy, the buyer becomes more powerful than the seller, and can determine the price, depress sales and dominate the transaction. This made advertising a vital function, and it became an important industry in its own right. Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, was a leading light of the new venture and spelled this out in his book, “Propaganda,” published in 1928. Do Critical Thinking Task 8.4.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.4:   PROPAGANDA You can download Bernay’s Propaganda easily from various online locations27. Do so and consult it. As with Laudato Si, you don’t need to read the whole book, just dip into it. The opening sentence will tell you a lot. What strikes you about the contents? Are you surprised by what it says? For a detailed discussion of the profound impact of Bernays’ ideas, watch the BBC series ‘The Century of the Self’28 by Adam Curtis.

You might be surprised by the bluntness of Bernays’ words. The book opens with the statement: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” It goes on to state that advertising, “the new propaganda,” would become “the mechanism which controls the public mind”… “manipulated by the special pleader who seeks to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity.”29 Even the title – “Propaganda” – is disturbing; Bernays was writing at the time of the Nazi Party’s rise to power, using Dr Goebbels’ Ministry of Propaganda to manipulate the German population. Figure 8.3 provides an evocative example of how contemporary practitioners saw advertising as unashamedly manipulative. You might also be surprised that there was such a deliberate plan to get us to consume more. Advertising was “waging, on behalf of the producers and sellers of consumer goods, a relentless war against saving and in favour of consumption” to induce “changes in fashion, create new wants, set new standards of status, enforce new norms of propriety.”31 Finally, you might be surprised by how widely accepted his ideas were. Bernays was extremely successful, became an establishment figure and was honoured in 1949 by the American Psychological

Rosser Reeves, a leading advertiser in the Bernays era, used to show new recruits to his ad agency two identical silver dollars and explain: “Never forget that your job is very simple. It is to make people think the silver dollar in my left hand is much more desirable than the silver dollar in my right hand.”30 Figure 8.3  Rosser Reeves model of advertising effects

ALTERNATIVES Society for his work on “Engineering Consent.” In a democracy, shouldn’t consent be negotiated and agreed, rather than engineered? However, democracy was clearly not a priority for Bernays. In the 1950s, he joined the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Brands International) and, on its behalf, worked with the US Government’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to bring down the legitimately elected government of Guatemala in the 1950s32 because its plan to share out land more fairly with local people threatened the corporation’s profits.

Enter the marketing perspective If you recall what we said about communications in Chapter 6, you will already be anticipating problems for the Bernays approach. We noted then, when analysing events around the dramatisation of the War of the Words, that mass communications are not nearly as directly powerful as was initially thought. If you focus on production and then rely on advertising to keep people buying, you will hit problems. There are limits to how heavily and insistently you can advertise without seeming desperate. Furthermore, if people already have all the products on offer, highpressure selling is not going to get you very far. You might sell them a second car, but a second washing machine or a third vacuum cleaner? By the middle of the century, it was becoming clear that the propaganda model was too crude. Business, it was argued,33 needed to become more sophisticated, to adopt what was called a “marketing perspective.” This turned existing commercial principles on their head by starting with the customer rather than the product. Successful companies, it was argued, produce what can be sold, rather than trying to sell what has already been (mass-)produced. The new discipline of marketing stressed the importance of market research to provide each business with an understanding of their customers’ needs and wants, and track its success in satisfying these. You didn’t try and sell them a second washing machine, but sought out all sorts of other needs and wants you could satisfy instead. The watchwords became “customer-defined quality,” “customer satisfaction” and “consumer sovereignty.” Competitive pressures would weed out all those businesses which didn’t adapt and make the market lean and efficient. Marketing revolutionised business and did bring genuine benefits, as the concept of “customerdefined quality” illustrates. Inventing the world’s most effective mouse trap may seem like a guaranteed route to business success. However, sales will depend on your customers agreeing that yours is indeed a great mouse trap, and their opinions on what a good mousetrap is – just as much as its technical performance – will have a fundamental bearing on this. If, for example, your customers can’t condone the idea of killing mice, no amount of technological wizardry will convince them to buy a lethal trap. The most ineffective humane alternative will be preferable and will be a better product. Thus, the business school argument continues, the market has been enhanced and genuinely democratised.

The reality of corporate marketing There were three counterarguments to this. First, the problems of oversupply – of everybody having a car, a washing machine and a vacuum cleaner – were limited to a few wealthy countries; much of the world still – then, as now – lived in great need. Read Figure 8.4.

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ALTERNATIVES There may have been oversupply in the US, but the Global South remained in dire need, not just of vacuum cleaners but of enough to eat. As the historian Clive Ponting34 points out, by the second half of the last century, there was enough food for everyone, it was just being very unfairly shared out, and many in the Global South were suffering from malnutrition. This would have been a good moment at which to rethink the model; to stop chasing yet more profits and start redistributing global resources more fairly. Instead, the advertising war on behalf of the producers and sellers continued unabated and by the end of the century the people of the northern hemisphere were eating their way through double their share of the earth’s harvest – even their domestic pets were better fed than the poor of the south. These problems of inequity continue today. Figure 8.4  What other options were there? There were also eloquent critics of this direction of travel. The year 1962 saw the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in which the ecological impact of excessive consumerism was made clear. But nature was not considered important enough. The economic illiteracy of the model was highlighted by Fritz Schumacher in “Small is Beautiful,” and the moral bankruptcy of advertising by Vance Packard in the “Hidden Persuaders,” each to no avail. Do Critical Thinking Task 8.5.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.5:  WHAT OTHER OPTIONS WERE THERE? Look on online to find what you can about the three books just cited: • Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. • Fritz Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful, A Study of Economics as if People Mattered • Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders Write down your reactions to each. Second, if the marketing revolution had really resulted in corporations producing exactly what people want, rather than manipulating them into buying pre-prepared stuff, you would expect advertising – Bernays’ mind-controlling propaganda – to reduce in importance. In fact, the reverse is true. Advertising expenditure has increased continuously for over a century,35 and latest figures show that more than $550 billion is spent on it every year. And as we also noted in the last chapter, advertising is only a small part of the marketing sales effort. Third, the idea of consumer sovereignty is difficult to square with the fiduciary imperative and the diseases of consumption we also discussed in the last chapter. Can the tobacco industry, which knowingly addicts children and then kills one in two of them, be said to be delivering “customerdefined quality”? Can the infant formula multinationals in Case Study #10 from Hastings et al, really be seen as “consumer oriented”?

ALTERNATIVES A group of Indigenous islanders from Australia’s Torres Strait has launched a world-first legal battle in a bid to protect their homes. They argue Australia has breached their rights to culture and life by failing to address climate change. The low-lying islands, located on the northern tip of Australia, have seen rising sea levels, coastal erosion and flooding in recent years. It’s the first time a claim of this kind has been taken to the UN Human Rights Committee.36 Yessie Mosby from Masig Island points out: “We’ve been free here for thousands of years.….we didn’t contribute nothing towards the fossil fuels and all the burnings and hustles and bustles what’s happening around. We didn’t contribute nothing but yet we are on the frontline, and getting the impact of everything. I know it’s not right. As we are waiting our homes are being eaten away. Something needs to be done right now.” Hear him for yourself here37. Figure 8.5  The Torres Strait 8: Australian Islanders in landmark climate fight Thinking more widely, how can genuine concern for our wellbeing have led to a situation where our overconsumption is destroying the environment on which we depend? Where UN scientists are warning us that our materialism in jeopardising the survival of our species? Where the impact of these ecological harms is felt most acutely by people in the Global South? Figure 8.5 shows how consumer capitalism continues to threaten the survival of indigenous peoples, in this case the Torres Strait islanders off the north coast of Australia who have felt compelled to fight back using human rights legislation.

Indigenous help Human rights are a crucial part of the fight for a fairer, more sustainable society, as we will discuss in the next chapter. For the moment, though, we should just recognise that an opportunity is being missed here. What would happen if we stopped treating indigenous people as obstacles and instead welcomed them as potential partners? We urgently need new ideas and alternative perspectives; in Wade Davis’s words better metaphors and indigenous people like Yessie Mosby have them. It seems not only unjust that they suffer for our “fossil fuel … burnings and hustles and bustles,” but foolish to reject their help when we need it so badly. In the words of Laudato Si “it is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners.”38 This is the same lesson that Case Studies #4 (Maria Raciti et al) and #6 (Rob Donovan et al) teach us, both of which epitomise partnership working. Indigenous people are not passive recipients, but active partners in the process of change and improvement. Indeed, such is the need for indigenous help, this can become burdensome – note what Maria Raciti and colleagues say about “cultural taxation” in the question and answer section of their case study. Nonetheless, such is the urgency of the climate crisis, there have also been important initiatives from indigenous peoples to work with us to contain greed and instil a greater respect for nature. The Kogi people of the Sierra Nevada, for example, whose way of life dates back to before Columbus, have used their connections with a BBC journalist to make two films, one in 1990,

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ALTERNATIVES called “From the Heart of The World”, and a sequel, “Aluna”, in 2012.39 In them, they explain that their duty to the planet compels them to warn us, their “younger brothers,” of the harms our economic system is causing. They express deep unease about the devastation that mining, power generation and modern living in general are wreaking on the world; they call on us to change course. Despite a lack of modern technology, they explain sophisticated ecological principles, the connectedness of nature and the harms being done to the climate. Science which the International Panel on Climate Change was only just beginning to grapple with at the time of the first film. They are also convinced that one day we will start to listen: “The ancestors say that one day the younger brother will wake up. But only when the violence of nature is on top of him. That’s when he’ll wake up. What are we going to do? Well, we are not going to fight. We just want to make people understand. We are speaking calmly so that hopefully the whole world will listen.”40 A similar plea came recently from the Amazon’s Kayapó people: “We call on you to stop what you are doing, to stop the destruction…. If the land dies – if our Earth dies – then none of us will be able to live. We will all die.”41 Their chief, Raoni Metuktire, explains that we share the same fears about the future, we are in the same perilous predicament. That is why a group of the Amazonian peoples, like the Torres Strait islanders, are currently suing their Government in the Hague to challenge its exploitation and destruction of the rainforest.42 COP 26 in Glasgow saw yet another call from indigenous people for us to work together in the fight against climate breakdown. This one was facilitated by the Guardian Newspaper in London and brought together six young indigenous women from around the world. The accompanying reportage is critical of the lack of attention being given to indigenous voices at COP 26. Although, it explains, the previous Paris accord “legally recognised the crucial role of traditional knowledge and innovations by local communities and indigenous peoples in understanding and tackling the climate crisis,” in reality, little has changed. As one activist explained: “Indigenous people are more visible but we’re not taken any more seriously; we’re romanticised and tokenised…They’re trying to collect and preserve indigenous knowledge while continuing to leave us out of the actual decision-making and positions of power. It’s the only lever we have to hold states and governments accountable, but it’s the same paternalistic system as ever. We’re set up to fail, so that’s where civil society must come in.” Critical Thinking Task 8.6 presents the words of four of the contributors. Read them through and consult both the reportage and the video. We would then like you to consider how a social marketer might use these insights to respond to Critical Thinking Task 2.1, the Government Call for Tenders on carbon neutrality. Think back to what we have learnt about the four social marketing orientations, strategic planning, research and communications.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.6:  A CONTINUATION OF COLONIALISM 43 “We have this philosophy in Dayak it’s called “Huma Betang.” It’s a large house. Our people used to live in long houses that have like 25 families and when a room let’s say gets caught on fire it’s impossible

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for others only to sit and watch. The same way right now the same is happening. We live in this planet. This planet is our large house; it’s our Huma Betang and when one crisis happens in one place you can’t just sit and watch, just cheering them like “keep up the good work” but you do nothing. You need to stop and take action.” (Emmanuela Shinta, a Dayak woman from Borneo) “What gives me hope is connections to other people who believe that the changes that we’re seeking are absolutely possible. Building a connection with one person leads to connection with others. You can build a local group, build power, come together with your family and friends. You know talk about what your vision is for the future, talk about what the barriers are that are holding you from getting there. What do you then need to do be able to make the changes to make that possible?” (Amelia Telford a Bundjalong and Southsea Island woman.) “The living forest is inherent to our way of life. The living forest is about recognising all living beings. And this includes humans, it includes animals, insects, trees, flowers, mountains, lakes and it also includes the forces of the forest. We understand that everything that we are, everything that we need comes from the land itself. Food, medicine, even mental health.” (Nina Gualinga, a woman from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon.) “When we think of land we don’t think of it as a commodity. The reason why climate change exists is because you know colonialism and capitalism go hand in hand, but when you think of the land as a commodity, as something that can be bought that isn’t sacred this leads to rising CO2 emissions.” (Charitie Ropati, a Yup’ik and Samoan woman from Alaska) What social marketing concepts emerge from these comments? There are many good ideas here. The philosophy of Huma Betang is a great example of “client orientation” and could help us respond effectively to recurrent climate-related storms, fires and floods. Amelia Telford gives a powerful reflection on the benefits of a collective orientation and relationship building, and Nina Gualinga takes the idea of mutually beneficial exchange to a new level, suggesting its application across the natural world. This echoes Raciti et al’s discussion of the importance of “connection to place and connection to each other” being “central to the survivance and thrivance” in Case Study #4. The indigenous women also remind us how important it is to think critically about our current economic system. Charitie Ropati draws the link between colonialism and capitalism – echoing statements in Case Studies #4 and #6, that we discussed in Chapter 7 – and goes on to emphasise the problems inherent in the “commodification of nature”; of turning it into a product that can be bought and sold.

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ALTERNATIVES But more important than these individual insights is the idea that, even with a problem as complex and daunting as climate, it is possible to work together to find a solution – and social marketing ideas can help us do this. Andrade et al express this idea of partnership working beautifully in Case Study #9, focusing on aspiring communities: “We feel uncomfortable about the language of intervention. Are we intervening in people’s lives? Or are we part of them? Are we intervening in their existence to evidence outcomes? Or are we connecting, human to human?” This takes us back to Chapter 1 and the fundamental strength of responding to our challenges with a combination of grassroots empowerment and collective action. It also raises questions about what it means to be human, which we will pick up in Chapter 9.

Wrap-up In this chapter, we have taken a deeply critical look at our economic system. Whilst acknowledging its achievements, we have also noted that it is both unfair and unsustainable. It was built on deeply racist assumptions about cultural superiority: indigenous peoples were seen as inferior and so could be ignored and swept away. They are still being marginalised and excluded today, but this is gradually changing. The Kogi have been proved right: the violence of nature is upon us and we are ready to wake up and recognise that: “The myriad cultures of the world are not failed attempts at modernity, let alone failed attempts to be us. They are unique expressions of human imagination and heart, unique answers to a fundamental question: what does it mean to be human and alive? When asked this question, the cultures of the world respond in 7000 different voices, and these collectively comprise our human repertoire for dealing with all the challenges that will confront as a species over the next 2,500 generations, even as we continue the never-ending journey.”44 We need new ideas and different stories to help us navigate the future, and indigenous philosophies are a rich source. Social marketing ideas of mutual respect, relationship building and collective action can help us make the most of these opportunities.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 8.7:  INDIGENOUS INSIGHTS ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS Return again to Critical Thinking Task 2.1, the Government Call for Tenders on carbon neutrality. How will the insights you have gained from this chapter influence your response?

Reflective questions 1. List some of the benefits and drawbacks of corporate capitalism. 2. How does the European imperial project connect with our modern way of life? 3. How did the native American Indian values contrast with those of Columbus and his followers?

ALTERNATIVES 4. Who was Edward Bernays? Explain his views about advertising. 5. What social marketing lessons can we take from indigenous philosophies?

Reflective assignments 1. Summarise the basic arguments of Laudato Si. 2. Read The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davies (see bibliography). What lessons does he suggest we might learn from indigenous people? 3. Watch Aluna45 and summarise its message. 4. Discuss the philosophy of Huma Betang and its implications for our ecological problems. 5. Explain how working with indigenous peoples fits with the social marketing concepts of grassroots empowerment and collective action.

Notes 1 https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty Note: In each of these statistics price differences between countries are taken into account to adjust for the purchasing power in each country 2 Shah, R. (2018). Rising obesity in Africa reflects a broken global food system, Financial Times, September 17, p. 31. 3 Laudato, S. (2015). https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/ papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf The quotes are on p71 and 37. 4 Chomsky op cit. 5 Arundhati Roy (2011) guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 November. 6 Laudato (2015) op cit p119. 7 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-12/24/content_27763449.htm 8 https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy 9 Hastings, G. (2020). COVID-19: Our last teachable moment. Emerald Open Research, 2, Art. No.: 20. https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13603.2 10 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/06/more-than-200-health-journals-callfor-urgent-action-on-climate-crisis?fbclid=IwAR1CH_4E_4L_4SzIVxFwVamQK1q1IQTnjplPxZPz zXchydZJy6qX55Q-XmA 11 Davies, W. (2007). The Wayfinders, Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. House of Anansi Press, pp. 120–121, p. 217 Canada 12 Patel, R., & Moore, J. (2017). A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. UC Press, p. 14. 13 Ponting (2000) Ibid p. 480. 14 Patel and Moore op cit p. 15. 15 Ponting, C. (2000). World History – A New Perspective. Chatto and Windus, p. 479. 16 Ponting (2000) op cit p492 17 Delsahut, F. (2020). Indiens Amerique du Nord : La Sagesse de la Gaieté in Histoire Mondiale du Bonheur, François Durpaire, Le Cherche Midi 18 Quoted in Delsahut F (2020) ibid p. 285. 19 Delsahut (2020) ibid p. 286. 20 http://www.sapphyr.net/smallgems/index.htm (Accessed 5 April 2017) 21 McCluhan, T.C. (1973). Touch the Earth Winnebago Sphere Books, p. 5. 22 McCluhan (1973) ibid p6 23 https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21112021/tar-sands-canada-oil/

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ALTERNATIVES 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK8mBzjHuMQ&t=167s 25 https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_speechs8.html 26 Foster et al. (2009). 27 http://whale.to/b/bernays.pdf 28 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p00ghx6g/the-century-of-the-self 29 Bernays, E. (1928). Propaganda. http://whale.to/b/bernays.pdf, https://bookdepository.live/ show/book/493212/propaganda/12064225/4252368f/db7ccf8e9609a74/ p18 30 Foster, J.B., Hannah, H., & McChesney, R. (2009). ‘The sales effort and monopoly capitalism’, Monthly Review, 6(11). https://monthlyreview.org/2009/04/01/the-sales-effort-and-monopoly-capital/ 31 Baran and Sweezy. (1966). Monopoly Capital. New York: Monthly Review Press, p. 121 quoted in Foster et al 32 Nolan, R. (2021). ‘No Bananas Today’, London Review of Books, 43(23): 23. https://www.lrb.co.uk/ the-paper/v43/n23/rachel-nolan/no-bananas-today 33 See for example Levitt, T. (1960). Marketing Myopia Harvard Business Review, July–August, 45–60. 34 Ponting, C. (2000). World History – A New Perspective. Chatto and Windus, p. 790. 35 Foster et al. (op cit). 36 https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-56741961 37 https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-56741961 38 Laudato Si op cit p? 39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftFbCwJfs1I&t=4117s 40 Davies, W. (2007). The Wayfinders, Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. House of Anansi Press, pp. 120–121, p. 147. 41 Metuktire, R. (2019). In the Amazon we are full of fear; soon you will be too. Guardian Journal, 3 September. 42 Aldela, M. (2021). Le président brésilien « a toujours incité a la violence contre nous » Le Monde January 2021, p. 2. 43 Newspaper article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/02/cop26-indigenousactivists-climate-crisis Video: https://youtu.be/Nm8Ctb2w81Y 44 Davies (2007) op cit p. 19. 45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftFbCwJfs1I&t=4117s

Bibliography Bernays, E. (1928). Propaganda. Ig publishing. http://whale.to/b/bernays.pdf Davies, W. (2007). The Wayfinders, Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. House of Anansi Press, pp. 120–121, p. 217. Canada Laudato, S. (2015). https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/ papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en.pdf McCluhan, T.C. (1978). Touch the Earth Winnebago Sphere Books, London. Patel, R., & Moore, J. (2017). A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things. UC Press, London. Ponting, C. (2000). World History – A New Perspective. Chatto and Windus, London.

9

Chapter 

Ethics, morality and human rights in social marketing This chapter tackles the moral issues that social marketing must address. It starts by reminding us that we social marketers are continually interfering in people’s lives, so we need to ensure that our efforts do genuinely bring benefits and achieve these in a morally acceptable way. It also shows how ethical theory can help us here. This will lead us into a discussion of what it is to be human. We will see how important moral agency is, and how this links to collective agency through the ideas of rights, responsibilities and human potential. Human rights law not only protects us from abuse but enshrines our right to get involved in the collective process of progressive change. Finally, we recognise that the ecological crisis has taught us that these rights need to be extended to other species and the natural world. In this way, maybe we can, as Robert Brockenhurst1 advises, learn to think like an ecosystem.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: ✓✓ Identify the sorts of moral hazards social marketing interventions can throw up. ✓✓ Address practical ethical problems. ✓✓ Discuss how ethical theory helps us to tackle these. ✓✓ Explain what we mean by moral agency and how it links to humanity. ✓✓ Discuss the importance of human rights to ethical thinking and social marketing.

Keywords Ethical risks – moral agency – rights and responsibilities – Deontological Theory – Teleological Theory – human rights – ecosystems. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-9

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Rights and wrongs As we noted throughout the book, social marketing takes us in to some deep moral water. This is because we social marketers are perpetually interfering in other people’s lives; all the case studies, for instance, do this in one way or another. This might be at an individual level, as with the use of meat thermometers in Case Study #2 (Anand and McGloin), or at a community level, as in Case Study #1 addressing sustainable energy in schools (Brychkov et al). Controlling commercial marketing typically needs national-level interventions, as with sugary drinks taxes in Mexico (Case Study #13, Pérez-Escamilla) or at international level, as with the WHA Code on infant formula discussed in Case study #14 (Hastings et al); while tackling the climate crisis will require interventions at a planetary level. All of them prompt moral as well as practical questions. We will look into these dilemmas in this chapter and explore ways of addressing them. Ethical and philosophical thinking can also provide another level of support for our work. It can help us understand more about what it is to be human, and for a discipline focused on human behaviour – understanding and influencing it to bring about desirable change – this is extremely useful. It helps us understand why we behave as we do, how we cooperate (or fail to do so), the extent to which we are capable of recognising that our actions have repercussions – that my SUV driving might make me feel powerful and prosperous but is also harming the planet; that my cheap fashion is causing pollution and human hardship – and taking responsibility for these negative effects; and to recognise our ability to make choices that are personally inconvenient – to walk rather than drive; to buy Fairtrade rather than the cut-price bargain – but collectively beneficial. This will lead us to the idea of “moral agency”: our ability to judge right from wrong and our preparedness to let this guide our decisions. These individual concerns inevitably lead us to collective ones. If we all have the responsibility to think of others, so we have the right to expect others to take our welfare into account. So our responsibilities are balanced by rights – and a range of human rights that have now been enshrined in international law. We will explore these in this chapter. These ideas of individual and collective rights and responsibilities take us back to the discussion in Chapter 1, where we noted that both “the wave and the ocean” work together to “bring about progressive, consensual behavioural and social change.” So human rights are not just there to stop bad things happening, they are a means of ensuring good things happen, that we humans make progress, that we all fulfil our potential. Indeed, they deliberately encourage this process: one of our human rights is to be actively involved in the process of progressive social change. The ecological crisis is now making it clear that the idea of mutual respect has to be extended beyond humankind to all forms of life on earth and indeed to the natural world as a whole. As indigenous cultures keep reminding us, we are a part of the earth’s ecosystem, so human and planetary potential are one and the same thing.

Moral agency Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 9.1.

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.1:   THE LIFEBOAT 2 It was just over an hour since the captain had warned the passengers that their cruise ship was in difficulty, and half an hour since it had sunk. Jack and Alice, along with eight other passengers, found themselves, shocked but safe, in one of the ship’s lifeboats. Their condition was better than might be expected, after all the lifeboat was warm, dry and obviously seaworthy. Furthermore it was designed for fourteen, so they had plenty of blankets and supplies to go round. They also had a compass and radio. Their worst fears began to subside. Then someone noticed that there were still people in the water and clinging to wreckage near where the ship had gone down. It was suggested they row over to try and pick up survivors. This caused a lively debate. Some were in favour of going to the rescue. They said it was the right thing to do and would save lives. Others, by contrast, pointed out that, whilst this would certainly be a nice thing to do, it would make things more difficult and could be dangerous. At the moment they were warm and well-catered for, but if others got into the boat there would be less to go round. They had no idea how long they would have to survive in the lifeboat. And if there were a lot of people in the water, panic could result and boat might even get swamped. After much toing and froing, it was decided not go back for the survivors. Discuss the pros and cons of the passengers’ decision. Would you have done the same or behaved differently?

It is a difficult problem, and there is no right or wrong answer. What the exercise confirms, though, is that we are capable of thinking about such dilemmas – that we have moral agency. This chapter discusses how we should use it.

Ethical risks in social marketing Because we social marketers deliberately try to affect other people’s lives, we need to proceed with great caution. Try Critical Thinking Task 9.2.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.2:  MORAL DILEMMAS IN SOCIAL MARKETING Think about all our discussions so far and revisit previous chapters. What ethical or moral problems have we encountered? In addition to these specific dilemmas, do you feel there are any other ways in which ethical thinking might help us social marketers in our work? What about ideas like rights and responsibilities? Do I have a right to ignore your low-emissions intervention and carry on driving my gas-guzzling SUV; or do I have to take responsibility for the pollution I am causing and the harm this is doing to others?

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING Your recollections might bring to mind any of the following: ••

The risk of ‘victim blaming’ (Chapters 2 and 7) if we ignore the social and commercial determinants of human behaviour.

••

The dangers of accepting funding from conflicted sources, such as ecological interventions supported by the fossil fuel industry or tobacco control paid for by cigarette companies (Chapters 5 and 7).

••

The need to ensure that the issue your social marketing intervention is addressing is worthwhile – that it will genuinely benefit all those involved (Chapter 4). Or that our intervention is not just a blind for more effective measures (Chapter 6).

Indeed the whole strategic planning process which we discussed in Chapter 4 throws up just as many ethical as managerial issues. Some of these have been added into the Strategic Plan graphic in Figure 9.1. This shows how important it is that we take time to consider the morality of our social marketing activities, and the effects (intended or otherwise) they may have on those who engage with us (or don’t). In Chapter 5, we noted three sets of questions that need to be addressed in the social marketing planning process; the first two of these, Preparatory Questions about whether to intervene and Intervention-Building Questions about how to intervene both raise ethical issues.

Figure 9.1  Ethical dilemmas in social marketing

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING

Whether to intervene Social marketers make judgements about what problems to address or what behaviour to influence. These decisions have clear moral dimensions: should, for example, limited budgets be spent on encouraging behaviours which improve the health of small numbers of people (e.g. intensive smoking cessation counselling), or on large campaigns which reach large populations (e.g. mass media anti-smoking campaigns). Or should religious sensitivities stop us from promoting condoms, or cultural concerns block a gender equalities intervention? Is harm reduction (e.g. recommending vaping instead of smoking) acceptable, given that it means continued harm? We cannot assume that we social marketers (“experts”) know best. If we had our way, would everyone become non-smoking, moderate-drinking, blood-donating, vegetarian, recyclers who live to become centenarians? And if they did, who says these are the correct life choices? Perhaps people have the right to take deliberate risks. We social marketers have to avoid the trap of thinking that ours are the only legitimate priorities. Try Critical Thinking Task 9.3.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.3:   MAKING CHOICES A move to fluoridate the public water supply in the north of England triggered a letter from an old soldier expressing these reservations: “…we believe that neither you nor anyone else has the right to tell us what to consume – would you like us to tell you what to consume? Of course you wouldn’t! Don’t try to hijack the democratic system and individual rights in pursuit of ideological goals. Never try to deny consumers the right of choice in anything, choice also comes with democracy. Those rights were hard won on the battlefields of Europe, would you condemn those sacrifices to oblivion in your pursuit of self-gratification?…….” How would you respond?

There are no easy answers. The old soldier clearly has some profound and sincerely held reservations. At the same time, the option of not fluoridating also presents moral dilemmas. Is it right to deprive a community of known public health benefit, especially one that is proven to be very effective in reducing inequalities? Our capacity to intervene effectively also has a moral dimension. Is it acceptable to raise fears that we can’t resolve, for example? To run an ad campaign with shocking images about the health consequences of smoking, if we are unable to offer any cessation support? Or promote multiple vaccinations in Europe, when none are available in Africa? We also noted in Chapter 4 the moral hazard of conflict of interest; we need, for example, to think carefully about our sources of funding and the motives of those proposing a particular intervention. Revisit the Crying Indian in Figure 6.7.

How to intervene Decisions about how to intervene also raise moral issues. We noted in Chapter 4 that targeted interventions work better than undifferentiated ones, but the decision to target (i.e. help) certain

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING social groups to the exclusion of others can be troubling. On the other hand, being part of the priority group and singled out for special support can lead to stigmatisation. The nature of the intervention also has an important ethical dimension. Social marketing interventions are built on the principles of exchange and compromise – what we do will be customised to the needs and perceptions of our client population. But what if this conflicts with the evidence base? Can an ethical Covid prevention intervention be developed by compromising with anti-vaxxers? And how can we push our clients to change and yet keep within acceptable ethical bounds? Is it ok if our fear messages exaggerate a bit for effect? Is compulsory vaccination acceptable? The role of our clients in the process of change is also a crucial issue. Is uninformed behaviour change acceptable? Have a go at Critical Thinking Task 9.4.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.4:   A NUDGE TOO FAR? US academics Thaler and Sunstein3 have popularised the idea of “nudging” people into correct behaviours. They advocate altering the “choice architecture” to make the desired behaviour – eating vegetables, joining the pension scheme – the norm. We do them without thinking. Desirable behaviours are designed into our lives, so we don’t even have to make a decision. Is this ethical? Do people have a right to know they are being influenced in this way?

If nudging people gets them to do the “right” thing – eat more vegetables, join the pension scheme – does it matter that they don’t know they are being influenced? In answering the question consider where such thinking might lead. Remember what we noted in Chapter 7 about the power of digital technology, and how Cambridge Analytica nudged people’s voting behaviour. Remember, from Chapter 8, Edward Bernays’ aim to “engineer consent” and turn advertisers into “an invisible government,” and how he and his ideas were used by the US Government’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to bring down the legitimately elected government of Guatemala in the 1950s4 because its land reforms threatened the profits of a major US corporation called the United Fruit Company. Nudging, then, whether digitally enhanced or not, takes us in a dangerous direction. Now think back to Chapter 1 and what we said about the importance of grassroots empowerment: “We all matter. We all have much to contribute and a right to be properly engaged in our collective journey… this means that change is best achieved by partnership and collaboration…” Without such active engagement, social marketing runs a great risk of sliding into manipulative social engineering. At the very least, all of us have a right to know if our behaviour is being deliberately influenced. Water fluoridation and flour fortification are very effective interventions to tackle dental health and spina bifida, as we noted in Chapter 2, but they should only be implemented after full public consultation and agreement. We also need to consider unintended effects of our work. As we noted in Chapters 4 and 5, it can be difficult enough to establish whether your intervention has done what was intended with

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING the intended client group. From an ethical perspective though, it is equally important to ask whether there were any unintended reactions among both the priority and other groups. Did our hard-hitting message about climate cause undue alarm? Did our pro-breastfeeding intervention disturb mothers who had previously opted for bottle feeding? Upstream interventions can also have unforeseen outcomes. Increasing the tax on – and hence the price of – cigarettes has played an important role in reducing the UK’s smoking prevalence;5 however, it also causes hardship amongst those who can’t give up. All these questions are variations on the theme: does the end ever justify the means? The short answer is no it does not. There are no short cuts in ethical decision making.

Research ethics In addition to all these issues of whether and how to intervene, doing research in social marketing also raises ethical concerns. Asking people about the sorts of sensitive, taboo and, at times illegal behaviours that social marketing addresses is fraught, and the research process, particularly qualitative methods which depend on the intensive involvement of participants, may increase fear or upset respondents. For example, in Case Study #14 on Infant Formula (Hastings et al), even marketing practitioners who had worked in the industry for years were taken aback by the harm being done by formula and expressed regrets about their past actions. As one exec put it: “everyone ‘drinks the Kool-Aid’ that it’s a good thing” (“drinking the Kool Aid” means the naïve acceptance of ideas that ought to be questioned6 or not doing the critical thinking). On the other hand, research is certainly necessary, as we have discussed throughout this book, and it would present equal if not greater ethical dilemmas if we were to proceed without conducting it. By the same token, research has to be reliable and rigorous. This means researchers do have to probe, put respondents under pressure and challenge their answers. The most basic requirement for ethically sound research, then, is that respondents make a fully informed decision about whether to participate or not. As with our interventions, people need to be able to make an empowered choice as to whether or not they partner with us.

Tackling ethical issues Let us leave aside complex issues of social marketing for a moment. How would you decide on a more everyday ethical problem? Try Critical Thinking task 9.5:

CRITICAL THINKING 9.5   A SWEET DILEMMA You are in your local newsagent when you see an eight year-old child steal some sweets. Do you intervene? And if so how – by telling the shopkeeper or the parent or by confronting the child directly?

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING You will probably use a combination of two ways of thinking about the dilemma: whether the action itself is right or wrong and whether the results of the action (intended or not) are desirable or not. Interestingly, these echo two key strands of ethical theory: I) Deontological theory This view of ethical conduct is based on the principle of duty – the actual behaviour is emphasised, rather than its consequences. It institutes rules of good behaviour by focusing on motives rather than outcomes and assumes that a good intention is likely to produce good results. Kant expressed this in his “categorical imperative”: “I ought never to act except in such a way that I can also will that my maxim should become a universal law.”7 Similarly Kant argues that we should act in ways that we hope all others would do. Deontologists have been criticised for not focusing on the consequences of actions and ignoring the situational context of particular courses of action. For example, most of us would agree that it is in many instances wrong to lie, but can easily imagine circumstances when such a transgression would be justified – and many more where, whilst an outright lie is unacceptable, avoiding telling the whole truth would be. II) Teleological theory Teleological theory (or utilitarianism) considers the morality of a particular action according to its consequences.8 It is ethically correct if it delivers the greatest good to the greatest number. This perspective rests on the assumption that the role of morality is to promote human welfare by maximising benefits and minimising harm. To assess the consequences of actions, it is necessary to conduct a social cost–benefit analysis. However, this perspective begs the question “who decides what is good?” For example, there are some who believe that only pleasure and happiness are intrinsically good, while others believe that there are other “good” values, such as friendship, knowledge, health and beauty.9 Furthermore, the drive to maximise total good may produce morally doubtful consequences, if, for example, it doesn’t take into account the fair distribution of these benefits. Neither theory solves our problem, but they do help us to analyse it. Rules can help us cope with this complexity: it is wrong to steal; do not make accusations without solid evidence. On the other hand, thinking about consequences helps us prioritise and make judgements about the importance of these rules. Thus, theory helps to think through moral issues whilst also recognising the complexities and imperfections of our lives, of the human experience.

On being human This begs the question as to what it means to be human. Primo Levi, the holocaust survivor, shows how the Nazi extermination camps inadvertently provided an answer. In his book, If this is a Man, he explains how the Nazis set about systematically dehumanising their victims so as to make it easier to mistreat and murder them. Life in the camps was deliberately designed to be as unbearable as possible so prisoners were pushed to behave selfishly, even brutally – to emulate their oppressors and abandon their humanity – in order simply to survive. And they were utterly defenceless: “slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death…” Never had external stimuli been more destructive or debilitating, yet Levi maintains that

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING The birds of the air were anxious; they felt in urgent need of advice and moral leadership. So a great conference was organised where they came together to discuss what might be done. The Hoopoe spoke up and persuaded the gathering that they needed to go in search of a spiritual guide or ‘Simurgh’, to provide them with the direction they lacked. After much debate and multiple attempts by different birds to avoid going on what would be an arduous journey, the quest got underway. It took many difficult years and involved crossing the seven valleys - of searching, love, understanding, friendship, unity, amazement, and death - each presenting its own challenges and lessons. As the pilgrimage proceeded, many birds abandoned the journey or were overcome by the ordeals they encountered. Eventually, now depleted to a band of just thirty, they arrived at a marvellous palace, which, the Hoopoe explained, was the home of the Simurgh. At first the palace guard would not let what had become a raggedy and disreputable looking gang enter the great mansion; but after a struggle they were admitted. Inside they searched everywhere for the Simurgh, but the place was empty. All they found was wall after wall lined with mirrors of every size and shape. It was in these that they at last caught sight of their spiritual leaders. Figure 9.2  The conference of the birds11

the prisoners still possessed a vital level of agency: “…but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last – the power to refuse our consent”10 (Levi 1979). Levi shows us that moral agency is at the heart of our humanity. He was not the first to realise this. The Conference of the Birds is an epic poem written by the Sufi scholar Farid ud-Din Attar nearly a millennium ago. It tells of the hunt for moral guidance in life: read Figure 9.2. Attar’s metaphor reminds us that we are our own guides; we each have an internal moral compass. As a recent newspaper editorial argued: “We are the only species capable of reflecting on our impact. We have moral agency. We can foresee the likely consequences of our actions, consider them, and then make choices.”12 The editorial goes on to show how this ability relates directly to our quality of life: because “self-interest will only work to the common benefit if it is understood that we ourselves are mutually dependent creatures who harm ourselves when we harm one another.”

Collective agency and human rights Interestingly, a focus on the individual does not undermine the importance of the collective; in fact it reinforces it. Once we start to look critically at our society – to feel uncomfortable about the Global North exploiting the Global South; to blanche at the foodbanks; to fear climate breakdown – it pushes us to consider others. If I am unhappy with the effects the system is having on me, at the same instant I come to recognise that others are also suffering. If my father dies of pneumoconiosis I begin to empathise with the fate of other coal miners; or if a car knocks me off my bike the benefits of cycle paths for all become more apparent. French philosopher Albert Camus pins this down, arguing that whilst our suffering in the face of a world that is difficult to understand and

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING often unsympathetic (as he puts it “absurd”) is individual, once we begin to think critically and act on our thoughts it immediately becomes collective. The stimulus to mitigate our individual hardship connects us with the humanity of others; the individual harm becomes a shared harm. Much as Descartes argued that our desire and ability to think demonstrates our individual existence, so Camus sees our desire and ability to rebel as proof of our collective existence. “I think therefore I am” is joined by “I rebel therefore we are.”13 Camus and Levi were writing in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War; a time when it was recognised that there had been a profound failure of moral agency and there was a desperate hunger to prevent any repetition of the holocaust and its related horrors. In this context, the idea that all human beings have the same fundamental qualities, share an “inherent dignity,” and are equal “members of the human family”14 had powerful resonance. The view developed that the protection and nurturing of these qualities, and recognition of them as inalienable rights, was the only progressive way forward. Under the auspices of the newly formed United Nations (UN), this resulted in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As Szablewska and Kubacki15 argue, adopting a human rights approach to social marketing brings a number of important benefits, especially regarding equality and empowerment. In Case Study #9, Andrade et al note that “Our purpose is therefore to create space for community members to exercise more agency so that ultimately, they can challenge structural inequalities that play out in the communities they are part of. Our legacy in these communities is a shift in how we train, creatively relate and evaluate community development work. To encourage and communicate a culture of embodied, embedded evaluation that exists outside of our workplaces and practices – that exists within and between us.” Human rights help address such unequal power relations. Children are an obvious and vital case in point. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified international treaty in history. It enshrines in international law “the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health,” that for any government “the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration,” and requiring administrations “to ensure the child such protection and care as is necessary for his or her wellbeing, ….and, to this end, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures.”16 Try Critical Thinking Task 9.6.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.6:  HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL MARKETING 1. States Parties recognise the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services. 2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures: Extract from Article 24 Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 a. To diminish infant and child mortality;

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING

b. To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care; c. To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution; d. To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers; e. To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents; f.

To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.

What implications do you think the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has for social marketing?

The CRC has fundamental implications for social marketing. First, it means that measures social marketers would support, such as controls on harmful marketing discussed in Chapter 7 or the provision of free school meals in the UK championed by footballer Marcus Rashford,17 are not just evidence-based actions which governments can be encouraged to take, they are legal obligations which they can be compelled to fulfil. It also challenges assumptions about the precedence of the individual. It is sometimes argued that any intervention is a threat to individual freedom and therefore should be a) kept to minimum and b) justified by showing that whatever good it will produce will be sufficient to compensate for this inevitable harm. This builds on the idea of society being made up of autonomous individuals navigating their own way in life, a task which is constantly being threatened by those around them. It links to the dictum Henry David Thoreau made famous in his essay ‘Civil Disobedience’: “that government is best which governs least.”18 An alternate view, as we showed in our discussion of Exchange Theory in Chapter 3, is that as individuals we are vulnerable and frail; it is only by coming together with our fellow beings that we become strong. This means that the collective is not a threat to our liberty, but an aid to it. Note this doesn’t diminish the role of the individual in ensuring collective progress; it emphasises it – as Thoreau went on to explain in his essay. This is why, as we discuss below, human rights laws not only protect the individual, but also their right to participate in the process of progressive social change. Interventions, rather than being a threat to this, are a necessary part of it; individual freedom, for example, is reduced if governments do not take steps to curtail over-powerful vested interests.

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING “Nanny state is a term of British origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term likens such a government to the role that a nanny has in child rearing. An early use of the term comes from Conservative British Member of Parliament Iain Macleod who referred to ‘what I like to call the nanny state’ in the 3 December 1965 edition of The Spectator.”19 Figure 9.3  The Nanny State

The term Nanny State (see Figure 9.3), which is sometimes used to attack government attempts to protect their citizens, fails to take this thinking into account. A conference in Sydney set out to investigate this issue.20 They concluded that there are indeed many nannies out there trying to influence our behaviour, but rather than governments, they are corporations, tech giants and conspiracy theorists, and they are nannies from hell!

The right to participation The implications of human rights for social marketing take us beyond public policy. They reinforce the importance of moral agency: “the nature that underlies natural or human rights is the moral nature of a human being” and they emphasise the idea of human potential: “human rights are less about the way people are than about what they might become.”21 Human rights law can provide an environment in which this potential can be fulfilled, but in and of itself will not stimulate people to take up the resulting opportunities for personal growth. For this to happen, people have to be recognised as active participants in the process of change. For this reason, human rights legislation overtly enshrines it as a right that all of us should be able to participate in the process of change, from instigation right through to monitoring and evaluation. Here is the UN explaining these principles in its ‘Right To Food Guidelines’: “The process of designing and implementing [interventions] should also respect participatory principles and empower intended beneficiaries, who should be explicitly recognised as stakeholders…Fundamentally, a human rights based approach to poverty is about empowerment of the poor…This focus on the poor and the needy for their empowerment is amply reflected in calls … for those targeted to have a say in how services are provided, and for poor communities to be empowered to control the way money set aside for them is spent. Thus, the idea of partnership working, which, as we have noted throughout this text, is such an integral part of social marketing, it is not just encouraged by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals; it is a requirement in international law. Social marketing has a vital role to play in enabling participation and helping us all to make the most of our human rights. For example, we see the strong role of the public in combatting corporate power in Mexico, in Case Study #13

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING (Pérez-Escamilla), while local groups – including NGOs, public agencies, the private sector – are the building blocks of efforts to tackle climate in Portugal, in Case Study #3 (Marques et al). Indeed, look at any of our case studies from around the world and you will see partnerships and human rights at work for social change. The prize for doing this is worth the winning: “…human development is possible only through comprehensive human action coordinated by human rights.”23 However, it carries with it risks as well as benefits: “The ‘human nature’ that underlies human rights is quintessentially human, full of frailties but also fraught with the possibility of the greatest glory. Human rights are a practical political institution for widely realising these higher potentials…”24 If social marketers are going to move from micromanaging specific behaviours to empowering people, they have to be prepared to let go of control and take chances. This is not as radical as it might sound; it is just the natural endpoint for the social marketing commitment to client orientation. If we listen to and respect the people we work with to the extent that we claim, we should have the confidence to trust them with finding their own solutions. Popular engagement in social change is also an important safety measure. Without it, human rights legislation risks becoming pious sentiment, or worse, doing actual harm. Vanessa Pupavac,25 for example, explains how over-zealous application by adults of the child’s right to safety has dangerously constrained play, reducing school playtimes and even eliminating unsupervised play altogether: “Panics over strangers, concerns about environmental dangers, potential litigation over accidents (however remote) and fears over bullying are all leading to a constriction of children’s play.” The negative consequences include isolation, obesity and mental illness. To complicate matters further, Article 31 of the UN Convention also gives children the right to play!26 The way to prevent this type of unintended harm is to encourage everyone – including children – to join the debate. This also means that the ensuing change will benefit from a bigger pool of ideas; given the complexity of the problems we now face, such creativity is vital. Have a go at the last Critical Thinking task (9.7).

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 9.7:  THE RIGHT TO A HABITABLE PLANET Thinking once more about your response to the Government Call for Tenders on carbon neutrality (Critical Thinking 2.1), how will you take the idea of rights into account?

Human rights demand that everyone is heard and included in the process of change. They also remind us of the importance of equity: climate justice must be a feature of any solution. At the same time, it raises the question: is it enough just to think about the needs and rights of human beings? Remember the words of Nina Gualinga of the Kichwa people (Critical Thinking 8.6) calling for a much broader perspective which includes humans but also “animals, insects, trees, flowers, mountains, lakes and it also includes the forces of the forest.”

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Thinking like an ecosystem We need to think beyond human rights, to the rights and requirements of other creatures and nature as a whole; to recognise that we are part of an ecosystem in a mutually sustaining relationship with our environment, both living and non-living. This interconnection is naturally occurring, and depends on balance: if one species becomes too dominant or the physical environment changes, the ecosystem automatically corrects itself. When human beings try to interfere with these processes – like when we introduced cane toads (for pest control) and rabbits (for food) into Australia – the result is usually calamitous. This is why Robert Brockenhurst argues that each of us should try to “think like an ecosystem instead of like a disconnected visitor.”27 Only when we connect with our environment can we see our part in it. Our economic system is the exact opposite of an ecosystem: it is a human construct that deliberately discounts its own harmful effects. The extraction of natural resources is an unquestioned right; pollution and resource depletion are categorised as externalities to keep them off the balance sheets; lung cancer and obesity are ignored or denied. Rowan Williams explains that it conceives of a world “made up of dead stuff plus active minds and acquisitive wills.”28 Furthermore, humility about our role in the earth’s ecosystem helps us connect with our humanity; only when we accept that we are part of nature, not its master, can we grow and fulfil our potential.

Wrap-up We have moral agency: the ability to judge right from wrong and the capacity to act accordingly, regardless of adversity. This enables us to strive to make our interventions as ethical as possible – respectful of people and the planet. More profoundly, it is what defines us as human beings. It is what we mean when we talk of human dignity, of the human spirit or simply humanity. In the last century, we so valued these qualities that we came together as a species to enshrine them as inalienable rights and commit their protection to international law. Sustainability demands that other species and the natural world be treated with the same respect. Thus, moral agency underpins our humanity, our collective consciousness and so inevitably our place in nature. Before we finish, let us return to the Lifeboat dilemma that opened the chapter. You may have felt that the decision of the passengers not go back for survivors was hard-hearted and unacceptable. How could they so callously disregard the plight of their fellow human beings? However, before we get too indignant, we should note that the story is taken from a book of moral philosophy by Julian Baggini and the lifeboat is actually metaphor for our planet. We in the Global North are behaving just as selfishly as the folk in the lifeboat. This suggests that a crucial task for social marketing is to reawaken our moral agency.

Reflective questions 1. List six ethical dilemmas a social marketer might experience. 2. Explain how ethical theory might help to address these. 3. What is moral agency and why does it matter?

ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING 4. Why do human rights matter? 5. Does a tree have rights? Should a tree have rights?

Reflective assignments 1. Apply deontological and teleological theory to a fear-based social marketing strategy of your choice. 2. Read Chapter 11 the Canto of Ulysses in Levi’s book If This is a Man.29 What he is trying to tell us? What two ideas emerge from his conversation with Pikolo? 3. Access the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child online and provide three reasons why it matters for social marketing. 4. Examine any one of the 17 UN SDGs from an ethical perspective. 5. How can moral agency save the planet?

Notes 1 Bringhurst, R. (2018). The Mind of the Wild in Learning to Die. Saskatchewan: University of Regina Press. p. 22, p. 8. 2 This is adapted from Baggini, J. (2005). The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: And Ninety Nine Other Thought Experiments. Granta Publishing, chapter 22. 3 Thaler, R., & Sunstein, C. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven: Yale University Press. 4 Nolan, R. (2021). ‘No Bananas Today’, London Review of Books, 43(23), 2 December, p. 23 https:// www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n23/rachel-nolan/no-bananas-today 5 Townsend, J.L. (1987). ‘Cigarette Tax, Economic Welfare and Social Class Patterns of Smoking’, Applied Economics, 19(3): 355–365. 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid 7 Hazard Jr, G.C. (2004). ‘Humanity and the law’, Yale JL & Human, 16: 79. 8 http://www.iep.utm.edu/mill-eth/ 9 Beauchamp, T.L., & Bowie, N.E. (1988). Ethical Theory and Business. Third Edition. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs. 10 Levi, P. (1979). If This Is a Man. London: Penguin Books. p. 47. 11 Farid at din Attar. (1974). The Conference of the Birds, Translated by C S Nott. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 12 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/01/the-guardian-view-on-pope-francis-an-unlikely-voice-for-the-environment (Accessed 5 April 2017) 13 Camus, A. (2005). L’Homme Révolté, folio essais ISBN 978-2-07-032302-9 Espagne p. 8. 14 United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child (preamble). 15 Szablewska, N., & Kubacki, K.A. (2017). ‘Human rights-based approach to the social good in social marketing’, Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, March vol. 155(3), pages 871-888, 1–18. 16 ibid 17 https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55338104 18 Thoreau, H.D. (1849). Civil Disobedience 19 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_state 20 Griffiths, P., & Magnusson, R. (2015). Guest editorial Public Health; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. puhe.2015.07.041

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ETHICS, MORALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOCIAL MARKETING 21 Donnely, J. (1985). The Concept of Human Rights. London: Croom Helm. pp. 3 and 33. 22 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. (2006). The Right to Food Guidelines Information Papers and Case Studies, Rome, pp. 143 and 47 23 Donnelly (1985) op cit p. 44. 24 ibid 25 Pupavac, V. (2002). The international children’s rights regime, in Rethinking Human Rights, Chandler, D. (ed). London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 72. 26 https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/full-uncrc/#31 27 Bringhurst (2018) op cit p. 8. 28 Williams, R. (2019). Afterword in This Is Not a Drill. London: Penguin Books. 29 Levi (1979) op cit chapter.

Bibliography Bringhurst, R. (2018). The Mind of the Wild in Learning to Die. Saskatchewan: University of Regina Press. Farid at din Attar. (1974). The Conference of the Birds, Translated by C S Nott. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Levi, P. (1979). If this Is a Man. London: Penguin Books. Williams, R. (2019). Afterword in This Is Not a Drill. London: Penguin Books.

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Chapter 

Systems social marketing This final chapter pulls everything together and explains how social marketing can address very complex problems, like climate breakdown, that are caused by multiple forces, involve many different actors and are the subject of much debate. In Chapter 8 we discussed the profound issues which underpin our entire economic system; this chapter uses the same systemic lens to look for solutions. It is, essentially, about thinking big; about global change and the transformation of our communities, countries and the global society in which we live. It builds on key ideas we have already discussed – the importance of exchange between people; the power of grassroots empowerment as well as collective action; the need for coordinated approaches to change; and the benefits of strategic, critical thinking. We are social beings who live in mutually dependent communities and behaviour change is inextricably linked to social and systemic change. As we noted back in Chapter 1, transformation is dependent on both the wave and the ocean.

Learning outcomes By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: ✓✓ Explain what systems social marketing is and is not. ✓✓ Discuss the global interconnectedness of the twenty-first century as captured by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs). ✓✓ Define a “system” and a “provisioning system.” ✓✓ Explain the characteristics of social marketing in a systems setting. ✓✓ Critique systems social marketing planning. ✓✓ Describe the dynamics of behavioural change. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-10

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Keywords Social marketing – global change – United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – systems science – provisioning systems– causal loop diagrams – dynamics.

Thinking big We humans thrive on Planet Earth – there is clean water, readily available food and a breathable atmosphere. Our home is a “Goldilocks Planet”: it’s not too hot, and not too cold, but just right.1 Importantly, we have evolved with the Earth and that evolution continues. Dr Teghan Lucas, an Australian scientist, shows that modern babies are being born without wisdom teeth and with smaller faces as humans evolve at a more rapid rate in the past 250 years in a micro evolution.2 We are all part of a big, interconnected ecosystem of living and non-living things as our Indigenous cultures remind us. While our own lives are very short in the vast 4.5-billion-year timescale of our planet (see Critical Thinking Task 10.1), we are witnessing monumental changes in the planet’s evolution.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.1:   WHAT IS LIFE? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset Crowfoot proverb3 What does the proverb mean to you? What implications does it have for our response to the climate crisis?

In our lifetime alone, we have already experienced huge environmental stresses, climate change, accelerated extinction of species, decreasing biodiversity, increases in human populations and urbanisation. As we’ve seen, it’s not all doom and gloom. We are witnessing a rise in life expectancy, a decrease in child deaths, and technological advances which are adding to the quality of many, but not all, lives. Individually and collectively, we have learnt how interconnected all humans are with our Goldilocks planet, regardless of country or continent. The Covid pandemic shows us the huge cascading effects of our interdependent systems, some positive, many negative, altering overnight the way we work, shop, exercise, socialise and live our daily lives. Nowhere are these system connections and human behaviours more evident than in the planetary climate emergency we face. Climate breakdown is caused by humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions.4 90% of biodiversity loss results from our consumption of natural resources, that is, fossil fuels, biomass, metals, and minerals.5 The UN Climate and Biodiversity Treaty objectives are to “limit global warming to 1.5°C/2°C” and ensure that we “humans live in harmony with nature by 2050”6 if we are to avoid massive global shortages of food, water, energy, medicines, increases in refugees and socialeconomic collapse within a generation. The very existence of our society and the survival of humanity depends on us radically changing our individual and collective behaviours. Your timing is good, the Earth and humanity need big thinkers, people like you who can take a deeply “connected” perspective, a systemic approach to complex problems and challenges. The world, with all its beautiful endangered animals, plants and people will only survive if we change our behaviours as individuals, communities, policymakers, and societies; if we can critique and address the system.

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United nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs) In recognition of how interwoven behaviour change in our biospheres and technospheres are, together with the complex problems facing all societies across the globe, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in September 2015. At the heart of the 2030 Agenda are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a collection of 17 global goals that UN member states are using as a guide to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges including ending poverty and hunger and bringing economic prosperity, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, peace and good governance for all countries and all people by 2030. The UN SDGs highlight numerous issues with multiple causes and effects that span multiple levels of society (sometimes referred to as micro, meso and macro levels) and involve a rich diversity of stakeholders from individual citizens to global policymakers and taking in a multitude of social and commercial organisations in between. The SDGs are based on the five P framework People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnering. Try Critical Thinking Task 10.2 to develop an understanding of the UN SDGs.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.2: UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)

You’ll see examples of green procurement, sustainable construction, reduced carbon footprints and initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility such as recycling and renewable energy efficiency. Others are taking a precautionary approach to the development of carbon-neutral technologies, products and services or the development of blue and green spaces for biodiversity as well as physical and mental health benefits. Human rights such as the abolition of child labour and equality are championed while many are working against violence, illegal drugs and corruption, including bribery.

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SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING Some commercial companies are adopting the triple bottom line, natural capital accounting and/or balanced scorecard of People, Planet and Profits. Carbon and ecological footprints are being measured and lowered. A major awaking of consciousness is happening about how humans and Planet Earth evolve together and the changes needed if the world and humans are to survive and prosper. To this end, the United Nations (UN) along with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Health Organization (WHO) all declared systems thinking as the key to deal with the fundamental interconnectedness of complex, local-to-global economic, social, health and environmental issues in 2017. Just as one water molecule cannot describe the viscosity or wetness of water, the social marketer cannot reduce or isolate the behaviour of a person to a discreet series of non-interacting events. Our social marketing principles clearly show change isn’t just about individuals’ behaviours, but the relationships and interactions between people. Global progress results from joining up the dots and addressing the multiple influences on an individual’s behaviour (e.g., the effects of family, schools, community capacity and access, institutions’ roles, functions and broader cultural, political, technological and economic policies). Recall Social Ecological Theory from Chapter 3, Indigenous thinking in Chapter 8 and our case studies from around the world. Systems thinking, particularly evident among First Nations peoples as seen throughout this book, acknowledges a holistic approach to our Earth and represents new opportunities for social marketing at every level from local to global.

Systems science What is a system? Briefly, a “system” is made up of diverse entities which are connected to each other and so produce their own patterns of behaviour over time – recall Social Ecological Theory from Chapter 3. Examples of familiar systems include transport, health and education where different individuals, people, organisations and institutions come together to do a particular job; in transport, the system gets us from A to B; in health, the system aims to heal us from illness and in the educational system, we gain new knowledge, skills and critical thinking ability. For the vast majority of us, one of the biggest “systems” we engage with on a daily basis is the commercial marketing system as discussed in previous chapters. To see other systems in your life, have a go at Critical Thinking Task 10.3.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.3:   SYSTEMS THINKING Take a look around your world and jot down some animal, plant and social systems at work, based on our definition where a system is made up of diverse but connected entities producing their own behavioural patterns. Note the tendency for the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts.

Animal systems embrace ant colonies and flocks of sparrows, plant systems are seen in trees and flowers. The human brain represents another classic complex system as does the immune system and human genome. Other examples of systems include cities, living cells, supply chains, black markets, the World Wide Web and Facebook and Twitter.7 A system then has multiple interacting parts or elements. The actions of one part or element of a system can impact the other parts. As a result, multiple causal factors influence one outcome over time. Multiple stakeholders are involved with no one stakeholder group or organisation being completely responsible for

SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING outcomes. A system is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than events or things, for seeing “patterns of change” rather than static “snapshots.”8

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.4:   MAKING TOAST Here’s a fun introduction to systems thinking from renowned systems presenter and author, Tom Wujec. Make sure to do it with teammates or friends. You’ll need some recycled paper and pens. Click on the link below and follow the simple steps to make toast. https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_got_a_wicked_problem_first_tell_ me_how_you_make_toast/transcript?language=en#t-27856 This enjoyable exercise Crtical Thinking Task 10.4 demonstrates that we can all understand problems and challenges as systems of connected parts and their relationships. In a system, however large or small, there will be interdependent elements or components with multiple causes leading to observed outcomes. There can also be unobserved properties that have larger impacts than might be expected. Systems are constantly changing as a result of actions and interactions within the system. A word as to what is not a system. Think about a set of saucepans or a pack of playing cards. Are they examples of a system? The answer is no. While there is a collective dimension to a set of saucepans and a pack of playing cards, the parts do not interact with each other. The elements may have a common denominator that bunches them together but there is no relationship between the different components, they do not affect each other. The lack of interdependence means such examples are collections and not systems.

Human consumption; provisioning systems The systems of particular interest to social marketers are those which underpin human activity9 or provisioning systems. Individuals come together to form families, who come together to form small groups and villages, towns, cities, regions and so on. Similarly, organisations and institutions emerge from informal rules for individual behaviour, to contracts between groups and networks, to legislation that guides and controls human behaviour (most of the time!). Ultimately, individuals and groups in organisations and institutions, in localities, cities and regions, form a society with distinctive culture, norms, practices, policies and provisioning systems for the individual and collective needs of its citizens.10 Provisioning systems can be relatively simple, such as a farmers market made up of stalls, where local producers come as sellers to meet up with town residents and visitors as buyers. Alternatively, a provisioning system can be a complex, dynamic melting pot of online and offline global producers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, researchers, packers, advertisers and buyers separated by time, culture, geography, needs, wants, demand, supply and more. In either provisioning system, the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Technically, provisioning systems are the social systems connecting individuals, small groups, entities, and embedded communities as they seek to satisfy their needs and wants for goods, services, experiences and ideas through the value-based exchange in communities.11

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SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING Provisioning systems are designed, built and managed by us humans to meet our diverse needs and wants. Provisioning systems cater for the requirements of a city, a region and a society. There are basic requirements such as sustenance, food, water, sleep and shelter. Above all else, the latest scientific findings reveal how our social needs trump our most basic necessities. In his book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, psychologist Mathew Lieberman discusses how our social bonds are the most essential need we have.12 Our psychological needs for friendship, belonging, intimate relationships and ultimately love is a defining characteristic of Homo sapiens. Susan Pinker, in her book The Village Effect: Why Face-to-Face Contact Matters,13 demonstrates the centrality of warm, trusting, and loving relationships to the survival, development and wellbeing of a child. Parents feed their young ones and teach them how to survive and how to interact. Without the powerful parent–child bond, a baby or child cannot satisfy their basic sustenance needs. And it’s not just the parent–child bond; it’s the social bonds throughout our lives that are important. To live to 100 years and beyond, Pinker explains how social bonds, both the close strong relationships with family and friends together with the weaker social interactions with community members such as the postman, the person who serves tea or coffee or the shop assistant throughout the day, are a predictor of a longer life.14 The survival, evolution, and thriving of the human species are dependent on us having each other. We, in conjunction with our Goldilocks planet, continue to evolve as highly social creatures, unable to live independently of others. Our provisioning systems mirror this a million times over as complex, constantly evolving social systems and sub-systems with multi-level stakeholders in interacting communities. The different types of provisioning systems make available assortments of goods, services, experiences and ideas for societies with its seamless web of communities, families and individuals living their daily lives. To go deeper into provisioning systems and how they meet our everyday needs and wants, spend a few minutes on Critical Thinking Task 10.5 below.

CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.5:  PROVISIONING SYSTEMS Think about your purchases over the past 7 days. What provisioning systems were involved in getting the products, services, ideas or experiences to you? Think beyond your day-to-day individual needs. Think about the community or collective needs for security, safety, well-being, including spiritual needs.

Certainly, food will have been part of your consumption within the last week. Beverages too, most likely, coffee or tea, soft drinks and water. Transport will also feature in your daily or weekly needs as we move from A to B as part of our daily lives. Did you purchase a bus ticket? Fuel for a car? Maybe you bought clothes too. Perhaps an outfit and fashion items for a night out or a special occasion? For some who are part of a sports club or association, there may have been an equipment purchase while others may have bought a cinema or concert ticket. You may or may not have needed the police, a library or a hospital within the past week. In essence, all sorts of provisioning systems shape your daily life. As well as your individual needs, provisioning systems cater for our collective requirements.

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Figure 10.1  Types of provisioning systems15 Provisioning systems, operating together for the common purpose of meeting the needs of humans, come in all shapes and sizes. Some we interact with on a daily or weekly basis while others are used only occasionally, as we need them. Some provisioning systems are prescriptive and hierarchical in nature as Figure 10.1 illustrates. They are highly restrictive in what they offer in relation to our needs and wants. These provisioning systems are generally under the control of the state or region or city to present limited top-down choices to meet the fundamental needs of communities and/or societies. Think of defence, social housing, public transport and public health as classic examples. Other provisioning systems are more collaborative in character, for example, co-operatives, charities, social enterprises and the sharing economy. Many refer to these as third sector systems. There are also informal exchanges, akin to barter, driven by the creativity and innovation of individuals trying out new ideas and inventions, new ways of doing things better. Finally, there are marketing provisioning systems. These are commercial marketing or non-profit, public sector marketing offerings. Marketing provisioning systems offer greater degrees of choice and assortments with well-established markets, networks, platforms and mechanisms for delivering products, services, ideas and experiences. Taken together, the prescriptive exchange or state model, the collaborative/third sector model in conjunction with the free market or marketing/business model and informal model form provisioning systems in a community, a city, a region, and countries.16

Systems social marketing strategic plan How does systems science help social marketing and global change? Its most fundamental contribution is to the strategic planning process (refer back to Figure 4.1). Systems thinking enables us to plan by undertaking a few more “diagnostic” tasks, namely: 1. Identify the problem provisioning system. 2. Conduct a systemic stakeholder analysis.

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Figure 10.2  A systems social marketing strategic plan

3. Map the current exchanges happening. 4. Undertake a barrier and enabler analysis. 5. Map the dynamics at work in the provisioning system for all the stakeholders. Clearly, the outcome will most likely not be just a single campaign but multiple offerings with partnerships – UN SDG #17 – as an essential part of formulating the offerings. The only constant in life is change. So, system indicators in “real” time are essential as part of ongoing monitoring and evaluation. Figure 10.2 captures this enhanced Systems Social Marketing Strategic Plan framework.

Identify the problem provisioning system The social marketer stands outside the system to see the whole, see all of the parts and not just the sector or industry they operate in or are in contact with. At this point, it is all about an expansive, bird’s eye view, distancing yourself from the problem, your organisation, your assumptions and taking a moment to observe the entire provisioning system at work.

SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING For example, In Ireland, a sustainable tourism project is being established in the peatlands in the Midlands of Ireland, also known as Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands. Ireland’s peatlands account for over 21% of its territory, provide an essential contribution as carbon sinks and store over three times the carbon of all the forests in the world and critical habitats for endangered plants and animals. These vast rewilding places of enchantment represent a local story and national ecosystem becoming a symbol for global planetary health as well as being a critical economic regeneration in an area impacted by the recent cessation of peat harvesting – traditionally used for home heating, horticulture applications, and electricity generation. Defining the emerging provisioning system would cope with a complex array of interrelated problems. For any nature, landscape and waterscape-based sustainable tourism venture, the system includes climate change associated with loss of biodiversity and deterioration of vital ecosystems, like bogs and peatlands; undeveloped local and rural communities where social, ecological, economical and other issues create a vicious circle of abandonment, isolation, unemployment and deprivation; the lack of welldeveloped amenity, exercise and wellbeing facilities to advert a health crisis. Table 10.1 provides a brief overview of this problem provisioning system at the nexus of climate action, sustainable tourism and health and wellbeing. To visualise the problem provisioning system better, the rewilding Nature and Peatlands project is positioned within the marketing, collaborative, informal and prescriptive sub-systems. See Figure 10.3. In Figure 10.3, commercial attractions within the hospitality sector that are for-profit, non-sustainable tourism ventures, such as Tayto Park or the Guinness Storehouse, are part of the marketing exchange sub-system. Coillte Ireland, a state agency who own forest parks are specifically designed to promote sustainable tourism as part of the prescriptive sub-system. A word of caution, we carry assumptions about the various systems we live in, how they operate, and their influences on the issue of concern. Hence the need for critical, ethical and responsible thinking as in Chapters 7–9. This is particularly true for individuals and organisations who are experts in relation to an issue. The remedy is to carry as few assumptions as possible into your investigative work and make assumptions based on robust evidence.17 For example, many public health and ecological experts will assume a particular problem can be solved with SPLAT – some posters, leaflets, ads and things.18 However, as we have emphasised throughout this book and the case studies demonstrate, there’s a lot more to behaviour and social change than only communication, messaging or education! The results and outcomes of identifying the problem system will consist of an initial provisioning system map and a critical discussion about assumptions being made.

Conduct a systemic stakeholder analysis Useful tools for this diagnostic research include a literature review, key informant interviews (KIIs) and/or focus groups (FGs), and observation. A survey may also be helpful at this point as discussed in Chapter 5. Turn to Case Study #8 (Duane et al.) for an example of systemic stakeholder analysis in relation to recreational waters. The results and outcomes will consist of a classified list of stakeholders and a stakeholder power and interest map showing all the relevant stakeholders in the problem provisioning system, not just the known, usual or expert

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SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING Table 10.1  Rewilding nature and peatlands project Problematique

Specific issues

Issue-mitigating factors

Climate change

• Lack of implementation by the government, businesses and others to address climate change.

• Environmental laws, regulation and policy.

Community health crisis

• Lack of sustainability funding. • Inadequate recreational and amenity facilities and activities in the Midlands • Lack of consistent health motivation and steady interest in healthy activities by subpopulations.

Sustainable tourism underdevelopment

Sustainable education deficiencies

Social issues at local level

• Failures in health education. • Lack of critical sustainable tourism infrastructure, information and awareness. • Long-lasting fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. • Full capacity of formal, nonformal and informal education for teaching sustainability is not tapped into. • Lack of sustainability embeddedness in the educational curriculum. • Vested interests of the peat industry. • High unemployment in the Midlands, a Just Transition region from fossil fuels to renewables.

• Rise in environmental and health concerns among the Irish public. • Increase in health concerns (fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic). • State public health authority’s initiatives to stimulate healthy lifestyles and public health advise to promote local active tourism. • Support and funding from dedicated national tourism development authorities. • Non-competing character of national tourist attractions. • Increased focus on sustainability across various disciplines and interdisciplinary approach towards its teaching. • Availability of sustainable tourism locations. • Engagement of the peat industry in addressing sustainability issues. • Strong local communities in Ireland, though more oriented on economic viability rather than ecological issues.

stakeholders and an exchange map highlighting the different values and networks between stakeholders at work in the problem system. Figure 10.4 provides two examples of power versus interest grid maps for our rewilding nature and peatlands project. These two maps highlight three important assumptions: 1. systemic stakeholder analysis with the aid of exercises such as power versus interest grid mapping is a viable planning and modelling tool as it helps to visualise different mental models with respect to stakeholder roles, power statuses, interest levels, etc.

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Figure 10.3  Provisioning system identification 2. Systematic stakeholder analysis with the help of power versus interest grid mapping provides actionable insights. It is directly linked to a provisioning system barrier/enabler analysis and implementation, which are elements of the systems social marketing plan. The visualised image of stakeholder power/interest statuses creates a very rich narrative of stakeholder interactions, which reveals system feedbacks and adverse side effects, illustrated by the following two quotes. “Local workers have slightly higher interest than other groups in this quadrant [of the power vs interest grid] as they could be employed by the project. In terms of micro-stakeholders in the provisioning system, this can be seen as a gain. On the other hand, commuters are negatively affected by the issue due increased volumes of traffic because of the tourism attraction. This is a possible barrier that needs to be considered in the social marketing plan. Reducing carbon emissions lines well with the project, and this can’t be achieved with increased traffic.”14? “…local families and farmers would have little interest in environmental change because a large majority of them would be making money from the peatlands. Their current status would be of low power and any attempt at change would be unsuccessful. The entrance of a social enterprise could [negatively] affect the family’s income, thus affecting the quality of life.”14? 3. The systemic stakeholder analysis with the help of power versus interest grid mapping is a source of creativity which can be helpful in decision-making about possible solutions and ways forward. See Figure 10.5.

Exchange analysis and mapping The stakeholder analysis is enhanced with an exchange analysis and mapping of the existing exchange networks among the stakeholders. Recall our segmentation discussion in Chapter 4. Begin by identifying and profiling the existing segments, using your literature review findings.

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Figure 10.4 Examples of power versus interest grid mapping of stakeholders in a provisioning system

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Figure 10.5  An example of creativity is demonstrated by stakeholder mapping

Start to build demographic and psychographic details. For each segment, analyse the values at work and the stakeholders involved. Move from segments to the networks of relationships in the provisioning system; begin to create an initial picture, diagram or visualisation of all of the exchange stakeholders involved in each segment in your marketing system. Primary research, such as focus groups or a survey, will help with any gaps. Go to Case Study #1 (Brychkov et al) about encouraging sustainable energy performance in a multi-stakeholder school environment where the direct and indirect exchanges are mapped. Broadly speaking, exchange maps will reveal (1) segments supporting the desired behaviours, (2) segments willing to engage but not yet involved in the desired behaviours and (3) segments resisting the desired behaviours and/or having competing or contrary behaviours (Jordan, 2019). These grassroots segments are important as the small group is the “fundamental unit of human social organization, required for both individual well-being and elective action on a larger scale”19 – the ocean needs the wave as much as the wave needs the ocean.

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Barrier and enabler analysis From all the analysis so far, make a list of all the stakeholder, behavioural and structural barriers and enablers – micro, meso and macro currently at work – based on evidence and critical thinking – within the problem provisioning system. Focus on the problematic aspects of the situation and do not include possible solutions. Expect to have more barriers than enablers. In essence, you are capturing the detailed complexity surrounding the problem in a provisioning system’s setting.

Dynamics analysis and systems map To go beyond a good understanding of the detailed complexity of the individual issues, the next job is to focus on the dynamics at work in the problem provisioning system. This covers structural barriers and enablers, such as delivery and policies, access and technology; stakeholder barriers and enablers, their interests and power and behavioural barriers and enablers such as communication, cooperation, conflict and the exchanges that occur or do not occur. The objective is to learn about the dynamics driving the problem provisioning system. You identify and map the dynamics at work in your problem provisioning system using causal loop diagrams (CLDs). CLDs are defined as “maps showing the causal links among variables with arrows from a cause to an effect”20 with an indication of the polarity of hypothesised relationship between variables. A positive (+) arrow sign indicates that the effect is positively related to the cause, while a negative (−) arrow sign means that increasing the cause, a barrier/enabler, decreases or subtracts from the effect, another barrier/enabler. These sequences of polaritymarked causal links form two reinforcing loops, marked with letter “R,” or balancing loops, marked with letter “B.” Reinforcing loops amplify change, while balancing loops seek balance or equilibrium in the system. These form the feedback loops in the CLD. A short narrative is developed to explain the CLD. Causal loops need to be backed by verifiable facts, literature, and data. They must be existing and acting in the system, not imagined or speculative. The process of developing CLDs is highly participatory and uses collective intelligence and circular causality. It cannot be done by an individual and is best undertaken by a team of people (5-12) including persons affected by the problem. When all the individual CLDs are done, the team weave them together into one map to create explaining the problem at hand. A provisioning systems map involves clustering loops around similar issues and finding points of congruence between these loops. This process is similar to the creation of individual loops, but now the behaviour of the whole system is simulated. Look at Figure 10.6, to see an example of a sustainable tourism systems map drawing together individual CLDs about Footfall, Weather, Transport, Accommodation dynamics to explain the system. With systems maps, provisioning systems can often be narrowed down to a few dominant dynamics with enough complexity remaining to jolt the decision-making away from traditional reductionist ways of thinking about a problem. With relative simplicity being the key to changing complex system behaviours, “it is not the strongest of species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” as Darwin said 150 years ago. These dominant

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Figure 10.6  An example of a CLD systems map for a regenerating peatland dynamics and accompanying secondary dynamics become the change areas on which to focus. Go to Case Study #18 about Active Play to see other systems map.

Formulating the offer(s) A big picture understanding of the problem provisioning system from the research and analysis gives dynamic insights about impactful offerings. The objective is to design and implement campaign(s) to alter the dynamics and change the trajectory of the problem provisioning system to a healthier sustainable state. The most impactful interventions are those that have the largest consequential effects on the dominant system dynamics and introduce the most rapid evolution of change.21 In keeping with Figures 4.1 and 10.2 the systems social marketing strategic plan, the results and outcomes of focusing on the dominant dynamics in the problem provisioning system includes “Acceptable,” “Appealing,” “Affordable” and “Accessible” exchange propositions/ offerings to bring about behaviour change; long and short term behaviour change goals; key evaluation metrics and indicators along with time lines, milestones and budget allocation. Regardless of the actual offerings – recall our creative orientation from Chapter 2 – Critical Thinking Task 10.6 shows us that tackling the dominant dynamics in any problem provisioning system will require multi-level, multi-stakeholder and partnership exchanges over time. Mock-ups of the selected elements of the social marketing mix in response to the sustainable tourism dynamics in Figure 10.6 might include (a) an app page with games; (b) invitation box,

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CRITICAL THINKING TASK 10.6: FORMULATING THE OFFERS IN A PROVISIONING SYSTEMS SETTING Based on the dynamics and CLDs in the sustainable tourism systems map in Figure 10.6 above, What “Acceptable,” “Appealing,” “Affordable” and “Accessible” exchange propositions/offerings would you design? Targeted at who? When? And to what end (objective)?

containing branded water bottle, info leaflet on recycled paper, wild seed packet, RSVP QR code, coffee voucher and bike discount voucher; (c) #kidssavetheworld campaign; and (d) social media use as highlighted in Figure 10.7.22 If we look again at the systems social marketing strategic plan (Figure 10.2) the detailed complexity and the dynamic complexity of global change can be captured in the Dynamics Analysis. This is a continuous process of diagnosing the problem provisioning system and its dynamics and codesigning transformative change. Since provisioning systems perform repeated interactions over time, it “can easily develop sets of norms and habits which impede an accurate view of reality”23 so navigating complexity and innovating for more equitable and responsible systems has never been more relevant than it is today.

Systems social marketing indicators To accentuate systems social marketing in action and its evaluation, Patricia McHugh (2013) explains indicators are useful in reducing broad concepts, such as “trust” and “networks” to measurable forms, while maintaining the bonds between them. The advantage of indicators is that they integrate contributions from diverse parts of the system with dissimilar views, values, backgrounds, experiences, cultures, languages and expectations. There is strong evidence for three particular systems social marketing indicators: knowledge, relationships and networks, all displayed and categorised in Figure 10.824 Knowledge or learning is a crucial first step in value co-creation and relationship marketing. It’s about information acquisition, information dissemination and shared interpretation. The aim is co-learning which involves knowledge transfer as the flow of information from knowledge producers to knowledge users, for example, from researchers and scholars to policymakers and professionals – or from patients to doctors. (Knowledge exchange is shared learning and communication between problem-solvers with a propensity to act as seen in Case Study #3 from Marques et al., about the social innovation journey of the city of Águeda where local artists, creative agencies, retailers and resident communities work together to tackle climate breakdown.) Knowledge generation denotes the tacit and explicit knowledge shared continuously by all actors, that is, the experiential insights from value-driven exchanges we discussed. Without learning, there can be no value co-creation with clients or stakeholders. Relationship indicators, as we saw in Chapter 2 and again above, include trust and commitment. Finally, Network involvement is about the identities, status, resources, access and other stakeholder characteristics.

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Figure 10.7  Potential social marketing offerings

Figure 10.8  Indicators for systems social marketing

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SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING As social marketers, what is important for us to remember is that our and our clients’ struggle to change is never isolated from society’s effort to transform. Recall Chapter 1 and what matters – grassroots empowerment, we all matter and systems also matter. Indicators are our reminder and measurement of these basic ideas, the big picture and how we can change the world.

Wrap-up Our Goldilocks planet reminds us that local-to-global connectedness is part of our world and the way we live our everyday lives. Social Marketing, in response to this complexity, has been expanding in experience, evidence, theories and toolkits. Taking a “bigger picture,” circular causality or systems approach, social marketing in a provisioning systems setting has been emerging in the field among academics and practitioners alike.25 To this end, you have met some of the key concepts in systems social marketing – provisioning systems, behavioural dynamics, stakeholders, exchange, structural dynamics, context/environment, and CLDs with positive and negative feedback. The essence of systems social marketing thinking and practice is in “seeing” the system and its evolutionary dynamics. How you “see” things affects the way you define problems and make decisions. Once you “see” the system, you can never “see” the system again. And how you “see” a system, changes how you and the system change. People are muddling their way through crisis and change. The social and economic systems and structures that made life acceptable are being re-assembled, re-formed, re-built – from the bottom-up first, for example, Case Studies #3, 11, 12, as people join with each other in small groups, helping, sharing, cooperating, working together supported by top-down, for example, the UN SDGs, to re-construct new ways of life. This transition to sustainability and sustainable living can be a daunting process, so our job is to ensure that it is sustainable and informed by decent values: inclusivity, mutual respect and fairness. Ultimately it is individuals, the small groups and communities who hold open the possibility of realising sustainable, ethical, and responsible societies in a not too distant future world.

Reflective questions 1. What evidence are you seeing around the world and in your own life that organisations have begun to recognise their Goldilocks (social and environmental) impact? 2. How and when did it become important for organisations to start thinking about the impact they and their activities are having on Planet Earth? 3. Twenty-first century micro and macro issues are driving systems thinking. What examples can you see and how do you explain them? 4. The world is shifting from a micro to a micro-macro perspective; from individual to collective choices. How would you explain this in relation to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and its effects? 5. What is a system? How does a system differ from a collection? 6. How would you define the concept of a provisioning system with short examples?

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Reflective assignments 1. Visit the Journal of Social Marketing, the Journal of Macromarketing and/or Social Marketing Quarterly. Search for Systems Social marketing, Macro Social Marketing and CommunityBased Social Marketing papers to read about developments in social marketing and systems thinking. 2. Visit the Macromarketing Pedagogical Place at https://pedagogy.macromarketing.org/ and complete the Marketing Research exercise on CLDs. 3. Twenty-first century problems “are just too complicated to yield to the old nineteenth century techniques which were so dramatically successful on two-, three-, or four-variable problems of simplicity. These new problems, moreover, cannot be handled with the statistical techniques so effective in describing average behaviour in problems of disorganized complexity.” Weaver 194826 read Weaver’s article and critically evaluate problems of simplicity, problems of organised complexity problems of disorganised complexity. 4. To see collective ant decision-making in action, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= FOMWse6P-9M. Reflect on the lessons this holds for humans and human systems. 5. For oceans and human health connections, listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rIeUfwCzc&feature=youtu.be. What changes can you make to improve your relationship with the sea nearest to you?

Notes 1 https://www.science.org.au/curious/space-time/goldilocks-planet 2 https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2020/1009/1170458-scientist-say-babies-being-bornwithout-wisdom-teeth/ 3 Boux, D. (1990). The Golden Thread: Words of Hope for a Changing World. Gateway Books, Bath. 4 Manabe, S. (1970). ‘The dependence of atmospheric temperature on the concentration of carbon dioxide’, In: Singer, S.F. (ed), Global Effects of Environmental Pollution. Dordrecht: Springer. 5 United Nations Environment International Resource Panel. (2019). Natural Resources for the Future We Want. Key fact: “90% of biodiversity loss is caused by extraction and processing (consumption) of natural resources”. 6 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Paris Agreement (2015). (2021). United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The Post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. 7 Mitchell, M. (2017). “What is Complexity”? Unit 1, Introduction to Complexity, Complexity Explorer. USA: Santa Fe Institute. 8 Senge, P. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York, NY: Currency Doubleday. 9 Checkland, P.B. (1999). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 10 Layton, R., & Domegan, C. (2021). ‘The next normal for marketing—The dynamics of a pandemic, provisioning systems, and the changing patterns of daily life’, Australasian Marketing Journal, 29(1): 4–14. Open access. 11 Ibid. 12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNhk3owF7RQ 13 https://susanpinker.com/the-village-effect/ 14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptIecdCZ3dg

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SYSTEMS SOCIAL MARKETING 15 Layton, D., & Brennan. (2022). Systems Thinking in Marketing for Impact. Australia: Routledge Companion to Marketing and Society. 16 Scharmer, O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. San Francisci: BK Publishers. 17 Anderson, V., & Johnson, L. (1997). Systems Thinking Basics: From Concepts to Causal Loops. Cambridge, MA: Pegasus Communications Inc. 18 Tapp, A. (2018). Why marketers don’t get hugged at parties – And other useful things about social marketing, keynote speech presented at the 8th Annual Social Marketing Conference, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland, May 24, 2018 (Accessed 14 March 2020), [available at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v¼BQu8m-warWk&feature¼youtu.be]. 19 Wilson, D.S. (2019). This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution. Pantheon Books. Loc286. 20 Sterman, J. (2000). Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modelling for a Complex World. Irwin/McGraw-Hill, p. 102. 21 Layton, Domegan & Brennan (2022) op cit. 22 Acknowledgments – the Rewilding Nature and Peatlands materials in this chapter are based on a sustainable tourism project drawn from the 2ndComm Marketing and Sustainability and MSc Social Marketing and Sustainability classes of 2021/2022. Christine Domegan, Dmitry Brychkov, Tina Flaherty and Fiona Donovan thank the students for all their work on their Rewilding Nature and Peatlands projects, especially, James Morris-Burke, Evan McDonald, Kyle McTiernan, Orla O’Regan, Myles Depinna, Hannah Lee, Aishwarya Chhaya, Emma Jourdan, Qin Liu and Juliane Queißer. 23 Redmond, W. (2018 p.420). ‘Marketing systems and market failure: A macromarketing appraisal’, Journal of Macromarketing, 38(4): 415–424. 24 Patricia McHugh in Chapter 11 inSocial Marketing, Rebels with a Cause, 3rd edition. 25 Layton, Domegan and Brennan. (2022). Systems Thinking in Marketing for Impact. Australia: Routledge Companion to Marketing and Society. 26 Warren Weaver, American Scientist, Vol. 36, No. 4 (October 1948), pp. 536–544.

Bibliography Carvalho, H., & Mazzon, J. (2013). ‘Homo economicus and social marketing: Questioning traditional models of behavior’, Journal of Social Marketing, 3(2): 162–175. Churchman, C.W. (1967). ‘Guest Editorial: “Wicked Problems”’, Management Science, 14(4), Application Series, B141–B142. Layton, D., & Brennan. (2023). Systems thinking in Marketing for Impact, Chapter 1 in Routledge Companion to Marketing and Society, Editors Krzysztof Kubacki, Lukas Parker, Christine ine Domegan and Linda Brennan, Oxford, UK. Layton, R., & Domegan, C. (2021). ‘The next normal for marketing—The dynamics of a pandemic, provisioning systems, and the changing patterns of daily life’, Australasian Marketing Journal, 29(1): 4–14. Industry and academic award winning open paper. Layton, R.A. (2014). ‘Formation, growth and adaptive change in marketing systems’, Journal of Macromarketing, 35(3): 302–319, published online 22 September 2014. DOI: 10.1177/ 0276146714550314 McHugh, P., (2013). ‘The Development of Process Indicators for Science Communication using Social Marketing and Innovation Theory’, PhD thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway.

Social marketing case studies from around the world CS 1–18 Case study

Authors

Context

Key SM issues

1. ENERGE; Encouraging sustainable energy performance in a multi-stakeholder systemic school environment

Dmitry Brychkov, Christine Domegan, Edelle Doherty, Raquel de Castro Rodrigues Lima & Eoghan Clifford

SDG #4 Quality education

Exchange

SDG #7 Affordable and clean energy

Digital solutions

2. Trust the meat thermometer

Marisha Anand & Aileen McGloin

SDG #3 Good Health Theory and Well-Being Research Food Safety Intervention mix

Marketing research

Energy efficiency Europe

Europe 3. Acting on the climate crisis through the arts and culture: A social innovation journey at the city of Águeda

Susana Marques, Ana Estima, Edson Santos, Célia Laranjeira, Adriana Mesquita & Carla Couceiro

SDG #13 Climate Action

Relationships,

Climate change mitigation and adaptation

Communities

Creativity

Europe

(continued) DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-11

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SOCIAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD Case study

Authors

Context

4. Making Australian universities culturally safe places for First Nations peoples

Maria Raciti, Jennifer SDG #10 Reduces Carter, David Inequalities Hollinsworth & First Nations Kathryn Gilbey Higher education

Key SM issues Formative research Values, benefits

Australia 5. “What could masculinity be?” Using participatory co-design to define and support healthier masculinities

Glen Donnar, Jon Hewitt, Fiona Finn, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan &

6. “Standing Strong Together”: A culturally appropriate adaptation for a social and emotional wellbeing intervention in an Australian First Nations community

Robert J Donovan, Lesley A Murray, Julia Anwar-McHenry, Amberlee Nicholas & Cathy Drane

John Dingeldei

SDG #5 Gender Equality Wicked problems Masculinities Asia

Planning – Usercentred design approach co-creation, co-design

SDG #3 Good Health Beliefs and Wellbeing Cultural adaptation Mental Health Intervention Australia

Indigenous cultures

7. The humble egg in Puja Peyden Malawi Tshering, Kalpana Beesabathuni, Srujith Lingala & Rowena Merritt

SDG #12 Responsible Segmentation Consumption and Branding Production Behaviour change Food nutrition objectives Africa

8. Turning the tide on poor Blue Space quality through Stakeholder engagement – Lessons from PIER

SDG #6 Clean Water Stakeholder analysis and Sanitation and engagement

Sinead Duane

Maeve Louise Farrell, Alexandra SDG #14 Life Below Chueiri, Liam Burke & Water Dearbháile Morris Bathing water, Antimicrobial resistance, Ireland

Marketing Research Partnerships

SOCIAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 9. Evaluating real change in the real world: Creativity, connection and the unseen as felt evidence in aspiring communities

Marisa de Andrade, Colin Campbell, Jean Dobbing, Felicity Fyall & Rilza Montgomery

SDG #10 Reduced Inequalities

Evaluation

Marketing Research SDG #11 Sustainable Ethics Cities and Communities Community Development Scotland

10. Leaf collective: Piloting a social marketing approach to remove Eucalypt leaves from stormwater drains

Luisa Lopez Cordova, Yue Xi, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Renata Anibaldi, Aaron Tkaczynski, Cuong Pham & Vanessa Salamone

11. Logan city council Tori Seydel, Erin wildlife movement Hurley & Sharyn campaign Rundle-Thiele

SDG #11 Sustainable Research methods Cities and Partnerships, Communities Branding Healthy Environments Communication Australia

SDG #15 Life on Land Planning SDG #11 Sustainable Marketing research Cities and Intervention mix Communities Koalas Australia

12. Tackling gender inequality and promoting a healthy lifestyle: The women in sport roadshow

Michelle O’Shea, SDG #5 Gender Hazel Maxwell, Nicole Inequalities Peel & Women, Sports, Sarah Duffy Australia

13. The role of civil Rafael society in advancing Pérez-Escamilla the sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy in Mexico

Theory Behaviour change objectives Systems change

SDG #3 Good Health Critical marketing, and Wellbeing Social mobilisation SDG # 17 Policy Partnerships for the Goals Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Mexico

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SOCIAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD Case study

Authors

Context

Key SM issues

14. The baby killer revisited regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes

Gerard Hastings, Kathryn Angus, Douglas Eadie & Kate Hunt

SDG #3 Good Health Critical marketing and Wellbeing SDG #13 Climate Action Infant Nutrition Global

15. Healthy Rowena Merritt & breakfasts in Armenia Nanna Skau

SDG #3 Good Health Marketing research and Wellbeing Intervention mix Food Nutrition, Outcomes Children, Armenia

16. Social marketing at multiple levels of the fashion system with fashion revolution

Anna Earl & Ann-Marie Kennedy

SDG #12 Responsible Wicked problems Consumption and Social media Production Outcomes SDG# Gender inequalities Fashion, social movement Global

17. Autism: Change your reactions

18. Active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city

Sandra C. Jones Jennifer Lowe

SDG #10 Reduced Inequalities

Communication

Nicola Edwards & Jade Maloney

Education

Community social marketing

Australia

Evaluation

Christine Domegan, Tina Flaherty, Dmitry Brychkov, Evelyn Fanning and Caroline Murray

SDG #13 Climate Action

Stakeholder analysis

Sustainable tourism Global

Systems social marketing

1

Case study 

Encouraging sustainable energy performance in multi-stakeholder systemic school environment The ENERGE project Dmitry Brychkov, Christine Domegan, Edelle Doherty, Raquel de Castro Rodrigues Lima and Eoghan Clifford 1.1  Introduction and problem definition The building sector accounts for about 40% of the final energy use, while a significant share of the building stock remains energy inefficient (Pietrapertosa et al., 2021). Public buildings, including schools, tangibly contribute to this issue as schools are considered to be “significant energy consumers – on a par with residential and office buildings,” given the number of buildings at a regional or national level (Thewes et al., 2014, p. 469). In many cases, school buildings can be relatively old and high priority for upgrades may be considered. Since renovation of school buildings is often unfeasible and costly (and renovated school buildings can result in increased energy use), sustainable energy performance of schools will also depend on energy behaviours of various stakeholders related to school operation and management, energy-provisioning and other complementary systems (Thewes et al., 2014). This means that tackling energy efficiency issues in schools is a systemic endeavour predicated on the complex interplay of feedback factors within a multi-stakeholder environment. The present case study represents such a systemic approach DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-12

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Dmitry Brychkov et al. within the Interreg ENERGE project, aimed at improving energy efficiency in 13 post-primary schools (hereafter the project schools), located in six North-Western European countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland).

1.2  Primary research 1.2.1  Value exchange mapping Systems usually feature a complex web of value exchanges between system stakeholders. Figure CS1.1 shows, in a simplified manner, deliverables and values exchanged between key stakeholders to provide sustainable energy performance of schools. Such value exchange mapping confirms the issue complexity and proves the fact that any approaches to its solution that miss this complexity will be insufficient. What might be considered as a mainly technological or retrofitting issue is a highly complex domain where multiple stakeholders emerge, interact, compete, collaborate and evolve. From Figure CS1.1, it is clear that improving energy efficiency in schools cannot be solved without active participation, collaboration, informational exchanges and partnership building between stakeholders. To this extent, the analysis of different stakeholders with their peculiar interests, attitudes and actual involvement in the focal issue seems very important. Such analysis can be instrumental in guiding interventions that address the focal issue.

1.2.2 Survey A survey was held among the personnel (n = 166) of the 13 project schools to assess their involvement in sustainable energy behaviours.

Figure CS1.1 Value exchange mapping for encouraging energy efficiency in a multistakeholder school environment. Green-coloured numbers are used to mark relevant stakeholder categories involved in the issue.

CASE STUDY 1

1.2.2.1  Identification of new stakeholder roles First of all, the survey unveiled a number of specific roles and positions, which might be missing from available literature sources and which significantly increased the list of intra-school stakeholders shown in Figure CS1.1. In particular, under stakeholder category 1, the survey results highlighted a more complex structure of the school ecosystem with respect to stakeholder interactions and revealed a number of new value exchange networks. The presence of multiple school positions focused on leading specific units and activities opens a possibility for using social diffusion as a social marketing strategy (Mckenzie-Mohr, 2011). The revealed job positions were as follows: head of careers; department heads; senior teachers; general assistants; year heads (teacher year heads); heads of specific subjects; curriculum leaders; building supervisors; science technicians; guidance councillors; headmasters; technical education assistants; librarians; trainees; concierges; accountants and other holders of financial positions.

1.2.2.2  Stakeholder segmentation With respect to sustainable energy behaviours, the school personnel could be roughly subdivided into the four, often overlapping, categories (see Figure CS1.2 for frequency of respondents’ involvement in specific sustainable energy behaviours): 1. School personnel that showed a high degree of interest in energy use and its saving; They are regular learners about energy saving (over 21% of all respondents) and may also ask other experts to tell them more about energy and its saving (over 7% of all respondents). This category may represent those with professional jobs in school energy system maintenance and management.

Figure CS1.2  Participation of respondents in sustainable energy behaviours.

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Dmitry Brychkov et al. 2. Casual (routine) and regular performers of energy-saving behaviours; Such energy-saving behaviours include: (i) turning off the lights when they leave the classroom or other school room, which won’t be occupied after them; (ii) prevention of heat loss by closing doors or windows in cold times of the year; (iii) switching off overhead electrical lighting when there is sufficient daylight in the classroom or other school room; and (iv) turning off electrical appliances/equipment when not in use to prevent electricity waste from a standby mode. These behaviours might be small in effect but quite regular (both conscious and unconscious). Of course, the regularity of performing these behaviours might be over-stated and affected by other factors. The level of overstating energy-saving behaviours could be probably understood via the use of observations and experiments. 3. Occasional performers of the energy-saving activities; The percentages of occasional performance of energy-saving activities could be rather high and range from a couple of percent (for turning off the lights when the respondents leave the classroom) to almost 30% (for turning off electrical appliances/equipment when not in use). It is worthwhile to elucidate which factors block the school personnel from performing these behaviours regularly. 4. Non-performers; There is a cohort of school population (about 15%) that is not interested in energy-related topics and is not engaged in energy-saving behaviours. The important question is why this negligence and non-performance happens.

1.2.3  In-depth interviews In-depth interviews were held among the project school principals (n = 4) and teachers (n = 2) of Ireland and Northern Ireland to identify key barriers to sustainable energy performance of schools, as well as track those measures (including in the domain of behaviour change) that were undertaken, prior to ENERGE project-related interventions, to improve this energy performance. Table CS1.1 lists and explains these barriers and measures. The interviewees were also asked about their expectations of the systemic energy-saving interventions, like the ENERGE project. First, they consider it is vital to monitor energy use and indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Second, they expect that such monitoring could “enable evidence-based decision-making on energy efficiency measures and tracks the impact of implemented measures.” Third, they deem it is important to “educate students in energy management using their immediate environment as a real-life case study.” All interview participants supported the idea of a holistic approach to improving energy performance of schools, when different elements, like education, energy management, participation, collaboration via networks of teachers, etc., are blended in a one-package solution. Another important dimension of raising energy efficiency in schools is the involvement of all stakeholders in these activities, “bottom-up from teachers and students right up to the management level,” also involving the stakeholders outside the school system, like academia and universities.

CASE STUDY 1 Table CS1.1  Sustainable energy performance of schools: Barriers and implemented measures No. Description Barriers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14

Funding for major energy efficiency measures in schools is highly centralised and attributed to national educational authorities (macro level). Funding is allocated for health and safety needs rather than energy efficiency. Lack of funding for energy efficiency, while “energy efficiency didn’t play a part on the decision-making process.” Funding is only possible for projects with a short payback and money-saving potential. Sheer complexity of behaviour change (e.g. “The school tried to implement blue/ green recycling bins etc. but the students didn’t really buy in to it”). Lack of strategy to improve energy efficiency and become nearly zero energy school buildings, as well as lack of guidance to develop such a strategy. Lack of sustainability-related programmes or sporadic and small character of such programmes. Lack of attention to comfort evaluations in schools. Lack of adequate energy/IEQ-monitoring systems in schools. Lack of comprehensive teaching materials on energy efficiency, especially in terms of cutting-edge solutions or research. “Some of the teachers feel that they do not know enough to be educating the students on energy efficiency.” Implemented sustainable measures cause inconvenience (e.g. setting up the computers to turn off automatically, which is confronted by teachers who said the PCs took too long to start up in the mornings). Passive role of parents and homes in “preparing someone to be a good citizen,” when “schools get left with every task imaginable.” Lack of motivated people on the ground to push sustainability agenda. Implemented measures

1

2 3 4 5

Building new premises and retrofitting of the existing ones, including installation of new double-glazed windows; heating system improvement (e.g. new boilers; a separate system of hot water); better insulation (e.g. door insulation); LED lights with sensors. Establishment of green/eco teams made from students. Oral and written prompts, (e.g. “Switch Off” signs on light switches), about heating controls, open windows and switching off lights. Keeping PCs in standby mode. School administration participation in energy management training seminars and workshops organised by local sustainable agencies.

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Figure CS1.3 The adaptation of co-create-build-engage framework of behaviour change for the ENERGE project.

1.3  Behavioural objectives Social marketing advocates setting clear behavioural objectives. To reach more holistic and consistent behaviour objectives, the case study follows and adapts, including methodologically, the Co-Create-Build-Engage three-step framework/process of behaviour change (Rundle-Thiele et al., 2021) (Figure CS1.3), when each stage has a set of its own objectives. Since the ENERGE Project is a multi-year project, the realization of some objectives is currently only unfolding and is a matter of future endeavours.

1.4  Intervention and outcomes 1.4.1  Establishment of ENERGE committees and teacher network The intervention strategy for the ENERGE project was multi-stage and longitudinal. After identifying and classifying key stakeholders who can affect or are affected by the focal problem, the ENERGE project selected, recruited and engaged diverse stakeholders pertinent to the focal problem and brought together stakeholders from various contexts. Stakeholder engagement took the form of the establishment of different school-based working groups, while stakeholder interactions were very collaborative and of cross-country nature. Initially, the ENERGE Committees in all project schools (one per project school) were established to include four to five students and members of the staff, who volunteered to join in. The ENERGE Committees operated as testing laboratories for multiple interventions within the ENERGE project, like running digital ethnography/co-create sessions. The ENERGE Committees from different project schools and countries were linked via interpersonal collaboration.

CASE STUDY 1 Further, the ENERGE Teacher Network was formed to share ideas on teaching energy topics and to collaboratively develop energy literacy modules. It also helped to build the channels for communication between teachers from the different project countries. The Network included 19 teachers from 11 partner schools across all project countries.

1.4.2  Development of energy literacy modules First, a shared database of energy-related teaching/learning modules, units and activities were launched via a systematic review of the available energy literacy literature. Second, the Teacher Network members provided feedback on the alignment of the ENERGE energy literacy framework with their subject curricula, as well as contributed to the database expansion by suggesting relevant units and activities. Third, the number and content of energy-related modules, units and activities were agreed, and the Teacher Network members started to pilot relevant activities among their students. Fourth, following the piloting outcomes, the originated units/activities were reviewed and finalised. Therefore, the outcome of these activities was the origination of practical educational materials on energy and building climate, that were compliant with STEM curricula. Another outcome was the formulation of important recommendations about ENERGE energy literacy educational materials. First, these materials need to be broader in scope, covering and linking multiple areas of sustainability. Second, educational materials should be aligned with students’ skills and competences to reflect a specific age group and school orientation. Third, educational materials should be accompanied by rendering adequate support for teachers in presenting these materials to students, as such materials should be viewed as a “service,” rather than a “product.”

1.4.3  Digital platform To monitor electrical energy consumption and IEQ, the ENERGE Digital Platform was installed in all project schools. The Platform operated with the help of (i) two meters to monitor and transmit data on electrical energy consumption; and (ii) four indoor climate sensors to monitor and transmit data on temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, lighting and noise levels at specific school locations (Figure CS1.4). The installation of the Platform rested on extensive collaboration between the school personnel, school-appointed contractors and dedicated ENERGE partners, responsible for meter and sensor operations. The installed meter and sensor devices regularly transmitted data for analysis and actionable insights. All school stakeholders were able to monitor these data in real-time mode, using corridor-installed screens and tablet computer devices, as well as to take certain correcting measures, pertaining to building/energy system controls, behaviour change and occupancy patterns. The operation of the ENERGE Digital Platform is linked to the development of energy literacy modules (as a tool of learning about energy/comfort and applicability of ensuing measures, based on the Platform data) and co-create sessions (as a tool of sensitizing about energy; see next section).

1.4.4  Digital ethnography and co-create sessions Co-create sessions, based on digital ethnography, were piloted among the members of the ENERGE Committees and later among the selected classes of the project schools. Each session started with a sensitising week, when the participants were given one week to complete a sensitising package (e.g. a small workbook with several creative tasks). Further, the exercises followed where participants used digital tools and media to visually document and report

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Figure CS1.4 An indoor climate sensor (A) and an electrical meter/power analyser (B) installed in a project school. their energy-related practices. In conclusion, creative sessions were held, when the participants worked on several creative assignments. The participants were encouraged to talk about their feelings and opinions. The co-create sessions resulted in giving prominence to the participants’ energy-related practices and in evoking their lived experiences, memories and emotions, pertaining to energy and its use. This stimulated their creativity in reaching behavioural objectives.

1.5  Lessons for the planet The implementation of the ENERGE project has resulted in a number of important conclusions to date. ••

Systemic issues require systemic solutions and systemic, but clear, behavioural objectives.

••

Context/stakeholder analysis is a vital element of any intervention.

••

Engagement of all stakeholders, coalition building and collaborative efforts are necessary in order to render continuous behavioural changes.

••

The implementation of behavioural objectives should rest on reliable, mixed (combining different approaches) and context-adapted methodologies.

••

Adaptation of a social marketing programme is inevitable, while programme organisers have to constantly learn.

These lessons support the five key principles of successful behaviour change programmes, i.e. stakeholder orientation, clarity of behavioural objectives, coalition building, combination of approaches, and continuation/learning/evaluation (French et al., 2011).

CASE STUDY 1

Case study questions 1. To what extent is social marketing instrumental in causing behaviour change to reduce energy consumption in school buildings? 2. Does systemic behaviour change to reduce energy consumption in school buildings require collaborative efforts?

References French, J., Merritt, R., & Reynolds, L. (2011). Social Marketing Casebook. London, UK: Sage Publications. Mckenzie-Mohr, D. (2011). Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers. Pietrapertosa, F., Tancredi, M., Salvia, M., Proto, M., Pepe, A., Giordano, M., Afflitto, N., Sarricchio, G., Di Leo, S., & Cosmi, C. (2021). An educational awareness program to reduce energy consumption in schools. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 123949. Rundle-Thiele, S., Dietrich, T., & Carins, J. (2021). CBE: A framework to guide the application of marketing to behavior change. Social Marketing Quarterly, 27, 175–194. Thewes, A., Maas, S., Scholzen, F., Waldmann, D., & Zürbes, A. (2014). Field study on the energy consumption of school buildings in Luxembourg. Energy and Buildings, 68, 460–470.

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Case study 

Trust the meat thermometer Marisha Anand and Aileen McGloin

2.1  Introduction and problem definition Foodborne illnesses are affecting a large number of people around the world and are a concern for public health. According to WHO (2020), due to food contamination, around 600 million people become ill every year and a great number of them succumb. This number is only increasing with the passing time. The recorded number of cases of infectious intestinal disease caused due to foodborne illness in the UK was identified to be 2.4 million in 2018, which was only 1 million in 2009 (FSA, 2020). These numbers only represent the recorded food poisoning cases (FSA, 2020) as many people do not take medical advice when ill and yet the recorded number is alarming. Meat is a common source of foodborne diseases and especially undercooked meat is the breeding ground for the harmful bacteria which causes foodborne illness (WHO, 2020). safefood is an all-island body, promoting healthy eating and food safety on the island of Ireland through their public awareness campaigns using behaviour change techniques. They have been recommending three safety checks to ensure the doneness of the meat, which are, while cutting the meat, juices running clear, no pink meat left and it is piping hot all the way. This advice is subjective as everyone has their own interpretation of pink meat or the hotness of the food. A meat thermometer, on the other hand, is more reliable, easy and a definite way to check whether the meat is cooked properly. It has been found that globally meat thermometer usage is still low but the usage in the US is higher than in Europe (Elshahat et al., 2019), which could be the result of the US’s interventions towards using a meat thermometer. Previous research by Kennedy et al. (2005) showed that only 2% population of Ireland was using a meat thermometer. This is a major DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-13

CASE STUDY 2 health crisis issue and yet there is no substantial recent research data on the ownership, usage and domestic attitude towards the meat thermometer. Therefore, safefood conducted research in collaboration with researchers around on topic (Hollywood et al., 2021) and later “Trust the Meat Thermometer” campaign was launched to increase the potential ownership and usage of a meat thermometer in the domestic setting in Ireland.

2.2  Primary research Preliminary research was conducted on the island of Ireland with the following objectives: 1. Explore current perceptions and trends in the usage of meat thermometers. 2. Evaluate consumer behaviour and attitudes towards the use of meat thermometers. 3. Identify barriers and motivators to using meat thermometers. 4. Overcome barriers, raise awareness and promote the use of meat thermometers. Both qualitative and quantitative approachs were used to carry out three-stage research where each stage helped in formulating the later stage. The structure of the research was as follows: 1. Rapid review of academic literature This showed that there was an increase in meat thermometer use from 49% to 70% in US and Canada, from 1998 to 2010. The reason behind this spike was the targeted meat thermometer interventions in the US: the “Fight BAC/Thermy” campaign in 2000 and the “Is It Done Yet?” campaign in 2004. 2. Focus groups across the island of Ireland The purpose of the focus groups was to understand consumers’ attitudes, beliefs and practices on using meat thermometers at home to cook meat safely. Sixty-five people (50 female; 15 male) participated. They were selected accordingly to reflect wide geographical spread across socioeconomic, North/South, urban/rural and East/West split. Motivators of using thermometer identified were social responsibility, could improve the quality of meat, ease of use and the distribution of thermometers without cost. Barriers identified were expensive, lack of exposure to thermometers on a regular basis, thermometers could be difficult to maintain and contribute to kitchen clutter and also, they are used by either highly experienced or inexperienced cooks. People identified that they would take advice from these sources when it comes to meat safety advice: butchers, direct selling at meat counters, TV ads and instructions on food packaging. 3. Consumer survey to identify consumer perceptions towards the use of meat thermometers 1,052 people aged 18 and above, who have cooked meat before and had the primary responsibility of cooking meals at home completed the survey. The survey suggested that there is a very low thermometer ownership-usage gap which is 1.7%, 17.4% owned a meat thermometer and 15.7% used a meat thermometer when cooking meat. 86.5% of the people have never used a meat thermometer and do not even think of using one. People (meat thermometer owners and non-owners) do not know the right temperature for different cuts of the meat and the accurate insertion method of the thermometer.

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2.3  Behavioural objectives The research demonstrated the need for an intervention to increase the ownership of meat thermometers in the domestic setting by considering the motivating factors and reducing the barriers. safefood has been using “behaviour change wheel” (Michie et al., 2014, Figure CS2.1) to design their intervention. The COM-B model, represented at the middle of the wheel helps in understanding the deficiency of “capability, opportunity and motivation” among people to bring the desired behaviour change. These three factors are interconnected, therefore, increase in people’s capability and opportunity, the motivation to adopt the desired behaviour becomes easier. Behavioural insights from the research according to the sources of behaviour of the COM-B (Table CS2.1) model can be found here:

2.3.1  Intervention functions used Preliminary research suggested there was a lack in the motivation of buying and using the meat thermometer among people who cook in the family. Therefore, motivation was the focus when designing the intervention. Two important results from the research were: spreading the awareness of the right cooking temperature, 75°C and leading with a message. In order to increase the motivation among the target audience, capability and opportunity should also be increased to increase the chances of behaviour change. Intervention functions mentioned in the second layer of the wheel are utilised to make changes to the existing behaviours. Persuasion, Education, Enablement and Modelling were identified to be the key techniques to deliver this intervention. Persuasion that meat thermometer can increase the meat cooking performance and that

Figure CS2.1  Behaviour change wheel (Michie et al., 2014)

CASE STUDY 2 Table CS2.1  COM-B applied Capability Physical Psychological Opportunity Physical

Meat thermometers are used incorrectly. Visual checks are the preferred norm. Lack of exposure and availability of thermometers. The extra effort of buying one.

Social Motivation Reflective

Perceived expense. Barbeque and Christmas time are good occasions for introducing meat thermometer. Social responsibility for the safety of friends and family. Easy to use on a whole chicken.

Automatic

Improves the quality of meat. Usage shows care for the guests and loved ones. Demonstrates professionalism. Adding kitchen clutter. Do not have time/energy to figure out how to use it.

could be achieved by reaching 75°C, which is Education, to increase the Capability of using the meat thermometer correctly. Enablement can increase physical Opportunity by making meat thermometers easily accessible to the audience through partnerships. Modelling is crucial in increasing social Opportunity by creating social norms around thermometer usage.

2.3.2  Behaviour strategy a. To increase the Need (Motivation) for using meat thermometers that can enhance the taste and food safety of the prepared meat. b. To increase Proximity (Opportunity) by making meat thermometers accessible and socially acceptable. c. To increase Education (Capability) by showing how to correctly insert a thermometer and reach the temperature of 75°C.

2.4 Intervention This 2-year food safety campaign was launched in July 2021. So far, there have been two phases: phase 1 (Summer BBQ) and phase 2 (Christmas). These seasonal times were chosen to deliver the campaign to create a social norm of the importance of using a meat thermometer for families to avoid risks of food poisoning. “Trust the Meat Thermometer” is the tagline for the campaign to build trust and increase the motivation of buying and using a meat thermometer. The target audience selected for this campaign were primary household cooks, those who cook on a barbeque, those who cook Christmas dinner and the food shopper within a household.

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2.4.1 Product Meat thermometers, campaign leaflets and stickers to show the right temperature 75°C and on how to use the meat thermometer correctly on barbeque meats were displayed at various locations for phase 1. safefood’s Turkey Calculator is the most visited page before Christmas every year which tells the appropriate time to cook a turkey properly when the weight of the turkey is entered. This tool was utilised along with the leaflets and stickers for the second phase during Christmas to spread the awareness of cooking turkey properly using the online tool and the meat thermometer.

2.4.2 Price The target audience will have to consider buying and using a meat thermometer to cook meat safely for themselves and their loved ones to avoid food poisoning. They will have to adopt a new behaviour of using a meat thermometer along with the previous three safety checks recommended on the island of Ireland.

2.4.3 Place The campaign messaging, distribution and communication were focused on the island of Ireland. Therefore, the campaign was designed and delivered to the target audience present in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI). Since the focus of the campaign was on cooking meat properly, leaflets, posters and stickers were distributed to the butchers and were displayed in the meat section of SuperValu to target people who shop meat and cook it at home.

2.4.4 Promotion A 30-sec advertisement was created where a couple is preparing barbeque outside, using the three safety checks and then a meat thermometer guy starts counting the temperature to remind them to use the meat thermometer. Then the voiceover delivered clear food safety advice and a call to action – “Trust the Meat Thermometer – Always cook BBQ meats to 75°C” was also prominently used in the ad. The humorous and fun approach was taken to gain people’s attention to 75°C. The same couple was used for the phase 2 ad, where they were cooking a turkey this time inside a house to build trust with the audience. The same messaging was delivered to cook a turkey using radio ads, digital screen ads outside, display ads on top media sites, google ads, social media ads and posts. The TV ad was a special edition to phase 2 to target the older audience. safefood-branded aprons and meat thermometers were also distributed to approximately 50 food writers and bloggers to promote the campaign. “How to check your meat is cooked” webpage was created to provide guidelines on using a meat thermometer and the previous three checks. For phase 2, creatives for TikTok were created to capture the younger audience.

2.4.5 Partnership SuperValu was involved in the campaign through their store in Carrigaline where they displayed the campaign leaflet alongside meat thermometers at the meat counter. safefood also partnered with the Craft Butchers of Ireland to distribute campaign stickers to their 500+ members and the sticker was displayed on various locations on their meat cabinet next to the barbeque meats. Chef Eric Matthews and Darragh Milligan showed barbeque recipes to focus on reinforcing the behaviours of cooking meat safely with the help of using a meat thermometer to target the

CASE STUDY 2 young audience. For phase 2, Instagram influencers chef Gareth Mullins from ROI and Jordan Humphrey and Ben Arnold from NI collaborated to target the audience of age range 24-35. Elite butchers in NI, alongside Craft Butchers in ROI, received Christmas leaflets, posters and stickers highlighting the meat thermometer and the turkey calculator.

2.5 Outcomes 2.5.1  Phase 1 After completion of the first phase of the campaign, an Omnibus survey was conducted by a market research company, Ipsos MRBI, on behalf of safefood to measure the behaviour change in the target audience. There were 2000 people involved in the survey, from both ROI and NI. As the focus of the campaign was the people involved in cooking at home, it was observed that the majority of the people surveyed (84%) reported that they were involved in food preparation in their household. The campaign had a positive effect on the audience as meat thermometer ownership increased by 6% in ROI and by 10% in NI as people have bought thermometers within the last 6 weeks when the campaign ran. Now, 27% of people own a meat thermometer, which has increased as before the campaign, the numbers were lower. Half of the people who owned the thermometer said they have used it in the last 6 weeks. The younger audience had a bigger impact as people aged 25–35 as 67% of them used the thermometer in the last 6 weeks.

2.5.2  Phase 2 Similarly, after the second phase, an Omnibus survey was conducted to measure the behaviour change around meat thermometer usage and for benchmarking purposes. In the survey, 2050 people participated from the Island of Ireland with approximately equal representation, 50.6% from ROI and 49.6% from NI. In which, 81% of the people surveyed reported that they were involved in preparing and cooking food at home. The campaign had a positive effect on the NI audience as ownership of meat thermometers has increased by 5% among the NI respondents; 15% of people who owned a meat thermometer have used it in the last 6 months. The ownership of meat thermometers on the Island of Ireland remains at 27% but the ownership was higher among those who saw the campaign ad at 40%. In which, 16% of people have owned a meat thermometer in the last 6 months, and 50% of the people feel a lot more confident when cooking meats using a meat thermometer.

2.6  Lessons for the planet This campaign development was inspired by WHO’s World Food Safety theme of the year 2021, which was “Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow” which focuses on food safety for the people of the planet with long-term benefits for both people and the environment. Promoting the usage of a meat thermometer not only ensures the prevention of foodborne diseases but is also a sustainable option with a low carbon footprint as a meat thermometer can last ages without having to buy a new one every year or so. The campaign aligns with UN’s sustainable development goal number 3, Good Health and Well-being and number 17, Partnerships for the goals. Ensuring the health and well-being of the people is the main agenda of safefood and this campaign was developed to tackle the rising cases of foodborne diseases. Collaboration and partnerships with multiple stakeholders like SuperValu, Craft Butchers and Elite Butchers helped in spreading the

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Case study questions 1. What is the importance of the COM-B model in tackling wicked problems? 2. What are the behavioural challenges of the social marketing plan of this campaign? 3. How is the campaign’s effectiveness evaluated?

References Elshahat, S., Woodside, J.V., & McKinley, M.C. (2019). Meat thermometer usage amongst European and North American consumers: A scoping review. Food Control, 106, 106692. Food Safety Authority. (2020). FSA research suggests new higher estimates for the role of food in UK illness. [Available at https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/fsa-research-suggests-newhigher-estimates-for-the-role-of-food-in-uk-illness] (Accessed on 20 December 2021). Hollywood, L.E., Price, R.K., Ward, S., McMahon-Beattie, U., Boyd, A., Devaney, M., McCloat, A., Mooney, E., & Raats, M. (2021). The use of meat thermometers in home kitchens on the island of Ireland. Kennedy, J., Jackson, V., Blair, I.S., McDowell, D.A., Cowan, C., & Bolton, D.J. (2005). Food safety knowledge of consumers and the microbiological and temperature status of their refrigerators. Journal of Food Protection, 68(7), 1421–1430. Michie, S., Atkins, L., & West, R. (2014). The Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. London: Silverback. WHO. (2020). Food Safety. [Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/foodsafety] (Accessed on 20 December 2021).

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Case study 

Acting on the climate crisis through the arts and culture A social innovation journey at the city of Águeda Susana Marques, Ana Estima, Edson Santos, Célia Laranjeira, Adriana Mesquita and Carla Couceiro

3.1  Introduction and problem definition This case is about a social innovation journey built on the intersection of art and environmental protection at Águeda, a mid-size municipality in Portugal. More specifically, we examine Águeda´s C-Change journey of Arts and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities, a network of cities with the European Union (EU) URBACT (https://urbact.eu/) funding. Climate change mitigation and adaptation are central elements of Águeda’s city strategy and its resilience and sustainable development work. At the same time, the arts and culture, cultural heritage and creativity play a key role in Águeda’s quality of life and economic prosperity. Over the last 10 years, the city has seen the positive economic and social benefits of nurturing the arts

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-14

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Susana Marques et al. and culture scene. However, the city is also now living with the consequences of climate change – flooding and forest fires in particular. In terms of characterization, the Municipality of Águeda is located in the Central Region of Portugal, has about 46K inhabitants and has an area of 335 km2. The head of the municipality is the city with the same name and with about 14K residents. It is a city that seeks to sustainably consolidate its role as a protagonist in the central region thanks to indicators that contribute to the quality of life of those who live or intend to live there. Served by good accessibilities, modern cultural and sports infrastructures, and a renewed school park, Águeda also has a university pole of excellence, thus seeking to position itself to attract different public. It combines a strong business fabric with an impressive vitality of social, cultural, and sporting associations with numerous events and inter-associative dynamics that make Águeda stand out on the regional and national scene. In recent years, this associative dynamism has had even more visibility, given the constant cultural initiatives of the City Hall. These initiatives have led traditional folklore, music, theatre, and arts associations to incorporate their activities into the life of the city and interact with each other as a way to take traditional culture further and put it at the service of the community. Arts have the power to stimulate critical and creative thinking concerning environmental problems, opening new and fresh perspectives and solutions. Through arts and culture, it is possible to communicate information and connect people with the natural environment (e.g. Curtis, 2020). However, surprisingly, the literature on the role of the arts in affecting environmental behaviour is still scarce. Hopefully, the case analysed here will help to fill that gap. This is a journey that builds on the collective intelligence of Agueda Municipality to develop relations across a network of actors and build collaborative solutions that address various levels of social change, including micro, meso and macro-level factors (Brennan and Parker, 2014; Brennan et al., 2016). Simultaneously, the case follows a systems thinking social marketing framework, advocating change as a holistic approach and as a process of co-creating solutions (e.g. Domegan et al., 2016).

3.2  Primary research Águeda first heard about the Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (MAST) in 2017, when Manchester was recognized as a Good Practice City under the EU’s URBACT programme. Manchester’s winning formula – MAST’s collaboration on climate action and engagement, in a city which recognized the value of culture and was itself demonstrating climate change leadership – struck a chord. In 2018, Águeda joined C-Change: Arts and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities to learn from and adopt a similar approach to Manchester. Over two years, Águeda’s local C-Change group, modelled on MAST, has been at the heart of the journey. URBACT Local Groups (ULG) are a fundamental building block of the URBACT programme. Each URBACT partner is required to set up a Local Group gathering key local stakeholders in order to co-produce city strategies and action plans. The municipality had a strong foundation to build on the C-Change journey. It was already taking an integrated approach to policy-making, for example, with an integrated environment and tourism department. Developing partnerships involving

CASE STUDY 3 NGOs, public agencies, the private sector and civil society had proven to be a key component in the design and implementation of effective urban initiatives. And the city administration had extensive experience with engaging the local community and stakeholders through initiatives such as Local Agenda 21, participatory budget, and eco-school projects. So, it can be said that C-Change came quite naturally. Building on that listening capacity, an open call was made for all cultural agents of the region to bring together the whole cultural community. Although the initial response was a little hesitant, as the project progressed the cultural agents spread the word, causing a very positive snowball effect.

3.3  Behavioural objectives Águeda´s Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2019–2027 foresees the involvement of the community, different sectors, and stakeholders, including the arts and culture, through specific actions and measures. The city had a reputation as a creative city in particular as a result of its Umbrella Sky project, which has been replicated in other cities around the world, the Urban Art Programme and the annual AgitÁgueda Arts Festival. City support and funding for arts and culture were strong, as the municipality was already promoting climate change and environmental projects through our flagship Urban Art programme and AgitÁgueda Festival (Figure CS3.1). However, up to 2018, there hadn’t been any specific climate change or environmental support for the arts and culture sector. Through C-Change, the ambition, by the end of 2020, was to see culture and climate change collaboration, support, and engagement happening in the city and to align city culture and climate

Figure CS3.1 Street in the historical city centre during the AgitÁgueda festival. Photo: Patrick Ferreira

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Susana Marques et al. change policy. The city administration knew it needed a strong local C-Change group to make this happen. Beyond getting the group up and running, there were two key concerns, how to get the group to work effectively and how to work consistently across the culture and the environmental departments. Thus, rather than targeting a specific direct behaviour, these tasks were targeted at changing relevant intermediate behaviours towards a behavioural infrastructure to enable change (Brennan and Parker, 2014).

3.4 Intervention The journey started as intended to continue, with both environment and culture departments agreeing to take on a joint role in establishing, leading, and supporting the local group. Through exchange and learning sessions with Manchester and the four other C-Change cities, the team learned more about the MAST model – participating in a MAST meeting and seeing and hearing about the type of action MAST members were taking, individually and collectively. The sessions also helped to come up with a plan for sector support (Figure CS3.2). Back in Águeda, the team began to establish a local group bringing together organizations and individuals from the arts and culture sector that were already known and committed to climate action and engagement. Once the local C-Change group was in place, regular meetings were organized, led by both the municipality’s head of culture and head of the environment. In the early days, these meetings were more focused on planning and exchange of ideas, but they were soon to lead to concrete action and collective initiatives including Monty Python-inspired “silly

Figure CS3.2  MAST meeting. Photo: Águeda City Hall

CASE STUDY 3

Figure CS3.3  The sea starts here urban art installation. Photo: Águeda City Hall walks” against pollution; environmentally-themed street mural painting with children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, or The Sea Starts Here urban art installation (Figure CS3.3). Furthermore, the Águeda City Hall promoted an Ideas Contest “Agents of Change” with the purpose of fostering the emergence of new ideas or projects of cultural and creative potential within the scope of community awareness of the climatic changes. This competition of ideas aimed to enhance, promote, and support the implementation of projects that were differentiators in the cultural area within the scope of community awareness of climate change. Two projects were awarded – Projeto Circular and Clic. Lab with 3 000,00€ for the first place and 2 000,00€ for the second place. Projeto Circular, the winner of the “Agents of Change contest,” developed pilot actions exploring the idea of connection and love for our planet through a storytelling astronaut, which travelled from the future with the purpose to save the planet, a goal only achieved with the commitment and work of the present generations (Figure CS3.4). C-Change local group meetings and key activities of the project are presented in a resumed timeline (Figure CS3.5). Yet to refer the development of the carbon literacy training, where three local group members – Luis Silva from the Manuel Alegre Municipal Library, Viktor Fernandes a local artist involved in the GlocalMusic co-operative and Águeda Arts Centre’s Laura Almeida – did a train-the-trainer carbon literacy training in Manchester. Back to Portugal, they developed a test version of the training which was delivered in February 2020 for a mix of city and sector representatives. This initiative entitled “Carbon Literacy Training” in Águeda aimed to develop an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organizational basis. This training was focused on climate change, carbon literacy and the so-called “citizen empowerment.” In an informal and interactive environment, several examples were given of how each of one could actively contribute and

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Figure CS3.4  Projeto circular. Photo: Águeda City Hall become aware of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities and the capacity and motivation to reduce emissions individually, in the community and in the organizations. In July 2020, 17 people mainly from the local group, participated in a sector-specific training session combined with a visit to Águeda’s Smart City Lab demonstrating solutions that could be easily scaled up such as action on energy efficiency, for example, a solar bench for charging phones. Then in October 2020, Luis and Viktor did a version of the training for the public during the Águeda Smart City Lab open day. Both July and October sessions featured a take-make-repair

Figure CS3.5  Resumed timeline of the C-Change project

CASE STUDY 3

Figure CS3.6  Viktor’s materials workshop. Photo: Águeda City Hall activity and a visit to Viktor’s materials workshop (Figure CS3.6) to see how he was putting sustainability at the heart of his artistic practice. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the group moved to virtual meetings and began to work more independently of the municipality, using tele-esplanada an online collaboration tool and creating its own WhatsApp group and Facebook page to keep the communications going. During online meetings, the group mapped out what the arts and culture sector was doing across the city on the environment and climate change, discussed topics of common interest as well as municipal projects on low and zero-carbon solutions and how they might put these solutions in place.

3.5 Outcomes As the C-Change journey progressed, the municipality was increasingly investing in nature and climate-change themed urban art projects. At the same time, new members joined the C-Change group, including not only cultural organizations and local artists, but also environmental protection associations, local environmental activists, and even outdoor sports enthusiasts. This resulted in some new collaborations such as Agueda Arts Centre’s project with a local high school on material reuse in artistic practice; CircoAgitado no Vale using circus arts to raise environmental awareness at the Vale Domingos Botanical Park; AgitÁgueda artists developing performances such as the bodypainting initiative (Figure CS3.7) and the event held in the river Águeda using boats built-in bamboo structures, performing as the voice of water and the life which it supports, telling why and how people need to conserve and protect it.

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Figure CS3.7 AgitÁgueda’s bodypainting: The importance of preserving the water resources. Photo: Águeda City Hall Today Agueda’s C-Change group has 27 members, including the Águeda Arts Centre, the Manuel Alegre Municipal Library, the Vouga Railway Museum, the cultural cooperative Glocalmusic and Living Place an ecotourism organisation. A critical success factor of Águeda´s C-Change journey was political commitment. For example, the deputy mayor attended all meetings, to facilitate financial issues but also to remove different sorts of barriers that may arise from a strategic and political point of view. In addition, this regular monitoring legitimizes the project and ensures that it is framed in the Municipality’s strategic objectives. It is undeniable that COVID-19 raised difficult challenges to the process, however, the group has, against the odds, managed to survive, adapt, and thrive, finding new ways to keep collaborating. It has become a self-sufficient group and a model of collaboration which are extending to other sectors such as sports and tourism. Innovation revolves primarily around this group of people and their commitment to future action. However, the situation of artists, creators and cultural operators is often precarious, volatile, and very dependent on volunteer work. The city administration is aware that a critical challenge for the future of this social change journey is related to strong human relations and the continuity of human capital.

3.6  Lessons for the planet The complexity of environmental sustainability raises multidisciplinary challenges and also multidisciplinary solutions and that’s why this case brings so many lessons for the planet but also implications for urban and city management and administration. First, city administrations should and can play a brokerage, facilitation, and orchestration role between stakeholders

CASE STUDY 3 to implement experimentation and social innovation, namely medium-sized cities that are in a good position to develop more organic change processes. This case also demonstrates that cooperation and coordination among different departments and structures within the local authority are challenging yet crucial, and in particular the intersection of arts and environment demonstrates that breaking down institutional silos is an essential requirement for social innovation, bringing a natural alignment and powerful synergies between art and environmental protection. Moreover, this journey built on the intersection of art and environmental protection shows that projects must come naturally aligned with a global strategy, through a sense of purpose and commitment from all partners, starting with the example of political leaders. As this project has shown, money is important, but major social problems cannot be solved by financial resources alone (as an example, this project had a budget of €65,714.00, 85% EU co-funded). Technical expertise, delivery capacity, political commitment, human capital, and relationship management are also crucial.

Case study questions 1. Taking your own city as an example, how would you see the potential role of arts and culture to improve environmental awareness and protection? Beyond arts and culture, what other multidisciplinary approaches could you identify? 2. How can social marketing help cities position themselves as key actors of sustainable development? 3. Covid-19 has sped up digital transformation. How can digital and traditional channels be combined for scaling up social innovation?

References Brennan, L., & Parker, L. (2014). Beyond behaviour change: Social marketing and Social change. Journal of Social Marketing, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-08-2014-0052 Brennan, L., Previte, J., & Fry, M.L. (2016). Social marketing’s consumer myopia: Applying a behavioural ecological model to address wicked problems. Journal of Social Marketing, 6(3), 219–239. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-12-2015-0079 Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2019-2027 Município de Águeda (2018).Plano de Adaptação às Alterações Climáticas do Município de Águeda. https://www.cm-agueda.pt/viver/ambiente-esustentabilidade/energia-e-alteracoes-climaticas/adaptacao-as-alteracoes-climaticas Curtis, D. (2020). Using the arts to encourage pro-environmental behaviour: Introduction. In D. Curtis (Ed.), Using the Visual and Performing Arts to Encourage Pro-Environmental Behaviour (pp. 2–25). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Domegan, C., McHugh, P., Devaney, M., Duane, S., Hogan, M., Broome, B.J., Layton, R.A., Joyce, J., Mazzonetto, M., & Piwowarczyk, J. (2016). Systems-thinking social marketing: Conceptual extensions and empirical investigations. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(11–12), 1123–1144. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2016.1183697

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Case study 

Making Australian universities culturally safe places for first nations peoples Maria Raciti, Jennifer Carter, David Hollinsworth and Kathryn Gilbey

4.1  Introduction and problem definition Education is powerful – transforming people, communities and societies. A university education enables intergenerational social mobility for First Nations peoples and their communities by disrupting the social structures that are the result of colonisation in countries like Australia. The First Nations people of Australia are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who make up approximately 3.3% of the total Australian population which equates to an estimated 798,400 people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Most First Nations Australians identify as Aboriginal (91%) and prior to colonisation there were approximately 750 distinct Aboriginal societies with different languages and dialects, histories and territories (Walsh, 1991; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Colonisation has and continues to oppress First Nations Australians with present-day inequalities across all facets of life, including education. Enhancing the participation and success of First Nations peoples in higher education has been a stated Australian Government priority for decades with the most recent National Agreement of Closing the Gap reinforcing the role of university qualifications to assist First Nations DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086 10.4324/9781003200086-15

CASE STUDY 4 Australians to reach their full potential and thrive. In Australia, there are approximately 1.6 million university students of which a minuscule 1.4% (22,935) self-identify as First Nations Australians (Department of Education and Training, 2021). Government data reveals that some of Australia’s 43 universities are more attractive to First Nations students than others which cannot be explained by geographic population distribution as universities located in the same city or regional area report different rates of participation and success (see Department of Education and Training, 2021). This suggests that there are aspects of some universities that both attract and support the success of First Nations Australians. These aspects appear to serve as protective factors that create an attractive, culturally safe environment that supports and empowers First Nations university students. However, little is known about how protective factors, such as First Nations Australians connection to place and each other, play out on university campuses.

4.2  Primary research Connection to place and connection to each other are central to the survivance and thrivance of First Nations Australians. Place matters for First Nations Australians. Connection to place – known as Country – is profound, tied to body, mind and spirit and shared across generations and the Dreamings of each language group (Atkinson, 2002). Connection to other First Nations Australians – also known as relationality – is fundamental, embodied kinship and reciprocity that is the bedrock of how First Nations Australians know, be and become together (Nakata, 2007). Thus, the notions of place and relationality are protective factors that cultivate cultural safety and that universities need to embed and nurture in their campuses. It is important to recognise that university campuses represent a what First Nations author Nakata (2007) referred to as a “cultural interface,” being places where Western/Northern and First Nations ways of knowing and being brush against each other. Primary research was conducted at two multi-campus Australian universities with headquarters in regional locales. The two participating universities were well known for their long-held commitments to First Nations Australians. Both universities had exemplary whole-of-university Reconciliation Action Plans but more importantly had sustained a multifaceted range of activities to improve university opportunities and success for First Nations Australians over decades. Both universities were regarded in the sector as being open, welcoming, respectful and culturally safe places that embraced and advanced First Nations peoples and their efforts were reflected in their year-on-year growth in student enrolments and strong completion rates. Indeed, their First Nations student populations consistently exceeded parity with the Australian population meaning that First Nations students comprised more than 3.3% of the total student population. Both universities were exemplary in their engagement with First Nations peoples providing the opportunity for the primary research to reveal successful protective factors that could inform the sector. Using interviews and focus groups, qualitative data were collected concurrently at the main campuses of two Australian universities from First Nations students who were over 18 years of age and enrolled full time in any degree. A total of 17 First Nations students participated, seven from one university and ten from the other. The interviews and focus groups were digitally audio recorded with the verbatim transcripts subject to manual thematic analysis.

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Maria Raciti et al. A subsequent quantitative survey at the same universities generated 51 usable responses from First Nations students. It is important to note that Australian First Nations peoples are one of the most over-researched communities in the world and as such, there is both fatigue and resistance to participating in research. Furthermore, First Nations Australians are overrepresented in social marketing interventions and programs, particularly those related to health, justice and education. It is welldocumented that the volumes of raw data that have been collected and the outcomes of these are typically not accessible to those First Nations people participating in research. Indeed, this has been the catalyst for the Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement around the globe. Hence, the 68 participants in the project exceeded expectations, especially when considering that there are only 22,935 First Nations university students in Australia.

4.3  Findings and outcomes Several findings emerged from the data pertaining to the role of place and relationality in Australian university campuses, including:

4.3.1  Connection to place ••

University campuses were important “third places” for First Nations students away from home and work where they could be their authentic self and reach their full potential to become better versions of themselves. Participants attended campus regularly, felt welcomed and supported with a strong sense of attachment to their university’s First Nations Centre/College.

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While the universities demonstrated commitments to First Nations peoples via a range of whole-of-campus activities, in the classroom most courses had little or no First Nations content or perspectives. As such, First Nations students did not “see themselves” in the material they were learning and had little guidance on how to apply their learning ways that would enhance First Nations communities. Where other students in their classes were ignorant of First Nations peoples’ history and culture, this increased the need for First Nations participants to connect with other First Nations people on campus.

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Participants reported that while some academics teaching their classes were highly knowledgeable about First Nations peoples, many were not. First Nations students’ engagement and satisfaction with their learning were high in classes where teaching staff were highly knowledgeable as these teachers made the content relevant to the professional aspirations of the First Nations students.

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Participants were very aware of efforts to acknowledge First Nations people and culture on the campus, such as flying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, dedicated gardens, on-campus celebrations of the National Aborigines and Islanders Day of Observance and on-campus events commencing with a “Welcome to Country.” However, some participants raised concerns about these efforts being tokenistic.

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Participants felt their university was trying to value First Nations culture and had made connections with the traditional owners of the land where their campuses were located, suggesting that the important next step was to include traditional owners in university decision-making.

CASE STUDY 4

4.3.2 Relationality ••

Coming to university evoked a sense of excitement and pride among participants knowing that a university qualification would change the trajectory of their lives and that of their children and extended families. They expressed that their university education would benefit their First Nations community in that they could “give back” (reciprocity) by using the knowledge and skills to improve others’ quality of life.

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Participants expressed gratitude and connection to the staff at their university’s First Nations Centre/College who were instrumental in making them feel like they belonged and creating cultural safety by understanding the diversity among First Nations Australians as colonisation meant that while some had strong cultural connections others did not. At the participating universities, the First Nations Centre/College were staffed by First Nations peoples, including elders, and they regularly facilitated student-to-student connection and opportunities for small gatherings to build relationships and a sense of togetherness.

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For some participants, going to university helped them to connect with and take pride in their First Nations heritage. Colonisation meant that some participants did not grow up “on Country” or had not had the opportunity to connect with many other First Nations people. As a result, they had struggled with their identity and coming to university provided them with the opportunity to connect with other First Nations people and strengthen their sense of identity.

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Some participants noted there were very few First Nations people in their course and as such they sought out and valued the connections that they formed with other First Nations peoples who were at their university but studying different courses.

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There was a desire among participants for greater interaction with First Nations academics at their university.

These findings provide valuable and deep insights for Australian universities about the lived experience of First Nations peoples and how nurturing connections to place (Country) and each other (relationality) create cultural safety which is needed to enhance participation and success at university. The findings presented in this case study were part of a larger project, the findings of which were widely disseminated across the Australian university sector. The most popular output of the project was the e-booklet that has been downloaded 2700+ times. Presentations and workshops across Australia and overseas were well attended, highly engaging and favourably received. As too were the conference papers, journal articles and reports. The nature of this project and the expanse of the Australian university sector make it difficult to accurately determine changes that resulted from the findings. However, the metrics presented suggest that these findings have helped Australian universities to better understand their First Nations students and have helped guide their thinking about protective factors that enhance the participation and success of First Nations peoples.

4.4  Lessons for the planet Several lessons for the planet emerge from this case study. Colonisation has and continues to have significant impacts on First Nations peoples in all facets of life including education. The effects of colonisation cannot be ignored or underestimated when working with and for

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Acknowledgement Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Government.

Case study questions 1. Many First Nations people do not “see themselves” in the content of their courses and it is unclear how they can use what they learn to better their communities. How can universities address this? 2. First Nations students want to interact more with First Nations academics. There are very few First Nations academics in Australian universities and they are typically overloaded with other university-focused cultural duties on top of their academic roles, which is known as “cultural taxation.” How can this situation be improved?

References Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma Trails, Recreating Song Lines: The Transgenerational Effects of Trauma in Indigenous Australia. Spinifex Press. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, June 2016. ABS cat. no. 3238.0.55.001. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-aboriginal-and-torresstrait-islander-australians/latest-release Department of Education and Training. (2021). 2020 Student summary tables. Retrieved from https:// www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/student-data Nakata, M.N. (2007). Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines. Aboriginal Studies Press. Walsh, M. (1991). Overview of indigenous languages of Australia. In S. Romaine (Ed.), Language in Australia. Cambridge University Press.

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Case study 

“What could masculinity be?” Using participatory co-design to define and support healthier masculinities Glen Donnar, Jon Hewitt, Fiona Finn, Lukas Parker, Linda Brennan and John Dingeldei

5.1  Introduction and problem definition Outdated gender norms, practices and rigid adherence to dominant forms and patterns of masculinity negatively impact women and marginalised minority groups. These same norms and practices also harm men. Young men are particularly vulnerable to experiencing pressure and confusion around the “traditional” expectations and behaviours required to be a “real man” (Our Watch, 2019); expectations that are unattainable for most. Men who endorse dominant forms and patterns of masculinity report greater negative effects on mental health, higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse, and increased incidence of violence and bullying (Our Watch, 2019). Furthermore, an attachment to rigid gender roles and stereotyped constructions of gender are leading causes of violence against women, and gender and sexually diverse people (Our Watch, Universities Australia, & Victoria State Government, 2021). DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-16

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Glen Donnar et al. The extent to which the incidence of gender-based violence on university campuses mirrors society at large is highlighted by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2016 national student survey. The report found that 26% of students surveyed experienced sexual harassment within a university setting in 2016. Women were also more than three times as likely than men to experience sexual assault, and students who identified as bisexual or asexual were nearly three times as likely as heterosexual students to be sexually assaulted. Tellingly, most sexual assault (81%) and harassment (71%) were reported as being perpetrated by men. Conventional health and social marketing campaigns that aim to tackle such complex social issues are often poorly conceived, targeted and executed (Brennan et al., 2018). Campaigns are often narrowly focused on individual-level change, presuming that mere awareness can lead to spontaneous and self-directed change, further these campaigns also tend to present gender in binary terms. Consequently, male target groups are often either unresponsive or even react against the messaging (Brennan et al., 2018). Resistance, more than merely defiance and backlash, can “represent the fears and anxieties men feel when there is change or uncertainty, particularly about their social identity and social practices” (Our Watch, 2019, p. 93). Therefore, the complexity of this issue requires a campaign design involving an investigative and explorative research approach capable of addressing interconnected relationships and which also involves the target group throughout the co-design process. For most people, everyday life is a complex series of performative practices. People create and co-create their lives in conjunction with others and are both affected by and affect many interrelated influences: historical, social, cultural and environmental. Individuals do not cognitively process most of these performances and affects. In systems thinking, individuals are not active choosers of their behaviours. They are actors influenced by a system of other actors and actions at a variety of levels: macro (societal), exo (external), meso (mediating), and micro (individual). In this view, choices are shaped by behavioural infrastructures, the collective, and the individual. Influencing these choices requires understanding the dynamics of the social networks and processes underpinning the system in which behaviours occur. To summarise: Systems thinking offers a deeper understanding of the dynamics of collective choice processes at all levels within the social networks that connect individuals, small groups, entities, and communities in valuebased exchanges of goods, services, experiences, and ideas (Layton et al., 2022). Through a university-based intervention,1 students of all genders were instructed on how to engage in a co-design process in multidisciplinary teams to develop “solutions” to the wicked problem: “What could masculinity be?” Teams were encouraged to challenge dominant notions and rigid stereotypes of what it is to be a man, define the many valid ways to be a man might look, and promote healthier masculinities and interactions with others.

5.2  Primary research Data were collected via participation and observations during the studio, alongside interviews with 18 undergraduate and postgraduate male-identifying university students aged 18–30 years from across the university to inform the intervention. Semi-structured (40–60 min) interviews were conducted to better understand participants’ attitudes and patterns of behaviour around

CASE STUDY 5 masculinity and gender equality, particularly as they are experienced at university. Additionally, interviews were designed to survey participants on what changes to masculinity were needed and how change could be sustainably achieved. Several key insights were developed from these interviews. Many participants sense that understandings of masculinity are changing; masculinity is not a “monolith” but multi-dimensional and “expanding.” Additionally, males are increasingly (and rightly) being held accountable for their actions and expressed attitudes. This flux is positive overall but can be confusing. ••

Masculinity – and “traditional” cultural expectations of it – is complex, often overwhelming, often difficult to navigate, and always hard to live up to. There is “… a fear of not being able to live up to these expectations that you have applied to yourself or what society applies to yourself.”

••

Embodying stereotyped ideals of masculinity is damaging, for varied reasons, in the shortand long-term: “I think they’ve [traditional expectations about masculinity] hurt me more than they’ve benefited me.”

At the same time, many participants feel overwhelmed by contradictory pressures or expectations. That is, men feel that they are – and that masculinity is – still supposed to be tough, dominant, assertive, unemotional, self-sufficient, fearless and protectors. But now men are also supposed to be more sensitive, empathetic and mindful about (their impact on) others and especially observant of their behaviours towards women. ••

Men acknowledge male privilege but think that there should also be greater sensitivity to young men’s struggles: “I think there’s a bit of a lack of understanding […] about masculinity, about young men [… and] the problems that they face.”

••

Men can also be victims of “toxic” male behaviours and attitudes, especially when they do not match dominant forms and patterns of masculinity: “I can think of a lot of situations where I’ve been exposed to toxic masculinity. It has affected me psychologically” because “it’s difficult when you don’t fit a certain mould.”

Insights gathered from the interviews were used to develop the student brief and support notes for the co-design stage.

5.3  Behavioural objectives 1. Challenge rigid or harmful gender norms, attitudes and behaviours. 2. Utilise a co-design process with students to redefine masculinity beyond dominant patterns and stereotypes. 3. Involve the target group throughout the co-design process and in projects to support meaningful behaviour and attitude change and expand definitions of masculinity.

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5.4 Intervention A co-design and co-creation process engaged university students with an unwieldy “wicked problem.” Co-creation is the process where people create something together, collaboratively and in agreement about desired outcomes – it also increases engagement with social marketing strategies. Co-design is also a form of design that actively involves a variety of stakeholders in the design process; its roots are embedded in theories of participatory design (Langley, 2016). Wicked problems with interconnected socially complex issues, such as rigid, harmful or unhealthy forms of masculinity, are suited to a co-design process, principally because it is flexible and responsive to changing actions and actors. The multi-faceted nature of such problems requires collaborative involvement, contribution and innovation from multiple affected stakeholders. A seven-day workshop of the Wicked Problems studio was conducted as part of a university undergraduate and postgraduate subject (unit of study) at RMIT University, Australia. The unit is available to all levels of study (1st year to PhD). The studio had 62 student participants aged 18–30, representing 26 academic programmes, as varied as electrical engineering, business, communication, international studies and music – ideal for gaining diverse perspectives of multi-faceted problems. Seven groups of students were established. Each group was balanced, as far as possible, with gender and disciplinary diversity. The industry partner was the Man Cave, an organisation that uses community-based approaches to support and empower young men. The students co-created projects that would be applicable to their lived experiences and permit a real-world application of knowledge from their discipline, as well as make a difference in the university community and young men’s lives. The project employed a co-design process to develop and design a suite of seven social marketing campaigns related to masculinity, with a focus on young men’s whole selves, redefining masculinity more broadly, and offering safe initiation into adulthood. Working with the industry brief and a multidisciplinary team, students were required to scope the problem and generate people-centred solutions using a user-centred design approach (Figure CS5.1). Students experienced in different disciplines worked together to achieve a common goal using various online collaboration tools. The stages of the Wicked Problems studio were: 1. The Brief – delivered by the course facilitator with presentations from six experts with a focus on: social marketing, indigenous male rites of passage, masculinity, gender-based violence, design empathy and psychology.

Figure CS5.1  User-centred design approach (adapted from IDEO)

CASE STUDY 5 2. Inspiration – Student participants reviewed the research from the interviews and then spoke with team members, families and social peers to gain insights about the problem. 3. Ideation – team brainstorming. 4. Prototyping – testing ideas with the above groups. 5. Implementation/Presentation – teams pitch their ideas to an assessing panel of experts and the client.

5.5 Outcomes Some participants reported that this was the first time they had agency to tackle some of the problems of harmful or “toxic” masculinities, thereby increasing their sense of self-empowerment and situational control. Participants felt that the value of the co-design process allowed them to shift their perspectives and to be more open to other points of view, consequently increasing their ability to communicate across diversity. Participants of all genders felt that the practice of co-creation and co-design allowed them to understand how they would approach some of their own wicked problems in other aspects of their lives. They valued learning to work with others and with diverse people, especially the interdisciplinary opportunities which mirrors the real world of work. The industry partner was thrilled with the opportunity to be able to implement some of the ideas into their program. Two of the campaigns designed will be combined and implemented as interventions by the university in 2022 and beyond. The team will be evaluating the outcomes of this intervention alongside supporting the university with the rollout of a multifaceted social marketing campaign.

5.6  Lessons for the planet Work that transforms understandings of gender and “challenges dominant forms of masculinity has the potential to benefit everyone” (Our Watch, 2019, p. 89). The studio allowed students to challenge and be challenged in a safe space where they could confront their identity and open themselves to “other” in a way that negative consequences could be managed. Young men should be involved throughout the design process in creating solutions to this wicked problem. This will ensure that the target group is not identified as “the problem” and will support genuine attitude and behaviour change. The problem itself is indefinable by “outsiders” and should be defined and addressed within the affected group. Therefore, participants of all genders should be involved in the co-design process to understand and tackle the problem from multiple perspectives and to design more inclusive and apposite solutions.

Case study questions 1. What are some of the macro (societal), exo (external), meso (mediating) and micro (individual) actors and actions that impact how males see themselves, think and behave?

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Note 1 The protocol for the Wicked Problems studio has been published by the authors previously. Please contact the authors if you want to know more.

References Brennan, L., Donnar, G., Parker, L., & Alessi, N. (2018). “I know what I’m doing”: Communicating a safety message to change the attitudes and behaviours of older men. In G. Hastings & C. Domegan (Eds.), Social Marketing: Rebels with a Cause (3rd ed., pp. 406–419). UK: Routledge. Langley, J. (2016). Participatory Design: Co-Creation | Co-Production | Co-Design Combining Imaging and Knowledge. UK: Sheffield Hallam University. Layton, R., Domegan, C., & Brennan, L. (2022). (in press). Systems thinking in marketing for social impact. In K. Kubacki, C. Domegan, L. Parker & L. Brennan (Eds.), Routledge Companion for Marketing for Social Impact. New York: Routledge. Our Watch. (2019). Men in Focus: Unpacking masculinities and engaging men in the prevention of violence against women. Melbourne, Australia: Our Watch. Our Watch, Universities Australia, & Victoria State Government. (2021). Educating for Equality: A Whole-of-University Approach. Melbourne, Australia: Our Watch.

6

Case study 

“Standing Strong Together” A culturally appropriate adaptation for a social and emotional well-being intervention in an Australian First Nations community Robert J Donovan, Lesley A Murray, Julia Anwar-McHenry, Amberlee Nicholas and Cathy Drane

6.1  Introduction and problem definition 6.1.1  Aboriginal mental health/social and emotional well-being As for First Nations people in other colonised nations around the globe, First Nations people in Australia have substantially higher morbidity and mortality rates than non-Indigenous people, including higher rates of mental illness, contributed to by factors such as disadvantage, racism, and poverty (Donovan et al., 2022). However, rather than more services, it has been proposed

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-17

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Robert J Donovan et al. that there should be a positive, socially based approach to improving mental health in Indigenous communities. The population wide Act-Belong-Commit mental health promotion campaign appeared to be consistent with such an approach. Hence, as a result of extensive consultation with community members, a culturally adapted version of the campaign was developed and launched in a remote Indigenous community in Western Australia. Interviews were conducted with key stakeholders and community members two years later to assess campaign impact. This Case Study draws on a number of papers on this intervention, in particular Anwar-McHenry et al. (2022), Donovan et al. (2022), and Donovan et al. (2018). As far as we are aware, this cultural adaptation of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign is the first reported Indigenous adaptation of a population-wide mental health promotion campaign.

6.1.2  The Act-Belong-Commit campaign Act-Belong-Commit is a comprehensive, state-wide, community-based health promotion campaign designed to build population mental health and prevent mental illness (see Donovan & Anwar-McHenry in the 3rd edition of this book). The campaign encourages individuals to engage in mentally healthy activities, while at the same time supporting and encouraging organisations that offer mentally healthy activities to promote and increase participation in these activities. The campaign is implemented through social franchising partnerships with health services, local governments, government departments, schools, workplaces, community organisations and local sports, art and recreational clubs. As the brand name suggests, people can build positive mental health and resilience by keeping physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially active (Act); by building a sense of identity and belonging by keeping involved in family and community activities, and participating in community events (Belong); and by taking on challenges or causes that provide meaning and purpose in their lives (Commit). There is substantial evidence that these three domains contribute to increasing levels of positive mental health (and in fact, to physical health) (Donovan et al., 2021).

6.1.2.1 The Act-Belong-Commit campaign and indigenous people’s beliefs about social and emotional well-being The basic constructs in the Act-Belong-Commit framework clearly overlap with and include the factors identified as both protecting from and helping First Nations people deal with mental illnesses: social connectedness and a sense of belonging; connection to land, culture, spirituality, and ancestry; living on or near traditional lands; and passing on of cultural practices (Donovan et al., 2022). Given this overlap and Aboriginal people’s focus on family, community, and the social care of others, it was anticipated that the principles underlying the Act-Belong-Commit framework would be acceptable to Indigenous communities and readily translate to an Indigenous cultural framework for mental health promotion.

6.2  Primary research 6.2.1  Cultural adaptation of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign Given funding available for an intervention in the area, it was decided to explore the feasibility of a cultural adaptation of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign in the remote town of Roebourne

CASE STUDY 6 in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The town of Roebourne sits on the traditional lands of the Ngarluma people, although members of other Aboriginal language groups from surrounding areas also reside in Roebourne. Roebourne has an estimated population of around 1,000, with 75 per cent identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (ABS, 2016). The consultation and formative research began in 2014 with the appointment of an Aboriginal Project Manager (Author LAM) and the engagement of a local Aboriginal consultant. Following recommended approaches to consultation and research in Aboriginal communities, the formal and informal consultations over the first six months of the project involved group discussions with elders, community organisation representatives, and members of the general community. These discussions included both genders, a range of age groups, and the main language groups in the town and surrounding area. The qualitative data were supplemented by community-wide surveys using a semi-structured questionnaire, to ensure that general community members had an opportunity to express their views. In brief, the consultation phase confirmed that the overall messages of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign were accepted by the community as relevant to social and emotional wellbeing, with Aboriginal people in Roebourne emphasising that good social and emotional wellbeing depends on interacting with family, involvement in community activities, and connecting to country and culture. Hence, and consistent with the protective factors noted earlier, the community further elaborated the Act-Belong-Commit domains in the following way: Act: Keep mentally, socially, spiritually, physically, and culturally active; Belong: Build and maintain a strong Aboriginal identity by keeping connected to family and language group, and by getting together with others at cultural events and keeping connections to country strong; Commit: Care for country, teach the young ones about culture and language or re-learn culture and language yourself, keep up obligations to family and community, take part in lore ceremonies and express culture in art, craft, song, music, dance, or stories. To strengthen local ownership, the community was then involved in developing a locally relevant cultural adaptation of the Act-Belong-Commit branding, described in detail in Donovan et al. (2018). That branding appears in Figure CS6.1. This branding was accompanied by a new slogan “Standing Strong Together.” At its core, local people saw the “Standing Strong Together” slogan as epitomising interacting with family, involvement in community activities, and connecting to country and culture for building and strengthening social and emotional wellbeing in communities.

6.3  Behavioural objectives The initial goals set for Act-Belong-Commit in Roebourne were based on the outcome of the initial consultation phase, our knowledge of what factors are important to gain acceptance in such communities, and also on our experience that interventions in Aboriginal communities take time. Hence the initial individual behavioural objectives were to increase community members’ attendance at and participation in community events and cultural activities conducive to good mental health.

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Figure CS6.1  The locally developed Standing Strong Together logo branding

CASE STUDY 6

6.4 Intervention The Project Manager’s initial goals were to introduce the campaign to community members and organisations, gain their trust, and then look for opportunities to assist individuals and organisations to participate in activities that would enhance individual and/or community social and emotional wellbeing. The strategy was to build on existing strengths and positive activities, not introduce wholly “new” program activities. Given the consultation phase findings with respect to many organisations acting in “silos,” an initial goal was to work on bringing groups together and to encourage collaboration and cooperation in staging events. The Project Manager also conducted an ongoing informal “gap analysis” as to needs in the community and introduced solutions where feasible.

6.5 Outcomes With respect to campaign awareness, an intercept survey of 31 Indigenous community members showed that all but one were aware of the Act-Belong-Commit campaign being active in Roebourne, with 81 per cent aware of the Standing Strong Together slogan. Indicative of the Program Manager’s involvement in the community, all but one stated that they were aware of the Program Manager’s activities in the town, and all but one respondent had attended an event or activity in Roebourne supported by the campaign. With respect to behavioural impact, at an individual level, just over 80 per cent of respondents reported trying to do something for their own social and emotional wellbeing as a result of the campaign, and of these, all but one said they were still doing these activities. This level of participation is much higher than in the general population and could be a characteristic of the individuals selected or may reflect a greater response when the intervention is more intense at the local community level. These respondents’ reported actions were consistent with the campaign messages such as being more active, getting involved with events and the community, visiting family, talking to people, and helping others. When asked “why” they tried to do something for their own social and emotional well-being, respondents said that they wanted to be healthy, they did it for their family, to feel good and be happy, to be strong, and to prevent or help control physical and mental illness. Overall, these data show that these respondents not only have a good understanding of the campaign messages but are also able to act on these messages. With respect to behavioural impact at a community level, almost three-quarters said they had tried to do something for their friends’ or family’s well-being, and approximately half reported they had tried to do something for community well-being. What they reported doing showed a focus on helping/supporting others, cooperating in organising events, encouraging good health habits, and educating others in these actions. Overall, these results indicate that the campaign is reinforcing and strengthening community connectedness, cooperation and self-efficacy. At the organisational level, two major initiatives were accomplished, the first as a result of the initial consultation, and the second as a result of the ongoing gap analysis: (i) the Project Manager’s activities and encouragement resulted in the establishment of the “Roebourne Social and Emotional Well-Being Group,” which for the first time brought together all groups in the town dealing with mental health issues, many of whom had acted in a silo fashion; and (ii) in response

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Robert J Donovan et al. to an expressed need by community members, the Project Manager in collaboration with local groups and the local government council established a Healing Out On Country program, which took families bereaved by suicide and tragedy out-on-country for one to three days, where the families spend time together, connecting to country and culture, and the Elders teach the children about the land.

6.6  Lessons for the planet This study adds to the literature that culturally adapted social marketing interventions can improve the health and well-being of First Nations people. On a broader level, this cultural adaptation in Roebourne has implications for positive mental health promotion in Indigenous communities in all colonised nations, in the same way as the mainstream Act-Belong-Commit domains have been adapted in various nations around the globe (Donovan et al., 2022). Further, with respect to issues facing all nations, a major benefit of increasing First Nations peoples’ well-being and sense of agency is that they are then better placed to pass on their longexisting knowledge about the environments they have occupied for thousands of years about how to better look after our planet. For example in Australia and elsewhere (Long et al., 2021), people are now realising that passing on lessons about cultural fire practices not only reduces the risk of bushfires, nurtures the land and protects wildlife species but also gives younger First Nations people the opportunity to practise their culture and learn from their Elders.

Acknowledgements We acknowledge the Roebourne community, the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people, other local language groups, and their Elders, as well as community organisation representatives for their guidance and support of Act-Belong-Commit in Roebourne. We also acknowledge the support from the Act-Belong-Commit principal funders of this project, the Health Promotion Foundation of Western Australia (Healthway), the Western Australian Mental Health Commission, and the project partner Chevron Australia. We would like to especially acknowledge the assistance of Ngarluma woman Ms Jolleen Hicks, founder of Aboriginal Insights, who assisted greatly with the initial consultation in Roebourne.

Ethics approval statement The project received ethics approval from Curtin University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HR02/2016) and the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee (HREC Reference #574).

Case study questions 1. Why do you think this cultural adaptation was successful? 2. What do you think might be lessons learned from this Indigenous adaptation for developing interventions for migrant and refugee populations from Africa and Arabia in the UK, Europe and North America?

CASE STUDY 6

References Anwar-McHenry, J., Murray, L., Drane, C., Owen, J., Nicholas, A., Donovan, R.J. Impact on community members of a culturally appropriate adaptation of a social and emotional wellbeing intervention in an Aboriginal community. Journal of Public Mental Health, 21(2):108–118. https://doi.org/10.1108/ JPMH-09-2021-0109 Australian Bureau of Statistics. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples: census 2016, QuickStats. Donovan, R.J., Drane, C.F., Owen, J., Murray, L., Nicholas, A., Anwar-McHenry, J. (under review). Stakeholder feedback on a cultural adaptation of a social and emotional wellbeing intervention in an Aboriginal community, Health Promotion Journal of Australia. Donovan, R.J., Koushede, V.J., Drane, C.F., Hinrichsen, C., Anwar-McHenry, J., Nielsen, L., Nicholas, A., Meilstrup, C., & Santini, Z.I. (2021). Twenty-one reasons for implementing the act-belongcommit — ‘ABCs of mental Health’ campaign. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21):11095. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111095. Donovan, R.J., Murray, L., Hicks, J., Nicholas, A., Anwar, & McHenry, J. (2018). Developing a culturally appropriate branding for a social and emotional wellbeing intervention in an aboriginal community. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 29(3): 314–320. Long, J.W., Lake, F.K., & Goode, R.W. (2021). The importance of indigenous cultural burning in forested regions of the pacific West, USA. Forest Ecology and Management, 500: 119597; https://doi. org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119597

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Case study 

The humble egg in Malawi Puja Peyden Tshering, Kalpana Beesabathuni, Srujith Lingala and Rowena Merritt

7.1  Introduction and problem definition Poor nutrition (known as malnutrition) remains a challenge in Malawi and is a major contributor to preventable child deaths in the country (1). Many Malawian children often suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, which include anaemia and zinc deficiency. Stunting (being too short for one’s age), which is at 37.1%, is also a major challenge in Malawi and children living in rural areas are more affected. Maternal undernutrition may also contribute to the high burden of child malnutrition rates; anaemia amongst pregnant women is 41.8% (2, 3). Eggs are an excellent source of protein and micronutrients. However, eggs continue to be scarce and costly in Malawi – the average per capita annual consumption is only 27 eggs, compared to 180 globally (4). Cultural beliefs and taboos also undermine egg consumption. For example, in some Malawian communities, eating eggs is associated with stomach pains, or even with baldness in babies. To address supply bottlenecks in the poultry landscape, Sight and Life – a Humanitarian Think Tank, along with Lenziemill (Malawi’s largest animal feed provider and veterinary supporter), implemented the Egg-hub. The Egg-hub is a scalable and financially viable business model in Malawi. The Egg-hub organizes backyard farmers into small groups of five and supports them in setting up a medium-scale poultry farm (720–1200 bird size farm), complete DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-18

CASE STUDY 7 with cages and bio-security clothing. The Egg-hub successfully helped in the production of 3.5 million more eggs annually in Malawi. With egg supply in place, Sight and Life then looked at increasing demand for eggs and subsequent egg consumption among pregnant and breastfeeding women, and children aged between 6 months and 5 years. To do this, a social marketing project was developed with the overarching aim of contributing to reduced rates of malnutrition in Malawi.

7.2  Primary research As a start of the social marketing project, formative research with pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, as well as mothers of children under 5 years old was conducted to understand their aspirations, concerns, and their idea of what a healthy child looks like and eats. Information was also gathered to understand the perceptions of Malawian mothers in relation to eggs, exploring participants’ knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and current consumption habits in relation to eggs, as well as barriers to consumption. The research found many interesting insights, including: i) All mothers talked about their regrets. They felt frustrated that they were unable to fulfil their own aspirations. This led to them wanting their children to fulfil their dreams. ii) While often everyday life can be challenging, the Malawian mothers worked hard to provide the best they could for their families, hoping for a better future for their children. They made personal sacrifices to try and secure this. iii) Eggs were generally consumed by fathers or visitors (guests visiting the households) which meant that pregnant or breastfeeding women and children under 5 years of age rarely ate eggs. Also, eggs were mostly consumed either as boiled eggs or scrambled with nsima (maizebased porridge) or rice. So, although eggs were a convenient food option, mothers were not aware of how else to prepare eggs. iv) Health was linked to growth, development, productivity and success, hence Malawian mothers described a healthy child in the following ways – “fat or plump,” “good skin,” “strong,” “active and bright” and “does not get sick often.” A healthy child is associated with unending positivity and radiating happiness. v) All the participants felt a sense of pride in buying products that were produced in Malawi.

7.3  Behavioural objectives The behavioural objective was to increase the consumption of eggs among children aged between 6 months and 5 years old, and pregnant and breastfeeding women. A thorough evaluation was conducted to measure changes in: 1. Knowledge, attitudes, and perception of benefits in relation to eggs. 2. Recall of key campaign messages and campaign branding visuals. 3. Consumption of eggs.

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7.4 Interventions A social marketing campaign was developed, alongside behaviour change interventions to reduce the barriers to change. All the eggs coming out of the Egg-hub were branded as “Zonse Momo” eggs. Zonse Momo was chosen since the term means “all encompassing” or “self-contained” and this was open to interpretation in many ways, be it for the consumer or the farmer. It could mean power, or energy or wholesomeness, and it could mean that everything good is contained inside an egg. The brand elements were: ••

Brand “Big Idea” – Grab every opportunity to make your family healthy and happy!

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Tone – Energetic, Warm, Happy, Sociable, Approachable, Trustworthy, Genuine.

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Main message – More Eggs, More Smiles!

The Campaign Big idea was carefully pre-tested before implementation. A total of up to 60 participants (30 mothers and 30 farmers) were involved in the pre-testing groups conducted in Mponela, Lumbadzi and Dzaleka. Two radio advertisements were developed in alignment with the campaign tone and Big Idea. The ads highlighted the various benefits of eggs and ended with a strong call-to-action for Zonse Momo eggs. Posters and roll-up banners were also used as the point-of-sale elements displayed at or near egg-selling points, within a 5-km radius of the closest Egg-hub farm. Shopkeepers were also given t-shirts promoting the eggs. Interventions to reduce the barriers, and support the desired behaviour change, included: 1. Ladies Club – these are groups of women that attend interpersonal brand interactions which comprised of various activities: ••

Cooking demonstrations where women learned different ways they could prepare eggs and incorporate them into their daily diet.

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Talks by Health Workers. Health surveillance assistants addressed the women for 15–20 minutes, discussing eggs and answer any questions/concerns/doubts around them.

••

Quizzes and games – held in local community venues, fun interactive games were developed, with Zonse Momo branded t-shirts as giveaways.

••

Short videos to convey the multiple benefits of eggs showed as part of the club activities.

2. Branded growth meters, stationed at Community Based Childcare Centres (CBCCs) or local health clinics were branded with Zonse Momo elements. Every time a mother needed to use it for her child, the staff at the local health clinic or CBCC would tell her about the benefits of feeding eggs to her young child. Figures CS7.1–7.3 show a few of the campaign materials used.

CASE STUDY 7

Figure CS7.1  Campaign materials: Brand logo and posters (continued)

Figure CS7.1  (continued)

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Figure CS7.1  (continued)

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Figure CS7.1  (continued)

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Figure CS7.2 A still from one of the ladies club where a group of women participated in awareness and engagement building activities around Zonse Momo eggs

Figure CS7.3  One of the branded growth meters which was installed at a local health clinic

CASE STUDY 7

Figure CS7.4 A poster directed at prospective poultry farmers who worried about training and marketing support in their line of farming The campaign sought to also create an appeal for small holder poultry farmers and aspiring poultry farmers to join the Egg-hub. It chose to capture the key pain points associated with being a poultry farmer and addressed them in its posters as seen in Figure CS7.4.

7.5 Outcomes The social marketing interventions and campaign were rolled out in two phases. The initial phase targeted three sites, including Mitundu, Dzaleka and Mponera in Lilongwe and Dowa districts. The second phase targeted two additional sites in Nsaru in Lilongwe and Chiosha in Mchinji. The choice of sites was made based on the distance to the nearest Egg-hub farm.

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Puja Peyden Tshering et al. The project was evaluated by an external research company, based in Malawi and supported by the University of Kent. To evaluate the project, three data collection methods were used, including: ••

Survey conducted with mothers of children under 5 years old and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in eight rural villages in Malawi to understand their knowledge of health benefits, attitudes towards eggs, and their consumption of eggs.

••

Interviews with key informants to gain further insights into how the campaign is being received and to gain feedback on the campaign processes.

••

Focus group discussions with mothers of children under 5 years old and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers to gain in-depth feedback on how the campaign messages and images are being perceived and ways in which they can be modified and improved in the future.

The data were collected at three time-points, once before the social marketing campaign and interventions were launched (timepoint (T) 1), at a mid-point (after 3 months; T2), and at the project end (end-point after 6 months; T3). The same people were interviewed at each timepoint. In order to understand what mix of behavioural interventions is most effective, different interventions were piloted in different areas, detailed in Table CS7.1. This was done as interpersonal communications and support interventions have been shown to be effective when improving nutrition outcomes (5), however, they are very costly to implement. Therefore, it was important to understand the added value they provided.

7.5.1 Findings Overall, the social marketing campaign and interventions increased the consumption of eggs (Figure CS7.5). Over half of the target audience (51%, n = 217) ate eggs twice or more a week at follow-up (T3). This was compared to only 12% (n = 229) at baseline (T1). Only 7% did not eat eggs at all at follow-up, compared to 55% at T1. The target audience in level 3 intervention mix areas consumed the highest number of eggs (Figure CS7.6), in comparison to those in areas which received levels 1 and 2 intervention mixes (Figures CS7.7 and CS7.8). Instead of buying more eggs, they instead saved them for family consumption. Table CS7.1  Intervention mix, by level Level

Interventions received

Villages receiving these interventions

1 2

Mass media – Radio adverts Mass media – Radio adverts

Choisha Nsaru

3

Point-of-sale advertising materials Mass media – Radio adverts

Mitundu, Dzaleka, Mponela

Point-of-sale advertising materials

Control group

Branded Growth Meters/health professional intervention and ladies club No interventions

Madalitso, Palao, Malambe, Mkwede

CASE STUDY 7

Figure CS7.5  Changes in egg consumption between baseline (T1) and end-point (T3)

Figure CS7.6 Changes in egg consumption for the target audience receiving level 3 interventions

Figure CS7.7 Changes in egg consumption for the target audience receiving level 2 interventions

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Figure CS7.8 Changes in egg consumption for the target audience receiving level 1 interventions This was in comparison to the target audience receiving level 2 interventions, where there was only a slight increase in the consumption of eggs by the promised audience, mostly redirected from other family members. However, visitors still were given most of the eggs (Figure CS7.3). What this tells us is that despite an increased supply of eggs, egg consumption did not really increase in the desired way, as visitors continued to get the lion’s share of eggs in the household. Creating demand acted as a differentiator, being effective at improving egg consumption in the target audience as well as word of mouth publicity. Radio and point-of-sale interventions were not effective in this case, which highlights the importance and value of interpersonal communications when reaching very rural communities, where literacy rates are often low.

7.6  Lessons for the planet There are three takeaways for the planet here: 1. There is merit in implementing a holistic approach toward a nutrition problem, including focusing on both the supply as well as demand aspects. Once the supply bottlenecks were addressed in this case, the next logical step was to create demand for the 3.5 millions surplus of eggs in the markets, with a focus on ensuring our target audience – those most at risk of malnutrition – increased egg consumption. 2. The use of Interpersonal interventions is crucial – more so, when working in communities that are “media-dark” or where literacy levels are low. This helps with social norming and allows the target audience to see others like them engaging in a new behaviour, live. 3. Eggs incur a lower environmental impact compared to other animal source foods. Eggs have a two to eight times lower carbon footprint, two to four times lower ecological footprint (water and land use) and have a lower carbon footprint than some plant proteins too, such as nuts (using half the land and a fifth of the water supply). The humble egg is a climate-smart food that can also help tackle malnutrition.

CASE STUDY 7

Case study questions 1. Why do you think interpersonal communications were more effective in this case example? 2. Why do you think it was useful to set objectives around several variables and not simply egg consumption goals?

References 1. World Health Organisation, Malnutrition Datasets. (2017). Geneva, Switzerland 2. UNICEF Malawi. (2018). The Nutrition Programme in Malawi [Factsheet]. https://www. unicef.org/malawi/media/596/file/Nutrition%20Narrative%20Factsheet%202018.pdf 3. Levy, A., Fraser, D., Katz, M., Mazor, M., & Sheiner, E. (2005). Maternal anemia during pregnancy is an independent risk factor for low birth weight and preterm delivery. European Journal of Obstetrics Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 122(2):182–186. doi: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2005.02.015. 4. Lingala, S. (2019, November 22). Boosting Egg Production to Reduce Malnutrition in Malawi. Sight and Life. https://sightandlife.org/blog/boosting-egg-production-in-malawi/ 5. Ezeah, G., Ogechi, E.O., Ohia, N.C., & Celestine, G.V. (2020). Measuring the effect of interpersonal communication on awareness and knowledge of COVID-19 among rural communities in Eastern Nigeria. Health Education Research, 35(5): 481–489. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyaa033

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Turning the tide on poor Blue Space quality through stakeholder engagement – Lessons from PIER Sinead Duane, Maeve Louise Farrell, Alexandra Chueiri, Christine Domegan, Liam Burke and Dearbháile Morris

8.1  Introduction and problem definition Ireland as an island nation is home to over 3700 km of beautiful coastlines. From daily dippers to day trippers, Irish rivers, lakes and seas offer something for everyone. Our naturally occurring rivers, lakes and seas, or Blue Spaces as they are referred to within this case study, have many benefits which are well documented. They are one of the world’s main climate regulators, provide ecosystems supporting plant and animal health, support agriculture, drinking water and other ecosystem services such as fish and shellfish. Blue Spaces provide direct and indirect economic benefits linked to tourism, food production and transport, to name but a few, whilst access to Blue Spaces has also been linked to human physical and mental health benefits.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-19

CASE STUDY 8 Unfortunately, the quality of our Blue Spaces are under threat as we continue to exploit these water environments through overconsumption and lack of consideration. Steps to protect this valuable resource have begun however the solutions are complex. Legislation, for example, plays an important role in preserving and protecting our water quality. The Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) (WFD) and the Bathing Water Directive (BWD, 2006/7/EC) (BWD) have been impactful in setting standards for water quality. However legislative action is only one part of the solution. We need to reframe the way we think and utilise our Blue Spaces. Societal and behavioural change strategies have and will play an important role in this transformation process, making the adoption of a systems thinking approach vital. Both the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN 2019) and the European Green Deal (European Commission 2019) action plan promote the adoption of a systems thinking perspective. Blue Space quality is complex and is integrated into other societal challenges. This is illustrated by its integration across at least three of the 17 SDGs, for example #6 Clean Water and Sanitation, #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and #14 Life Below Water. Each of these SDGs place multifaceted change activities and stakeholder engagement as central to success. Partnership and stakeholder development is recognised as central in SDG #17 Partnerships for the goals. Unfortunately, the implementation of systems thinking has been slow, and as we are set to miss some of our SDG targets in 2030. It is important to understand more about how to implement impactful, sustainable systems change strategies. The remainder of this case study presents the PIER (Public health Impact of Exposure to antibiotic Resistance in recreational waters) project as an illustration of the important role of stakeholder engagement when adopting a systems thinking approach to address water quality issues. The PIER project (PIER) examines one of the invisible contributors to poor water quality – antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (www.nuigalway.ie/pier). AMR occurs when microbes like bacteria and fungi are no longer killed by the antimicrobials that used to work against them, because they have changed somehow to become resistant and have been referred to as the silent pandemic. AMR means that antibiotics we have used and relied on in the past to treat bacterial infections will no longer be effective, resulting in longer illnesses or potentially no treatment options at all. Urgent action needs to be taken to protect this finite resource. AMR in itself is a wicked systems problem whereby it is multifaceted in nature and there is no one cause or solution. There are many contributors to AMR including human and animal healthcare as well as food production. AMR bacteria and antimicrobial resistant genes (ARG) have also been found in our environments such as our Blue Spaces and Figure CS8.1 illustrates how AMR bacteria (bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics) can enter our waterways. Figure CS8.1 also illustrates that many of the contributors to the transmission of AMR in our environments such as hospital and pharmaceutical waste, agricultural runoff and sewage are shared with other pollutants impacting our water quality. Therefore it would be impossible to address the issue of AMR in the environment without considering the Blue Space system holistically and in the context of other societal challenges such as sustainability and climate change.

8.1.1  Stakeholder interviews Stakeholder interviews were undertaken to understand the complexities within the Blue Space system and to identify any gaps in the stakeholder analysis. Figure CS8.3 identifies some of the key topics that were discussed throughout the interviews. In particular, interviewees were asked

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Figure CS8.1 Type of environmental AMR pollution sources and areas for prevention and treatment action

CASE STUDY 8

Figure CS8.2  Stakeholders classified in the Blue Space System about the most influential stakeholders who should be part of the PIER project. Interviewees were recruited from across the different levels of the system (macro, meso and micro) as well as their power/interest classification. The interviews helped us paint a picture of the interactions within the systems from different perspectives. For example, findings showed that communication at the macro level was formalised with relationships developing over time, whereby at the meso and

Figure CS8.3  Strategic questions to enhance stakeholder engagement

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Sinead Duane et al. micro levels the stakeholders had the flexibility to establish relationships on a more ad hoc basis. This is important as it could act as a blockage within the system. In terms of the boundaries of the system, all stakeholders agreed that every citizen in Ireland has a stake in this issue and should be part of the conversation. As a result Stage 2 of the PIER project opened this conversation up to every citizen in Ireland. The stakeholder analysis was used to help build relationships with key stakeholders who could act as gatekeepers to reach the citizens within this focal system.

8.2  Lessons for the planet We know that a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work; and therefore we must adopt a more strategic approach to engaging stakeholders in sustainable change activities. Sustainable Development Goals and the Green Deal have recommended Systems Thinking as an approach which can help us turn the tide on poor Blue Space quality. The PIER stakeholder analysis is the first step in this process and gave the PIER team the opportunity to identify and understand the role of stakeholders currently working to address this issue and their relationships with each other. This process established that: ••

The majority of our policies relating to Blue Space quality are developed at a European level and then implemented at a national level – this can be a very formal process which unintentionally excludes many of the stakeholders who want to make a difference.

••

There are hundreds of stakeholders in Ireland who are ready and willing to take action to address our water quality challenge – however – many do not have a voice that can shout loud enough on this issue yet. There needs to be a mechanism whereby these stakeholders can work together to achieve this common goal of developing one voice.

••

Currently there is no map of the barriers or enablers to using Blue Spaces – this type of map would help to prioritise change activities that could be simultaneously implemented across levels of the system. Phase 2 of PIER will be working towards developing this map.

Acknowledgements This case study was written as part of the PIER (Public Health Impact of Exposure to antibiotic Resistance in recreational waters) project. This project is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2014–2020 (2018-HW-LS-2). The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. It is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the statutory function of coordinating and promoting environmental research. The authors would like to acknowledge PIER working and steering groups for their support and guidance.

Case study questions 1. Identify the main types of stakeholders that would be involved in improving Blue Space Quality?

CASE STUDY 8 2. Using the Matrix below classify the stakeholders you have identified Types of Article Stakeholder Micro Meso Macro Incumbents Challengers Regulators Power Interest

3. Reflecting on Figure CS8.3 and the matrix you have completed – what stakeholder engagement strategies would you prioritise for the PIER project?

References European Union. Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC OJL 327. 2000;22 December 2000:1–73. European Commission. A European Green Deal: Striving to be the first climate-neutral continent 2019 [cited 2021 08/02/2021]. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/ european-green-deal_en. McHugh, P., Domegan, C., & Duane, S. (2018). Protocols for stakeholder participation in social marketing systems. Social Marketing Quarterly, 24(3), 164–93. UN Environment Programme. Summary for Policymakers - Environmental Dimensions of Antimicrobial Resistance 2022 Access: April 2022 P.9. United Nations. Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations. 2019 [cited 2021 01/08/2021]. Available from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/38373/antimicrobial_R.pdf.

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Evaluating real change in the real world Creativity, connection and the unseen as felt evidence in aspiring communities Marisa de Andrade, Colin Campbell, Jean Dobbing, Felicity Fyall and Rilza Montgomery

9.1  Introduction and problem definition With austerity, comes increased accountability. Prove best value for money. Evidence how interventions improve outcomes. Measure how “our most deprived and fragile communities” co-produce sustainable “local solutions that address local priorities and needs, increase active inclusion and build on the assets of local communities to reduce poverty and enable inclusive growth.”1 But how do you prove real change in these communities, especially during these extraordinary times when the pandemic has disproportionally impacted the unemployed, those with existing long-term physical or mental health conditions, women, Black Asian Minority Ethnic and LGBQT+ communities, isolated, ageing populations and digitally excluded individuals?

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-20

CASE STUDY 9

Figure CS9.1  How do you evaluate community-led, asset-based projects with marginalised populations and prove they’ve improved lives when wider determinants of inequality perpetuate?

9.2  Primary research Four community workers evaluated their Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) work, focused on community skills and strengths rather than deficits or problems, in Scottish “disadvantaged communities” (referred to as “aspiring communities” by the government funder) from April 2019 for 18 months. They also worked with a researcher (Figure CS9.1) to problematise linear approaches to evaluation and propose creative-relational alternatives that are: ••

situated, positioned, context-sensitive, personal, experience-near and embodied,

••

performative and aesthetic,

••

engaged with the political, social and ethical,

••

problematising agency, autonomy and representation,

••

in relationship with theory,

••

dialogical and collaborative, and

••

explicit and curious about the inquiry process itself.2

9.3  Behavioural objectives Armed with a co-produced methodological evaluation framework – an asset-based indicator framework (ABIF) – we set out to measure “soft” outcomes linked to health improvements such as happiness and optimism (Figures CS9.2 and CS9.3).

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Figure CS9.2 

Figure CS9.3 

CASE STUDY 9 We engaged marginalised communities to measure the impacts of creative community engagement on health and inequalities through a holistic approach – using our minds, bodies and souls – our “felt experiences.”3 We gathered “unconventional” data using reflective diaries, art, poetry, conversations, sport and other humanities and arts-informed methods. Marisa studied the evaluation process through organisational ethnography and (in-person/virtual) participatory action-research workshops. Our key behavioural objective was to trouble the thinking that evaluators should be disembodied narrators detached from their data. To subvert the assumption that policymakers should only rely on objective, text-based evidence that can be replicated. We sought to usher new types of knowledge into the evidence-base, and for this knowledge to sit alongside and be in dialogue with positivist approaches. We “stepped inside of” and “sensed” our data. We questioned why we were being asked to evidence the value of our community work in a way that wasn’t connected to our felt experiences as we connected with those we were meant to evaluate.

9.4 Intervention We feel uncomfortable about the language of intervention. Are we intervening in people’s lives? Or are we part of them? Are we intervening in their existence to evidence outcomes? Or are we connecting, human to human? What are we doing in or with these communities? According to our funder, our asset-based interventions need to: ••

achieve “operational programme targets” that support “community based or community services” in “deprived or fragile communities,”

••

“clearly” demonstrate “positive impact of our proposed investment” and provide “evidence of shaping of services by local people,”

••

set out “critical partnerships and relationships with other service providers” including statutory agencies and third-sector organisations,

••

link activities and make “best use of local resources,” and

••

“enable, enhance and/or complement delivery of national and local priorities as set out in relevant local policy and delivery plans.”4

9.5 Outcomes We’re also doing so much more. We’re mindful of numerous calls to reframe how asset-based activities are assessed due to: ••

ABCD being dubbed an exploitative, neoliberal tool with communities and organisations expected to do more at a grassroots level without sufficient resourcing,

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narrow conceptualisations of evidence – in the evidence hierarchy, statistics count more than people’s stories,

••

epistemological and methodological incompatibilities – to reach the top of the evidence hierarchy, research needs to produce a particular kind of knowledge that is “scientifically sound” and “valid enough,” and

••

a lack of capacity and resources for sustained engagement.5

As we’re embedded in these communities, we know first-hand there’s no clear-cut way to carry out the evaluation. There are so many changes over a period of time to skew “results,” particularly as our community projects started pre-pandemic and evaluations “ended” (though our work didn’t) when Covid numbers soared.

9.5.1  “Slow Tiny Acts of Resistance (STaRs)”6 to evaluation One of us writes: “I don’t know if I am any clearer in terms of how to evaluate in a community as you have to be seeing the same people in a set group to carry out an evaluation. It would be ideal to ask people every week how they see meeting up as benefitting them, but that again causes problems as they’re not going to maybe be there every week, they might have had a difficult situation (abuse, addiction, food poverty and homelessness) before coming along to the group, and maybe they’ll get annoyed being asked the same question all the time. In deprived communities, there are often so many situations going on that it seems emotions and outlooks of happiness, optimism and health change much more frequently. For example, just recently a lady that comes along to the group said “I really like coming along here and I’m so glad it’s opened up again, I feel like I’ve got something to do and meet people.” From there, I would put a big tick beside the result of happiness and optimism. This though changed in the week we were not on as I’ve heard she’s not getting out bed much, not looking after herself and her daughter and is really struggling. Do I change my evaluation based on how I know she is, or just evaluate her short time period at the group?” Another one of us, who’s been connecting with women from varied cultural backgrounds learning English as a Second Language (ESOL), noted how lockdown led to further isolation. They used to meet in community centres, though a move to online classes meant physical distance was no longer an issue, but digital poverty became a barrier. As the setting for this evaluation was established before lockdown and landscape of the group changed dramatically, how was this project meant to be honestly evaluated? Some women used Zoom easily as they had devices for home learning with children. Others were offered digital tablets, though struggled to use them. Most used mobile phones to connect and shared small screens – not ideal for seeing each other and facilitating text-based learning. Despite these limitations, one community worker diligently followed the evaluation framework to assess real changes in this community facilitated through partnership (advertising the group through other agencies): ••

a safe, supportive space to overcome isolation,

••

a place for women to bring questions about lockdown-related rules and health and safety issues linked to schooling from home,

CASE STUDY 9 ••

a space to share fears and anxieties when their “soul and mood are tired” and they “need to contact others,”

••

social connection through a place to attend online quizzes and a Zoom Burns Night,

••

enrolling on subsequent College English courses,

••

volunteering in charity shops thereby gaining employability skills, and

••

learning how to teach and present.

The evaluator also questioned tabular-linear evaluation. They reflected on how they “could not neatly and concisely put data and evaluation into boxes of a linear nature. Evaluation needs to be three or four dimensional. It’s also impossible to delineate between individual, group and structural level at times. The lines between these are more often than not blurred. For example, in discussion with a woman on the phone and hearing about her situation and issues (homelessness, addition, isolation, unemployment) – I can record that at an individual level, but it may also be indicative of a group or structural level situation or issue. What the women individually are saying, is often what the group together might be saying, which is often true of what might be happening on a wider structural scale. Fear and anxiety felt at a micro-level with individuals were also felt as a group, and more widely with talking to others and listening to media, others would feel that too.” The achievement of community outcomes during this ever-changing pandemic ebbed and flowed with Government mandates and challenging circumstances beyond communities’ control –lockdowns, school closures, vaccine hopes and fears, illness and loss of loved ones – while dealing with poverty, addiction, unemployment and homelessness in some cases. To manage fear and uncertainty, experts have suggested that public health messages should avoid “the risk of creating a sense of fatalism and loss of control.”7 But to what extent is this in the interest of human flourishing? While being hopeful, shouldn’t we also be in touch with these difficult feelings and circumstances that are very much a part of the human condition?

9.5.2  Felt evidence and the unseen We feel pain with these communities when we engage with them in food bank queues and recovery cafes. Reflecting on the evaluation of community lunches, outdoor hubs, kayaking and paddle cafés (groups that ran, stopped, then ran again post-lockdown with different members so impossible to genuinely assess for “indicators of success”), one of us feels their way through moments of connection so difficult to articulate: “People said Hope was important to them. What does Hope mean to you? What gives you Hope?’ Again it was insightful hearing answers and discussions, but it would’ve been great to know from those answers in a deeper way. What we can then do with those thoughts and make them into positives for the community. Not merely an empty discussion and for some people just going back to ‘hopeless’ lives.” One week, I bought along pictures and asked people what made them feel happiest if they had to pick the top three, and it was interesting to hear the very different ways in which people found happiness

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Marisa de Andrade et al. while they were thinking about the current pandemic we are in. One week, one of the group also asked why I came along each week to be with them, and I managed to turn the question around after answering and to ask them why they enjoyed sitting in a freezing cold outdoor café in winter with people from the community. Answers ranged from getting to know others, having a laugh and being out of the house. This then turned into a full discussion about kindness, and definitely how others have been reaching out to other people in kindness during the lockdown and pandemic. Once again they probably wouldn’t see it themselves, but there are stronger connections. People felt more comfortable to share ideas, felt like they could ask me for help or guidance with a particular problem. Through this group, there have been many times that the ABIF has seen results in terms of observing people and how they have moved on. Often the people in this group wouldn’t have noticed that much had changed, but from a personal point of view observing people, taking notes, photos and other ways of questioning, it’s clear that community is developing – empathy, trust and a healthier culture. If I had taken a linear survey and had asked people if these were developing in the group, they might have put those quite far down the list. It’s made me think more about evaluation in terms of how I carry it out and what results, we put down for funders. But I still believe a situation, for example, where two guys went kayaking for the first time with the outdoor activity place and the way in which they were speaking afterwards about how good it felt to do something different and the smiles and laughter afterwards, would still – from a funder’s point of view – not be classed as important as, for example, moving onto paid work.”

9.6  Lessons for the planet 9.6.1  Pockets of power Amidst free-market capitalism, deregulation, austerity, pandemics and national and global decisions that may leave us feeling helpless and disempowered, we propose power in doing things differently. As evaluators evaluating evaluation, we’re thinking critically about what we’re being asked to do and how to “prove” that what we’re doing makes a difference. We’re critiquing funder and statutory expectations of evaluations that aren’t fitting to community responses and felt experiences. Yes, we could simply tick boxes and circle scales in line with systemic expectations. Or, when asked how well equipped we feel in terms of skills to develop a bank of evidence to use in evaluations, we could note that rating scales are a poor measurer of progress as they can be subject to an individual’s feelings at the time – responding to personal and structural events – rather than a reflection of learning that has occurred. When asked how competent we are at planning in evaluation, we could reply our work is everchanging so forecasting in fluid communities with extreme circumstances often focused on survival, is very difficult. Instead, we can reflect on how interpersonal encounters made us feel in our bodies at that time. “How confident are you that you’d be able to plan and facilitate meaningful research and evaluation for every activity that is a part of your work?” is a question that renders pause. My definition of what “meaningful research” entails needs to take into account what community members

CASE STUDY 9 feel is meaningful to their lives. This can change greatly over time, sometimes daily as people overcome obstacles and face new challenges, so using standardised approaches to evaluation is counterproductive.

9.6.2  Being in relationship, being bold Evidence shows supportive relationships with professionals and “social interactions” that involve “being able to share vulnerability and laugh together” reduces homelessness.8 While being in relationship with our “most deprived and fragile communities”, we’ve seen a strength that can’t be fully expressed in words. A stronger community sense. These “internal” assets, many of which can’t be measured, do not excuse structural inequity. Rather, they shine light on the shortcomings of target and even outcome-focused performance management and resource allocation. Our purpose is therefore to create space for community members to exercise more agency so that ultimately, they can challenge structural inequalities that play out in the communities they are part of. Our legacy in these communities is a shift in how we train, creatively relate and evaluate community development work. To encourage and communicate a culture of embodied, embedded evaluation that exists outside of our work places and practices – that exists within is and between us. Our reflections on the evaluation process are “a writing away from the rigidities and hegemonies of the neo-liberal assumptions of academic writing.”9 We’re proposing something different to bring about real change in the real world – troubling the use of “real” as we write it. Acknowledging the reality of widespread poverty, homelessness and inequity in this world, while holding in our minds the multiple realities (ontological disparities) that we encounter daily.

Case Study questions 1. a) How useful is this framing of the communities being ‘evaluated’? “our most deprived and fragile communities”

b) How useful is this framing of the communities being ‘evaluated’? “aspiring communities”

2. Check out the hip-hop video “Dear Human” as part of Measuring Humanity: Measuring Humanity – Measuring health and inequalities through creativity and connectivity. https://measuringhumanity.org/?msclkid=d5faf54baab311ec8660186da92c95a9#single/0How could you argue that this too is evidence of inequalities?

Notes 1 This was the purpose of The Aspiring Communities Fund supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Scottish Government and delivered by Social Justice and Regeneration Division, Scottish Government as Lead Partner for the 2014–2020 ESF Programme. Our project was funded through this programme.

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Marisa de Andrade et al. 2 This is the focus of the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry at the University of Edinburgh: Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry | The University of Edinburgh. 3 “Felt experiences” is inspired by the thinking in this paper: Rebecca Madgin, David Webb, Pollyanna Ruiz & Tim Snelson (2018) Resisting relocation and reconceptualising authenticity: The experiential and emotional values of the Southbank Undercroft, London, UK, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 24:6, 585-598, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2017.1399283. 4 See European Social Fund, Aspiring Communities Fund: ACF+-+Round+3+-+Stage+2++Application+-+Guidance+and+Help+Notes+-+FINAL+-+Dec+2018+-rev.pdf (www.gov.scot). 5 de Andrade, M & Angelova, N (2018) Evaluating and evidencing asset-based approaches and coproduction in health inequalities: measuring the unmeasurable?, Critical Public Health, 30:2, 232–244,. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2018.1541229. 6 Harré, N, Grant, BM, Locke, K, & Sturm, S (2017) The university as an infinite game: Revitalizing activism in the academy. Australian Universities Review, 59(2), 5–13. 7 Building public understanding of health and health inequalities – The Health Foundation. 8 Homeless persons’ experiences of health- and social care: A systematic integrative review – Omerov – 2020 – Health & Social Care in the Community – Wiley Online Library. 9 Qualitative Inquiry, Activism, the Academy and the Infinite Game: An Introduction to the Special Issue – Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans, Fiona Murray, Marisa de Andrade, Jonathan Wyatt, Rosie Stenhouse, 2021 (sagepub.com).

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Case study 

Leaf collective Piloting a social marketing approach to remove eucalypt leaves from stormwater drains Luisa Lopez Cordova, Yue Xi, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, Renata Anibaldi, Aaron Tkaczynski, Cuong Pham and Vanessa Salamone

10.1  Introduction and problem definition Lake Tuggeranong is a merging water body including natural tributaries and stormwater discharge, localized within the Tuggeranong area in the Australian Capital Territory. Over the last 30 years, Lake Tuggeranong has experienced increasing nutrient loads and sediment runoff, resulting in the growth of blue-green algae, which affects not only the quality of the lake but also the communities around it (Achá et al. 2018; Wang et al., 2021). The lake is constantly closed and is now receiving five times more phosphorus than can naturally be supported (AU, 2019). The excess organic matter rests at the bottom of the lake and mixes with high temperatures in summer months feeding algae. Outbreaks of algae are known to have harmful effects on public health (Wiltsie et al., 2018; Waters et al., 2021). Eucalypt leaves, which fall in Summer, are one of many organic materials entering Lake Tuggeranong.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-21

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Luisa Lopez Cordova et al. To tackle the problem of leaves entering the storm water system that drains into Lake Tuggeranong, Social Marketing @ Griffith implemented The Co-create, Build and Engage (CBETM) process. Co-creation is all about learning what solutions people may value. A range of research methods were applied to learn what people liked and what types of actions they wanted to see. The building phase involved creating community partnerships, planning events, building the project website, delivery of a communications plan and a social media schedule for the 6-week pilot program. During the engage phase a competition between two community groups, leaf drop off events and a communication campaign were implemented aiming to motivate behavioural change, namely the collection and sustainable management of native leaf litter (leaves, twigs, bark, flowers and nuts).

10.2  Primary research Social Marketing @ Griffith delivered a 6-week pilot program focussed on deciduous trees in Autumn 2021. Evaluation data from the 2021 Autumn pilot did inform the summer pilot program. For example, free leaf bags and a 10% discount offer for composting products were popular features of the autumn pilot and these were retained in the summer 6-week pilot program. More than 200,000 litres of leaves were diverted from ACT waterways during the autumn campaign. Eucalypt leaves are different from deciduous trees. They have a waxy surface and leaves and other organic matter that drop from eucalypt trees take longer to break down when compared to leaves that fall from deciduous trees. Because of these key differences a full co-create phase was implemented. Research activities delivered by the research team included a literature review, a survey (which also serves as the baseline for pilot-program evaluation), co-design and a Creating Collective Solutions (CCS) process were undertaken. The literature review identified ideas from campaigns implemented in Australia and overseas. The survey was implemented across the ACT and more than 700 people completed the survey assisting the team to identify motivations and barriers for leaf litter collection and to identify different persona groups. Two groups exhibiting different values and behaviours were identified. This identification helped to acknowledge and categorize possible participants for co-design sessions.

10.2.1 Co-design In co-design community members from ACT participated in a stepwise process, working in small groups to create solutions for Tuggeranong Catchment area (see Figure CS10.1 for co-design session format). A total of 8 teams identified 308 strategies and ideas that could be included in the 6-week pilot program. Key ideas delivered in co-design that were implemented in the 6-week pilot program included a competition to get community groups involved in picking up leaves, adopt a tree or drain, incentives including free leaf bags and composting discounts to support residents to pick up leaves, information about gardening and composting and more. Four categories of preferred activities were identified (see Table CS10.1. Research finding themes).

10.2.2 CCS Too many leaves left to go down stormwater drains is a complex issue that extends beyond householders. The Creating Collective Solutions (CCS) process was applied to consult multiple

CASE STUDY 10

Figure CS10.1  Co-design steps

Table CS10.1  Solutions identified by ACT residents and stakeholders during the co-creation phase Theme

Details

Category 1: Tell me

Too many leaves in the wrong place are litter. How can I realise the value of leaves?

Category 2: Show me

Category 3: Share the collection

For example, communication campaign, bridging the gap between science and people, engaging messages to capture attention Teach me how I can realise the value of leaves. What can be done with leaves?  For example, composting and garden demonstrations No time or interest in composting, but I care about water quality and love the lakes. What else can be done with leaves?  Different collection points tailored for residents

Category 4: Regular promotions

For example, share the work, Local drop off and collection points Community participation and involvement   For example, competitions and discount offers 

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Luisa Lopez Cordova et al. stakeholders including government, non-government, and businesses to explore, identify and reach consensus on key priorities for action. There were four steps in CCS (see Figure CS10.2 for CCS steps): Step 1: Working Group. A working group of 10 stakeholders with a variety of backgrounds was established to support the full CCS process. A total of 46 organizations and community members were identified, including water quality scientists. Step 2: Trigger Question. The trigger question was: What can ACT residents and other interested parties do to help encourage the collection and redistribution of native leaf litter from areas near stormwater drains to improve water quality? The question was sent out via an online survey, to stakeholders who were identified by the working group. Additional stakeholders were also contacted by Social Marketing @ Griffith to reach a wide variety of responses across different sectors. People were asked to list up to five priorities in response to the trigger question. Step 3: Priority Setting. All unique responses were shared with the working group and a representative sample of the wider stakeholder group. Stakeholders were asked to nominate their most important priorities via a second online survey before the online workshop. Step 4: Workshop. Stakeholders who attended the workshop reached consensus on priorities and developed ideas for strategies to be included in the Summer 6-week pilot program which aimed to encourage ACT residents to collect native leaf litter. Stakeholders participating in the CCS process agreed on 11 key priorities (See Table CS10.2. Research Priorities CCS) The workshop was supported by Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) software that is built with consensus. The CCS process highlighted the stakeholder belief that providing information and tools would enhance community involvement.

Figure CS10.2  CCS steps

CASE STUDY 10 Table CS10.2  Priorities identified by ACT stakeholders during the CCS phase Creating collective solutions (CCS) process 1. Make any education campaign not only educational but have incentives, competitions (which school can collect most) or give awards, small prizes (compost bins, worm farm, seeds for native plants and pollinator plants, small native plants, etc.), also involve people in multi-unit developments that now are often built near Lakes (e.g., Lake Tuggeranong) about leaf collection and have incentives. 2. Cash for litter scheme – 10c per bag when dropped off at a certain point. 3. Creation of community groups for collective action. 4. Identify community drop-off points (e.g., schools, community gardens, compost hubs) within every 2km. Create a drop-off point where there are gaps. 5. Where to collect native leaf litter: in your own green bin but not in landfill bin (relates to education campaign); how to compost: needs advice on doing it correctly; neighbourhood leaf collection compost and use, how to use safely as mulch. 6. A funded, well-designed, and aesthetically pleasing social media campaign that highlights the fact that native leaf litter is an important habitat for many of our indigenous fauna (lizards, insects), linked with encouraging residents to use native leaf litter in wellmaintained garden beds away from storm water infrastructure. 7. Leaf towers to be built in schools and other community hubs with trees and students and community to be involved in leaf gathering as a physical exercise, part of caring for environment, and sense of achievement! 8. Provide special leaf litter bins for community composting activities and provide residents with collection containers or compostable bags.   9. Education of the effect of organic matter on our waterways. 10. Street-level working bees to collect it with a corresponding morning or afternoon tea. 11. Create school and community org competition activities. Prizes for schools and community orgs that collect the most.

10.3  Behavioural objectives The measure of success for this 6-week piloting campaign (1 February to 20 March 2022) was how many leaves were picked up and taken away from storm water drains by people living in suburbs around Lake Tuggeranong. Our team set an ambitious target hoping we could reach 400,000 litres of leaves.

10.4 Intervention Over a 6-week pilot period, people living around the Tuggeranong Catchment were encouraged to divert native leaf litter (twigs, bark, leaves, flowers and nuts) away from stormwater drains. Over the 6-week campaign period people participated in Leave Collective activities, they adopted trees and drains, ordered free leaf bags and more. To help achieve outcomes the Leaf Collective implementation team provided drop off points, delivered information about composting leaves (see www. leafcollective.com.au and https://www.facebook.com/theleafcollectiveACT), provided prizes and incentives and they delivered leaf bags and scales to more than 300 people living in the ACT.

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10.5  Creative strategy 10.5.1  Branding identity, narrative and key messages The leave collective logo and name represent community taking action to realise the true value of leaves. The logo colours represent autumn and colours used in the 6-week summer campaign reflect the Australian summer (green eucalypts and bright blue skies). Three key messages underpin the brand identity, namely Care for it, Collect it and Enjoy it. (See Figures CS10.3–CS10.5 for branding identity messages).

10.5.2  Branding assets The Leaf Collective website and Facebook page were re-designed to reflect the summer pilot program’s focus on native leaf litter. Colours and visual elements were updated (see Figure CS10.6 for Facebook Banner and Figure CS10.7 for Website Design Examples) with the aim of giving a summer feel to the campaign. In addition, a software application was created by ACT Government for Canberrans to record the amount of leaves picked on the spot (See Figure CS10.8 for App design)

10.5.3  Communication strategy The communication strategy considered frequency, engagement, creative fit, budgetary constraints and target market preferences. Drawing from insights emerging from the research, campaign communications focused on participation and education. Traditional and digital marketing methods were utilised to encourage householders and community organizations to “get involved” in the community program, and “get informed.” Information delivered during the 6-week campaign

Figure CS10.3  Care for it

CASE STUDY 10

Figure CS10.4  Collect it

Figure CS10.5  Enjoy it

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Figure CS10.6  Facebook banner

Figure CS10.7  Website design

CASE STUDY 10

Figure CS10.8  App design delivered scientific facts to build community knowledge that leaves left in the wrong place are litter. Survey data identified that people did not understand that leaves are contributing algal blooms and co-design and CCS indicated people wanted scientific data and explanations to educate the public. Promotions were implemented to motivate people to take up composting and gardening and tips, expert explanations and ideas were provided to community over a 6-week period. Communications outlined ways people can sustainably manage native leaf litter. Encouraging residents to stop leaves from entering stormwater systems involved taking people on a behaviour change journey. It began with awareness (education and offers), consideration (website traffic), conversions (offer downloads), behaviour (collecting and recording leaf litter), and ended with loyalty (sharing with others and supporting program delivery through local drop off events). Content marketing, social media advertising and promotions, influencer and referral marketing, public relations and media advertising were integrated across online and offline media channels. See Table CS10.3. The Leaf Collective Marketing Strategy summary.

10.5.4  Engagement strategy The engagement strategy for the pilot summer campaign was designed to reach and engage two primary groups: community groups/schools and householders living in the Tuggeranong Catchment area. Selected community groups (see Table CS10.4 for partners) were approached to partner with the 6-week pilot program.

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Luisa Lopez Cordova et al. Table CS10.3  The leaf collective communication strategy summary Marketing strategy

Media or distribution Promotional method tools Details

Content Website marketing and Facebook

Leaf Collective blogs

1. Co-creation: Research blog 2. Garden drainage and other water storage ideas 3. Canberra leaf FAQ’s – https://leafcollective. com.au/canberra-leaf-faqs/ 4. The path to preventing toxic blue green algal blooms – https://leafcollective.com.au/2022/01/31/ the-path-to-preventing-toxic-blue-green-algalblooms/ 5. Four creative ways to re-use leaves in your garden – https://leafcollective.com. au/2022/02/01/4-creative-ways-to-reuse-leaves-inyour-garden/

Website, Facebook, and YouTube

Leaf Collective video interviews:

6. The benefits of composting leaves Expert and community Q&A sessions 1. Interview with Ralph Ogden, ACT Waterways Program Manager – what is government doing? 2. Composting in Kambah 3. Interview with Ralph Ogden, ACT Waterways Program Manager – what can we do to help? 4. Interview with Ralph Ogden, ACT Waterways Program Manager – nutrients are pollutants 5. Interview with Professor Fiona Dyer, University of Canberra – preventing algal blooms in Lake Tuggeranong 6. Gift of giving 7. Composting in Canberra 8. C’mon Canberra – time to turn a new leaf 9. Check your soil health

Printed material

Leaf Collective Newsletter (doublesided A4 newsletter)

10. Turn your leaves into mulch Letterbox deliveries to 11,448 householders in Kambah, Oxley, Monash, Wanniassa, Isabella Plains, and Bonython A newsletter will be framed to tell The Leaf Collective story; articles in the newsletter will be aligned to the key messages of care for it, collect it, and enjoy it

CASE STUDY 10 Printed material

Printed material

Social media

Facebook

Leaf Collective A3 posters and A4 posters (2 x kinds) Thankyou card

Social media content

Local shops, libraries, community centres, gyms, notice boards, day care and schools will be targeted; Kambah, Monash, Isabella Plains, Wanniassa, and Bonython

The thank you cards are supplied with the reusable leaf bag offer; it will be used to encourage residents to record their leaf collection activities in the Leaf Collective App 6 x Facebook Ads ($1,500) Brand ad, adopt a tree or drain, reusable leaf bag, compost revolution, pop-up leaf drop-off point, Leaf Collective App 10 x Boosted posts ($1,000)

Influencer and referral marketing

Public relations

Media package

Facebook, website, and email, digital flyers, newsletters, and posters

Facebook and RiotACT Feature Article Website and Facebook

Content that performs well organically will be boosted Scout Leaf Collection competition

Scout Leaf Collection Mount Taylor Scouts and Lake Tuggeranong competition Sea Scouts will participate in The Leaf Collective Leaf competition (competition detail is outlined under Collective Engagement Strategy). champions Leaf Collective champions Digital Schools and community organisations have been newsletter engaged as Leaf Collective champions; their role and posters is to participate in the behaviour and encourages others to join The Leaf Collective. Public Co-ordinate a public relations event with Minister Relations Rattenbury and Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts; Event media coverage from RiotACT will be included

RiotACT Media Package

Photographic package Supplied article: The path to preventing toxic blue green algal blooms in Canberra’s lakes Feature article: Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts and Minister Rattenbury Public Relations Event

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Luisa Lopez Cordova et al. Table CS10.4  Partnership agreements Sector/Organisation

Partners

Program support

Community Organisation

Communities @ Work

Promoting The Leaf Collective Pilot Organising Leaf Collection Champions

See-Change Tuggeranong

Scouts ACT

Tuggeranong Community Council Over 55s Group Canberra Organic Growers Society Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts Mount Taylor Scouts

Facilitating e-introductions to other community groups Promoting The Leaf Collective Pilot Securing volunteers for the Pop-up Native Leaf Litter Drop off Point Promoting The Leaf Collective Pilot Promoting The Leaf Collective Pilot Promoting The Leaf Collection Pilot Community Leaf Collection Champions Participate in Native Leaf Litter Competition between Scout Groups Co-create content for the Leaf Collective Social Media Channel (social proof)

Gardening Contractor

Brindabella Waste

Green Waste Facility School

Corkhill Brothers

Retailer

Anaconda

Tuggeranong College

Promotions of program to members and families Provide discounted Trash Packs to Scouts Groups (6 Trash Packs per group) Provide a 5.8m x 2.34m Skip for Pop Up Drop off Point (Wanniassa) Community Leaf Collection Champions Promoting The Leaf Collective Pilot Donated 2 x $100 prize vouchers

In addition, based on the co-creation research, offers were built into the program to overcome barriers identified in the survey. Identified barriers included lack of time, issues of access, storage, or disposal of green waste. The program offers are outlined in Table CS10.5: Program Offers.

10.5.5  Treatment areas The geographical boundaries for the summer pilot program were centralised on suburbs within the Tuggeranong Catchment area. Significant water quality issues are ongoing for Lake Tuggeranong, with frequent closures to recreational use when toxic blue-green algal blooms are present.

CASE STUDY 10 Table CS10.5  Program offers Offer

QTY

Details and purpose

Promotions

Adopt a tree or drain

-

An online tool enables participants to identify specific collection locations and provide photographic evidence that the behaviour has been completed.

Facebook ad

Free leaf bag

260

Handheld digital scales

20

$10 off composting products from compost revolution

-

(on orders over $100) Pop-up leaf litter drop off point

The Leaf Collective App

1

-

Capturing stories and photos from participants provides a way for the project team to share community involvement on The Leaf Collective social media channel. Leveraging social proof for the management of leaf debris on nature strips and in gutters is an effective method for encouraging others to do the same. Householders can order one or two bags to help them collect native leaf litter (200 bags). Lake Tuggeranong Sea Scouts and Mount Taylor Scouts will receive 30 bags each. The sheer volume of leaf litter and lack of access to green bins are barriers to change. Two leaf bags can store the equivalent leaf matter of a standard ACT Green Bin. The digital scales will be provided and used to measure collections of native leaf litter (leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, and nuts) in kilograms. This incentive is designed to motivate householders to purchase and engage in composting behaviours. Sustainable management of leaf litter is a key priority; therefore, providing access to different behaviour change enablers is needed to achieve the overarching goal of preventing leaves from polluting ACT waterways. A 5.8 x 3m Green Waste Skip supplied by Corkhill Bros will be onsite in Wanniassa between 12.00 pm and 2:00 pm on Saturday 5 March. Volunteers from SEE-Change Tuggeranong will work to eliminate any contamination of green waste. This service offer has been built into the program to provide another free green waste drop off point (in addition to Mugga Lane Green Waste Facility) for leaf litter collected by householders. Corkhill Bros will mulch and compost the day’s collection at their green waste facility. Participants self-report leaf collections’ quantities, tools used to collect leaf litter, and leaf disposal behaviours. The purpose is to record the impact for funding partners and share community collections on social media.

Website Posters Newsletter

Facebook ad Website Newsletter

Adopt a tree or drain form and leaf bag form Facebook ad Website Poster Newsletter

Facebook ad Website Newsletter

Facebook ad

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Figure CS10.9  Environmental stewards and Lake lovers

CASE STUDY 10 Treatment area selection was underpinned by the following factors: 1) located within the Lake Tuggeranong Catchment; 2) suburbs’ proximity to the lake and waterways; 3) separate houses featuring large gardens present in each suburb; 4) demographic variables matched to persona profiles and 5) proximity to community and partner organisations. A total of 12 suburbs were selected as the target area (Kambah, Oxley, Wanniassa, Monash, Bonython, Isabella Plains, Fadden, Gowrie, MacArthur, Calwell, Chisholm Gilmore and Richardson).

10.5.6  Targeted groups = Two personas Segmentation helped to define two targeted groups for the summer piloting campaign. Segments had to be: 1) measurable (e.g., statistically significant differences at the p = 0.05 level); 2) sustainable (e.g., large enough to warrant consideration); 3) accessible (can be reached through specific targeting mechanisms); and 4) actionable (specific social marketing campaigns can change the behaviour of specific segment/s). Two-step cluster analysis identified two segments, namely 1) Environmental Stewards (account for 41.8% of the target population) and 2) Lake Lovers (account for 32.7% of the target population) (See Figure CS10.9 for targeted groups).

10.6 Outcomes The total number of leaves collected in the ACT community are yet to be assessed. At week 5 of the pilot 5,160L of leaves have been reported as “collected” on the App. Monitoring data identifying results of the in-progress pilot program are summarized in Table CS10.6.

10.7  Lessons for the planet 10.7.1  We should always learn from nature = Biomimicry it Leaves left in the wrong place can be litter. Leaf matter is a key organic source that is contributing to toxic algal blooms leading to lake closures in urban waterways such as ACT’s Lake Tuggeranong. Ecological processes show us how easily leaves can be recycled and reused naturally. Leaves can be composted in the garden and leaves can be used as mulch reducing evaporation in long, hot summer periods as experienced in Australia. When placed on gardens leaves deliver phosphorus safely back into soils, which promotes plant growth, and reduces the need for chemical fertilisers saving people money. Taking leaves away from storm water drains prevents pollution in waterways.

10.7.2  Everything is connected and coordinated action is needed Whole of community action is needed to shift organic matter away from urban lakes. Currently, 5 times more phosphorous is available in Canberra’s urban waterways delivering the perfect growing conditions for toxic blue-green algae. Go to this link to learn more: https://youtu.be/ XGzkdepelkk. A balanced ecosystem is essential to keep the community environmentally safe. Individual, community and government actions are needed. Watch this video to understand what the ACT Gov is currently doing: https://youtu.be/7VJhGJM4GXY

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Luisa Lopez Cordova et al. Table CS10.6  Outcomes summary Media or Distribution channel Facebook @ theleafcollectiveACT Leaf Collective Website Website: Engagement

Outcomes and observations Followers > 293 Total Reach > 112,067 Engagement > 15,211 Total page viewed: 5,768 Users: 2,635 New users = 2,449 Pages viewed = 5,768 Sessions = 3,166 Pages per session = 1.9 rolling average Average session duration = 1:37 rolling average

Website Traffic

Bounce rate % = 56% Organic (Unpaid listings on search engine results pages) total = 191 Direct (Typing URL in browser or through browser bookmarks) = 879 Referral (Directing external sources outside search engine) = 43

YouTube Radio Content Printed material (Flyers, posters & newsletters) RiotACT’s report

Social = 1,407 Views: 111 total Radio- Interviews conducted: ABC Radio x 2 In person activation via offer uptake or activity engagement Physical newsletters delivered > 11,700 Three partner content articles = 3,509 readers Site banners resulted in 107,378 impressions and 190 clicks

Public Events Program Offers Results

Four Facebook posts = overall reach of 31,635 people Public events participants: More than 40 people participated in community events • Free Leaf Bag—609 orders • View Green Waste Dropoff Points — 179 • Green Waste bins ordered = 98 • Compost Revolution $10 Off Offer — 153 • Adopt a tree or drain — 131 drains adopted • Leaf Collection App Survey** — How much can we pile up? Link to survey — 117 The Leaf Collective App — 5,160L of leaves collected (20,740 L to date – 15580L recorded in Autumn) • Contact us (Leaf Bag interest) = 87 • Pop up Leaf Litter Drop off Point – Tuggeranong Sea Scouts > 2,749 people reached • Handheld Digital Scales > 117 orders

CASE STUDY 10

Case study questions 1. So far, the project team have been challenged to focus their work on leaves. Do some desk research and identify other forms of organic matter that can be contributing to blue-green algal blooms. 2. The project worked with community members to divert leaves going to drains, but there are other consequences of changing the landscape surrounding water bodies. Can you find additional consequences? 3. Talking about biomimicry = imitate nature. Can you find additional examples of how humans have used nature-based solutions to solve an existing issue with water and pollutants?

References Achá, D., Guédron, S., Amouroux, D., Point, D., Lazzaro, X., Fernandez, P.E., & Sarret, G. (2018). Algal bloom exacerbates hydrogen sulfide and methylmercury contamination in the emblematic highaltitude lake titicaca. Geosciences (Basel), 8(12), 438. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8120438 AU, A.E. (2019). Lake Tuggeranong research project research outcomes and recommendations. University of Canberra. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fiona-Dyer-2/publication/337757816_Lake_ Tuggeranong_Research_Project_Final_Report_Research_findings_and_recommendations/ links/5de8934e299bf10bc3405bd2/Lake-Tuggeranong-Research-Project-Final-Report-Researchfindings-and-recommendations.pdf Wang, J.-H., Li, C., Xu, Y.-P., Li, S.-Y., Du, J.-S., Han, Y.-P., & Hu, H.-Y. (2021). Identifying major contributors to algal blooms in lake Dianchi by analyzing river-lake water quality correlations in the watershed. Journal of Cleaner Production, 315, 128144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jclepro.2021.128144 Waters, S., Verburg, P., Schallenberg, M., & Kelly, D. (2021). Sedimentary phosphorus in contrasting, shallow New Zealand lakes and its effect on water quality. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 55(4), 592–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288330.2020.1848884 Wiltsie, D., Schnetzer, A., Green, J., Borgh, M.V., & Fensin, E. (2018). Algal blooms and cyanotoxins in Jordan Lake, North Carolina. Toxins, 10(2), 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins10020092

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Case study 

Logan City Council wildlife movement campaign Tori Seydel, Erin Hurley and Sharyn Rundle-Thiele

11.1  Introduction and problem definition In February 2022 the conservation status of koalas living in Queensland, NSW and ACT was raised from vulnerable to endangered indicating a 20% chance they may not be living next to us in the future. Urban and per-urban environments (e.g. cities and towns) have put enormous pressure on wild koala populations. In Queensland, the largest population of wild koalas live in the most densely developed and populated region, South East Queensland. Key threats that koalas face range from habitat clearing, disease, car strikes and dog attacks. Koalas are more mobile during their breeding season, and therefore they are more susceptible to increased road-vehicle interactions and dog attacks causing injury or mortality during this period. Hence, it is important to develop strategies, such as community engagement campaigns, to increase public awareness that can be implemented to keep people aware of actions they can take at the times that koalas are most active. Understanding how people living in communities think and feel about koalas, as well as their level of awareness of the range of actions they can take to help protect koalas is needed before we design engaging and effective communication campaigns capable of changing the actions that people can take. DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-22

CASE STUDY 11 Increasing importance is being placed on the need for partnerships between academic and nonacademic players (Plummer et al., 2022). Partnerships for wildlife conservation are important given it is a complex social issue that needs many members in community to get involved to take a range of actions, e.g. dog training in wildlife avoidance or making a backyard wildlife friendly. Partnerships between State and local governments and businesses allow for meaningful collaboration that can generate solutions through capitalising on the knowledge, experience, resources of each organisation and allows for a division of labour and other resources that can extend reach and achieve shared objectives. Funded by the Department of Environment and Science, Social Marketing @ Griffith sought to partner with local governments across South East Queensland. One of the project aims was to co-design and deliver a coordinated community engagement campaign on actions that people living in community can take to help protect koalas. Following community co-design work, Social Marketing @ Griffith designed koala conservation messaging that focused on koala protection actions. The communication materials developed drew from 4 years of evaluation learnings and co-design workshops that tested past approaches that had been applied to effectively engage more members of community to take actions that would protect koalas. This case provides a brief overview of a partnership between Logan City Council and Social Marketing @ Griffith who worked together implementing a koala awareness campaign in the 2021/22 breeding season, namely the Logan City Council’s Wildlife Movement campaign.

11.2  Primary research The Logan City Council (LCC) Wildlife Movement campaign implemented in partnership with Social Marketing @ Griffith (SM@G) was designed based on insights gained through co-design workshops and insights obtained from performing evaluations (Pang et al., 2020; Shawky and Rundle-Thiele, 2020) over a 4-year period for a koala awareness campaign implemented in a nearby local government area. Primary research was conducted to gain insights into: ••

The types of behaviours to target

••

The types of messages and imagery to use

••

Key audiences to target

A co-design approach was implemented by the Social Marketing @ Griffith research team. Co-design workshops were conducted with community members (Rundle-Theile et al., 2021). Current and previous koala breeding season awareness campaigns were presented to participants and feedback was gained on likes, dislikes and areas for improvements through a feedback grid (see Figure CS11.1). In addition, participants were asked to design a campaign of value to them. Finally, data from four years of awareness campaign evaluations in a nearby local government area informed the development of the campaign collateral. Figures CS11.2 and CS11.3 show examples of participants’ designed campaigns.

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Figure CS11.1  Feedback grid

Insights informing campaign development included: ••

The use of imagery that portrays koalas as not being too humanised but still cute

••

The use of Aussie colours so the design can be applied throughout Australia and is not limited to one region.

••

The inclusion of a strong call to action that isn’t hidden away at the bottom but is the main focus of the message and enables people to easily understand how they can contribute

Following campaign development, Social Marketing @ Griffith researchers conducted further workshops with residents across South East Queensland (SEQ) to test the developed ideas. Participants liked that there was clear information in a fun way with strong calls to action, they felt that the colouring was very “Australian” and thought the ideas were visually appealing. Feedback included providing additional messages with clear ways to mitigate threats, and some participants were worried that the light-hearted nature may not highlight the seriousness of koalas’ current state (e.g. being endangered). The implementation of co-design workshops across South East Queensland found that resident’s needs are similar across regions. Residents want: 1. To know more about koalas in their area and how they move around

CASE STUDY 11

Figure CS11.2  Example of designed campaign 1

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Figure CS11.3  Example of designed campaign 2 2. More actionable tips that they, their families and community can do, including; a. How to spot koalas b. Identifying a sick koala c. How to make their property/backyard more koala friendly 3. A campaign that had a mix of real koalas (including injured) and cartoon-like images, across a variety of formats to reach diverse audiences in the community including schools.

11.3  Behavioural objectives The campaign was delivered with the purpose of protecting the koala population in the Logan City Council region. The overarching behavioural goal of the campaign was to encourage residents to take action to support koala conservation in their community. Key behavioural objectives were to ••

Increase the number of sick and injured koalas reported to RSPCA via 1300ANIMAL and Wildcare on 07 5527 2444

••

Increase the number of koala sightings reported on the Logan City Council website

••

Decrease the number of koalas hit by cars

To achieve this the campaign focused on increasing residents’ awareness of koalas and providing information on conservation actions that community can take. The campaign aimed to engage community through a communications campaign that sought to change behaviours through a series of targeted and actionable messages.

CASE STUDY 11

11.4 Intervention 11.4.1  Partnership and collaboration Social Marketing @ Griffith consulted with community on the design of campaign themes and messages. The final designs and themes developed by Social Marketing @ Griffith. Communication materials were designed to be adaptable to suit the needs of different councils in terms of the key messages they wanted focused on and use of local statistics in the messages. The key themes targeting different audiences and koala conservation behaviours were: ••

Breeding season (awareness and slowing down when driving)

••

Signs of an injured koala

••

I’m stuck and can’t get out (backyard escape)

••

Dogs and koalas

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Swimming pools and koalas

Social Marketing @ Griffith presented developed messages to the 12 local governments across South East Queensland explaining the research, design and indicating the final campaign materials available to local government areas for their use. Logan City Council were in the process of planning their “Wildlife Movement campaign” and they indicated they were open to collaborate with Social Marketing @ Griffith on their upcoming 2021/2022 campaign. A meeting with representatives from Logan City Council’s environmental projects and marketing team was held to understand the requirements and needs moving forward. Discussions focused on branding and logistics of how to adapt and run the campaign. Social Marketing @ Griffith offered a number of options on delivery for the campaign including collaborating on a marketing plan for the campaign and: 1. implementing the communication campaign across the Logan City Council area 2. supporting council implementation 3. letting the council run the campaign with their own resources. Given the capabilities and resources that the LCC team already had including graphic designers, a marketing team, environmental project officers and funding already dedicated to the implementation of a campaign it was determined that Social Marketing @ Griffith would support council implementation. Social Marketing @ Griffith customised communication campaign messages into editable Photoshop files for handover to the Logan City Council’s team (see Figure CS11.4 for original branding). The graphic design team at Logan City Council adjusted the communication materials with their branding and they made changes to font sizes to align the provided communication materials to council branding (see Figure CS11.5). The first round of adjustments was shown to Social Marketing @ Griffith to ensure that the key message and feel of the original designed messages was maintained. The full campaign was scheduled, organised and administered by Logan City Council across their channels and using their designated budget.

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Figure CS11.4  Social marketing @ Griffith branded

11.4.2  Wildlife movement campaign The objectives that Logan City Council developed for the Wildlife Movement campaign were to: ••

Raise awareness of koalas in the community.

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Provide information about koalas and conservation actions residents can take.

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Promote community appreciation for helping koalas.

The campaign ran across a 4-month period from September 2021 to January 2022 which spans across the koala breeding season when koalas are most active and moving around. The campaign used key themes and messages designed by the Social Marketing @ Griffith team. General breeding season, slowing down and reporting koala sighting messages were communicated to a city-wide audience. More targeted messages about making your backyard koala friendly (Figure CS11.6) and dogs and koalas (Figure CS11.7) were placed in koala-prone suburbs including Park Ridge, Greenbank, Daisy Hill, Cornubia, Chambers Flat, Bahrs Scrub, Shailer Park, and surrounding areas. Additionally, during the campaign, a video received from a community member of a koala crossing a busy road in Logan during the morning peak hour was included in the social media campaign. While this was not a pre-planned campaign video, the ability to include this in the social media campaign improved campaign engagement and told the stories of local koalas living in the area highlighting actions that people could take, for example slowing down and being more aware when driving. The campaign included a range of digital and printed collateral items and events (Figures CS11.5 - CS11.7).

Figure CS11.5  Logan City Council branded

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Figure CS11.6  Example of a targeted ad in koala-prone areas 1

11.5 Outcomes 11.5.1  Social media outcomes The Wildlife Movement campaign reached over 295,000 people on social media, with 16,200 people actively engaged through likes, shares and comments. The campaign received an impressive engagement rate of 11.7% (average engagement rate across all industries is 0.18%). The additional video included in the campaign by LCC that featured a koala crossing a local road was the

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Figure CS11.7  Example of a targeted ad in koala-prone areas 2

CASE STUDY 11 Table CS11.1  Awareness campaign measures implemented Logan Koala Awareness Campaign Measures Implemented Digital advertising

• Assorted digital displays (fuel pump, shopping centres, gyms, customer service centred and libraries) • Web banners • Environment e-newsletter • Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Yammer-internal council communication) • Videos

Printed/OOH

• Radio • Our Logan magazine advertisement and article • Glovebox checklist via direct letter box distribution • Car magnets on council vehicles (Figure CS11.8) • Posters

Events

• Roadside banner (Figure CS11.9) • Wildlife Movement Event • Koala Education Webinar (how to spot, identify sex and submit sightings) • Koala Count (month-long event encouraging people to submit koala sightings)

top-performing post across the campaign (Figure CS11.10), followed by ads featuring the signs of an injured koala (Figure CS11.11). The video received such high engagement because people were shocked to see a koala crossing a busy road and because of the time of the day it was moving around. This result is in line with Social Marketing @ Griffith insights indicating that people want to see more information and posts about koalas in their community. The single LinkedIn organic post did quite well with an engagement rate of 24.5% whereas Twitter did not perform as well with only 1.8% engagement. Overall, the campaign did a great job in raising awareness about the objectives of the campaign, achieving high engagement rates (Table CS11.1).

11.5.2  Behavioural outcomes The campaign successfully engaged community, encouraging some members of the community to take positive action to help save koalas. The campaign aimed to increase the number of people reporting sighting of koalas and reduce the number of koalas hit by cars. Data were compared between the previous year’s breeding season (September 2020 to January 2021) and the breeding season the campaign was active (September 2021 to January 2022). Measures compared include the number of koala sightings reported (to LCC, iNaturalist and Wildcare), and the number of koalas hit by cars (as reported by the RSPCA). During the previous year’s breeding season a total of 50 koala sightings were reported, while 126 were reported during the campaign period. The campaign’s 5 months of communications successfully increased koala sightings reported by 152%.

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Figure CS11.8  Car magnet

RSPCA data showed that 24% of koalas admitted to care at RSPCA were injured due to a vehicle strike (n = 6) during the 2020/21 breeding season while vehicle strikes accounted for only 9% (n = 1) of admissions in the 2021/22 breeding season.

11.6  Lessons for the planet 11.6.1  Leveraging partnerships for koala conservation Funded by Queensland Government, the partnership between Social Marketing @ Griffith and Logan City Council successfully delivered positive outcomes supporting the koala conservation protection actions focused on in the Wildlife Movement campaign. Each partner delivered unique value to the campaign by contributing their resources, expertise, and capacity. Social Marketing @ Griffith was responsible for the researched-based design of campaign collateral which Logan City Council then leveraged to create a comprehensive koala breeding season campaign. Financial and human resources were maximised resulting in a stronger campaign with increased impact in the Logan community. In addition, the partnership sparked innovation. Logan City Council got creative with campaign materials creating a handy glove box checklist (Figures CS11.12 & CS11.13) that residents could keep in their cars to have easy access to important information if they ever come across a sick or injured koala making sure the information was available right when it would be needed.

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Figure CS11.9  Roadside banner

11.6.2  Inspiring real action for impact We need to engage community before we can see change. This involves empowering communities to take action. There is often a gap between what people say and what they actually do. For example, people say that they want to take actions to save koalas, but this often does not translate into action simply because too few understand what they should do. We need to support

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Figure CS11.10  Top performing social media post-koala crossing road and empower communities that may lack the knowledge of what to do by providing them with clear and specific tasks that they can action to achieve change. The Logan City Council Wildlife Movement campaign included targeted and actionable messages relating to koala conservation behaviours to influence people to act (e.g., put a rope in the swimming pool, call 1300ANIMAL if you see a sick or injured koala) resulting in positive behavioural outcomes.

11.6.3  Social media delivering positive change for the planet Social media is well known as a platform to spread messages and ignite conversations and is increasingly used to drive positive environmental change. Utilising social media, the campaign was able to spread messages about how community can play a role in supporting koala populations. In addition, social media brings with it a flexibility and responsiveness that traditional media lacks. The top-performing post was one that was not included in the original implementation plan and instead came about in response to footage captured of a koala crossing a busy local road. Planning for stories that can be included as they arise can clearly enhance community engagement.

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Figure CS11.11 Second top-performing social media post-sick/injured koala glove box checklist

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Figure CS11.12  Glove box checklist front

Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge the Logan City Council team who led the implementation of the 2021/2022 Wildlife Movement Campaign and members of the community who assisted in campaign co-design and the people who contributed film and photo footage to support the campaign.

Case study questions 1. In your own words explain how the CBE process (Co-create, Build and Engage) was applied in the Logan City Council koala movement campaign. 2. Which social marketing benchmark criteria (SMBC) are evident in the Logan City Council koala awareness case study?

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Figure CS11.13  Glove box checklist back

References Pang, B., Seydel, T., David, P., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2020). Koala Awareness and VMS Campaigns 2019/2020: Supplementary Report. Social Marketing @ Griffith. https://www.redland.qld.gov.au/ info/20301/koala_conservation/913/koala_conservation_plan Plummer, R., Blythe, J., Gurney, G.G., Witkowski, S., & Armitage, D. (2022). Transdisciplinary partnerships for sustainability: An evaluation guide. Sustain Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625021-01074-y Shawky, S., & Rundle-Thiele, S.R. (2020). Evaluation of koala conservation campaigns using co-design. Social Marketing @ Griffith, prepared for Redland City Council.

Read this paper Rundle-Thiele, S.R., Dietrich, T., & Carins, J. (2021) “CBE: A framework to guide the application of social marketing to behaviour change” Social Marketing Quarterly, 27 (3), 175–194. https://doi. org/10.1177/15245004211021643

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Case study 

Tackling gender inequality and promoting a healthy lifestyle The women in sport roadshow Michelle O’Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Nicole Peel and Sarah Duffy

12.1  Introduction and problem definition In the past five years some of the biggest shifts in the participation of women and girls in Australian sports have occurred (O’Shea et al., 2021). At the elite professional level, these changes have been most visible. The recent growth of domestic professional leagues and the rising profiles of national teams have culminated in Australian women’s national teams outranking their male counterparts. Women’s teams have also outranked men’s teams in surveys of emotional connection and national pride. This is a poignant representation of women’s sports cultural significance and the contribution their participation at the highest levels of sport is making to equity gains. Despite this success, Australian women and girls are underrepresented in all facets of the sport. This includes as participants, coaches, officials, administrators, journalists and board members. The management of sports is historically grounded in assumptions about the “naturally superior” sporting performance of masculine bodies on and off the field. The Australian Sports Commission DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-23

CASE STUDY 12 (ASC) is the peak Australian federal government agency for sport, and they have begun to highlight ingrained gender inequities on and off the pitch. In 2016, Kate Palmers was appointed as the first woman to lead the commission in its 31-year history. Palmers leadership is a huge leap forward as just 23.4% of all National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) directorships are held by women. Unfortunately, 17% of NSOs have all-male boards. The statistics are no better in the context of coaching and associated activities such as sport journalism, which is both culturally and numerically dominated by men. Respected Australian journalist and writer Angela Pippos bluntly described Australian sports media as “pale, male and stale”. This case study of the “Women in Sport Roadshow” (WISR) explores a strategy to increase the participation of schoolgirls in sports from a low socio-economic and culturally diverse part of Sydney. The purpose of the intervention is to enable girls to enjoy organised sports and overcome the gender bias that can hamper their participation. Structural constraints (such as access to facilities, nature of the facilities, playing and training conditions) and cultural discourses and norms (including attitudes concerned with appropriate femininity, lack of cultural heroes) continue to inequitably shape young women and girls access to and involvement in sport (Maxwell et al., 2021; O’Shea and Maxwell, 2021). To rectify these inequities, various levels of government have sought to fund and support opportunities to enhance girls and young women’s involvement in physical activity. The case details an Australian State Government funded grant campaign directed at improving the: (a) Health and Well-being and (b) Participation and Empowerment for women and girls (O’Shea et al., 2020). In 2020 The NSW Government encouraged local councils within the state of NSW to apply for a grant to hold events and activities that celebrate women during NSW Women’s Week from 2 March 2 to 8 March 2020. This was the fifth year of the programme.

12.2  Primary research Social capital theory is the linking framework that was used in the research accompanying this intervention to understand how the WISR could contribute to improved sport and physical activity outcomes for girls and young women in a local government area (LGA) in Greater Western Sydney, Australia. The selected LGA was our study focus given its cultural and religious diversity together with its suburban locality (see section 4 for more detail about the LGA). Social capital focuses on the effects and consequences of our sociability and our connectedness as human beings. Consequently, social capital’s underlying premise and the focus of the data collection in this study was to qualitatively understand how relationships between people operating within organisations develop trust and reciprocity which can then be leveraged to provide opportunities for girls to participate in sports and physical activity. Specifically, linking social capital involves connections between people with power and influence. Szreter and Woolcock (2004, p. 655) conceptualise “linking social capital as norms of respect and networks of trusting relationships between people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized power or authority gradients in society.” The key point of agreement in the social capital literature is that people who do better, are somehow better connected and have societal power and influence.

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Michelle O’Shea et al. Sport has an important role in facilitating the social bonds that tie or connects community members together. With our focus on women and girls sport participation, key stakeholders were invited to take part in an in-depth semi-structured interview to reflect on the nature of their involvement in the Women’s sport roadshow development and delivery. Their formal and informal involvement with other roadshow stakeholders and partners was a focus of our discussions. We invited stakeholders to consider their experiences and perceptions of how relationships were formed, forged, and unfolded over time. Material and other resources garnered and leveraged provided us with a rich window into how linking social capital was created, enabled and indeed in some instances blocked. In total 13 key stakeholders participated in interviews, including: representatives from local council, state and national sport organisations, elite female athletes who delivered aspects of the roadshow together with school principals and teachers. Interviews were conducted via zoom and the telephone. Analysis of the interview data enabled us to identify and map relationships. Layering this mapping exercise with stakeholder experiences and reflections allowed us to signpost where and how impactful links and relationships were formed. The next step involved documenting how stakeholders interacted so that these formal and informal connections might be further strengthened in ways that contributed to the programme’s continuance and ongoing sustainability. We will now discuss the objectives.

12.3  Behavioural objectives The aim of the WISR is to help bridge the gender gap in sport participation. To achieve the behavioural objectives of the intervention a number of barriers to participation need to be overcome first. Prior research tells us that girls and young women may: feel self-conscious in their sport uniforms, be concerned about their appearance and body image, are lacking in role models, have a lack or perceived lack of skills or may prefer to be non-competitive (Maxwell et al., 2021). Being aware of these obstacles helped to set the behavioural objectives for the intervention. Specifically, the programme aims to: ••

Teach young women and girls about resilience and overcoming challenges shared by female sporting role models.

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Build confidence in young women and girls to participate in sport by facilitating skills workshops that are supportive and encouraging.

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Promote mental health and well-being of young women and girls by hearing female sporting role models talk about the importance of healthy active bodies for healthy minds.

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Encourage young women and girls to support and encourage one another to engage in physical activity.

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Enable girls and young women to have fun when engaging in physical activity.

These behavioural objectives are not quantitatively measurable. However, interviews were conducted with key stakeholders involved in the programme to qualitatively assess the programme. The programme is structured in a way that allows some margin for ongoing adaptation and

CASE STUDY 12 improvement. Further, we recognise that this intervention cannot alone redress lower rates of female participation in sport. However, it can be a part of the solution.

12.4 Intervention The WISR is an ongoing initiative from the Cumberland local government in Western Sydney (O’Shea et al., 2020). Cumberland is one of the most culturally diverse areas in Australia. Over 240,000 people live in the Cumberland area with more than half of the population born overseas. Cumberland has the second-highest percentage of people speaking a language other than English in Australia (65.6%). Approximately 150 different languages are spoken in Cumberland. The three largest ancestries in Cumberland are Lebanese, Chinese and Australian. The largest religion of the region is Islam with 21.9% of the population identifying as Muslim, compared to 5.3% in greater Sydney. Cumberland is culturally and linguistically diverse and is also considered a low socio-economic government area. There is a notable rate of population growth in this area which is already densely populated placing pressure on the availability of: urban open space, sporting infrastructure and public facilities for sporting competitions and recreational activities. With the specific local conditions in mind, the WISR was created to overcome the general barriers for girls and women to participate in sport identified in section 3, but also to overcome the specific barriers that are unique to the low-socio economic and culturally diverse region of Sydney. The Cumberland Youth Strategy of 2017–2021 places priority on the importance of culturally appropriate physical activity programmes. There is stigma within the Islamic community about female sport participation that may inhibit young women and girls’ engagement with sport. Another facet of this stigma is the prioritisation of male siblings’ sport participation and cultural norms that suggest participation in sport and competition isn’t feminine. Teachers from individual schools need to signal their interest in participating in the programme by completing an expression of interest process. As part of this process, schools must identify the topics they would like athletes to talk about (this involves selection from a list). The local council then decide about which schools should be prioritised for the programme. Successful schools receive: ••

A visit from a professional female athlete who shares their personal sporting story and answers student questions over an engaging 30-minute session.

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This is followed by 45 minutes of skill development facilitated by the athlete’s in the area of their sport expertise.

Originally, it was intended that only female students would participate in the programme, however, some schools requested boys were able to participate so they could also benefit from interacting with a strong and successful sportswoman. Many of the schools asked for the athletes to talk about resilience as a means to overcome challenges and to support mental health and well-being. The skill development session after the initial talk was seen as an important space to encourage young women and girls to feel confident in their bodies, to support each other’s physical activity and most importantly to have fun in a safe space.

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Michelle O’Shea et al. There are three weaknesses to the intervention. The first is that it is contingent on the passion, interest, and action of individual teachers within schools to express an interest in being involved in the process. The second is that the programme only runs for one day each year. For greater impact to occur the programme needs to be ongoing and offered once a school term, in every school in the local region. However, the current programme could be positioned as a pilot programme with the goal of scaling up if additional funding was received in the future. The third weakness is that in some cases male students participated in both the Question and Answer segment with the professional athlete and the skill development session. While it is acknowledged that it is important for boys to witness and interact with successful female athlete’s the researchers observed that sessions with male students present were dominated by male students, which in some ways defeated the purpose of the programme.

12.5 Outcomes The three key findings from our research were: 1. Cost is a significant issue – for some schools the programme wasn’t fully funded and in some cases required students to pay $2–$5 to participate. In a low socio-economic area cost may be a barrier, we recommend for increased participation the programme needs to be offered at no cost. 2. Network effects – we found that the sporting organisations who facilitated the skill development workshop reported that the WISR gave them an opportunity to meet and spark a connection with schools that was the beginning of an ongoing relationship. These organisations then had contacts with teachers and students that led to future interactions and ultimately worked towards the goal of increasing female participation in sport. 3. Mental health and resilience resources – Future iterations of the programme may benefit from incorporating digital mental health resources. The professional athlete’s shared in the interviews that they were inundated messages via social media about mental health issues that were outside of their knowledge, capacity and skill set to cope with. The athlete’s indicated a genuine desire to help the young women contacting them, however, they were aware of their own limitations to respond appropriately. We recommend the establishment of an online mental health age-appropriate resource that the athletes could direct the young women to.

Case study questions 1. Overview of the strengths and weaknesses of including male students as participants to support the goal of the women in roadshow programme? 2. Would you implement a similar programme in your local area? What aspects of the programme would you keep and what would you change? What specific sports do you think are appropriate to showcase based on your local areas social and cultural profile. 3. Investigate how you would fund a similar project in your local area and what changes if any you would make to meet the funding requirements.

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References Maxwell, H., O’Shea, M., Stronach, M., & Pearce, S. (2021). Empowerment through digital health trackers: An exploration of indigenous Australian women and physical activity in leisure settings. Annals of Leisure Research, 24(1), 150–167. O’Shea, M., & Maxwell, H. (2021). Exploring new media and sport through a gendered lens: Enabling possibilities and/or reproducing inequities for women?. In Insights on Reporting Sports in the Digital Age (pp. 65–83). Routledge. O’Shea, M., Maxwell, H., Duffy, S., & Peel, N. (2021). One step forward and two steps back?: Pandemic effects and women’s sport in Australia. In Impacts and Implications for the Sports Industry in the Post-COVID-19 Era (pp. 209–231). IGI Global. O’Shea, M., Maxwell, H., & Peel, N. (2020). “Women in Sport Roadshow”: Exploring partnership approaches to creating sport opportunities for girls and emerging women. In Book of Abstracts of the 2020 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference (SMAANZ 2020), 2-4 December 2020, online. Szreter, S., & Woolcock, M. (2004). Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(4), 650–667.

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Case study 

The role of civil society in advancing the sugarsweetened beverages tax policy in Mexico Rafael Pérez-Escamilla

13.1  Introduction and problem definition The outbreak of the obesity epidemic that started to be detected since the 1980s in high-income countries soon followed in middle-income countries and eventually spread to low-income countries becoming a pandemic that continues to grow. This despite it being clear for decades that a key determinant of the obesity pandemic was the global emergence of quite unhealthful obesogenic global food systems loaded with highly caloric ultra-processed foods and beverages that are relatively cheap and available anytime and anywhere. Until recently, there were few evidence-informed options that policymakers could choose from to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods and beverages. One of these options is the implementation of taxes on unhealthy foods and beverages with the dual purpose of reducing consumer demand for them and to nudge the food industry to reformulate their product to make them less unhealthy. This case study illustrates the multi-sectoral participatory process that Mexico undertook that was led by civil society organizations to pass its sugar-sweetened beverages tax law in 2014 and to successfully implement it and enforce it with promising results.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-24

CASE STUDY 13

13.2  Primary research In Mexico the prevalence of overweight and obesity reached 70% among adults and 30% among children in 2012 (Colchero et al., 2017). The decision to move forward with a sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy was supported by epidemiological and public health research showing strong and consistent evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages led to obesity and non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes that were bankrupting Mexico’s health care system (PérezEscamilla et al., 2017). A nationally representative dietary intake survey conducted in Mexico in 2012 found that 12.5% of total daily energy intake comes from added sugars which is much higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended level of less than 5% of total energy intake. Sugar-sweetened beverages alone accounted for 70% of the sugars added to the diet in Mexico, or 9.8% of total energy intake. Therefore, from a public health perspective a policy involving taxing sugar-sweetened beverages became a logical target for lowering the intake of added sugars in Mexico (Colchero et al., 2017). The tax policy proposal was also supported by extensive empirical research showing that taxes for other unhealthy products such as tobacco were successful at reducing use. Lastly, mathematical models showed not only the potential savings of this policy related to reduced health care costs but also the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue that the government would be able to raise every year (Colchero et al., 2017; Pérez-Escamilla et al., 2017). Public health research was indeed key in the public debate and decision-making process (Rivera Dommarco et al., 2019). Specifically, the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) was instrumental in setting the stage for the tax approval. INSP’s research documented the excessive intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, the sharp increases in obesity, and the associated health and economic consequences. This work clearly demonstrated an urgent need to address the excessive intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and provided evidence-based support for the sugar-sweetened beverages taxes by demonstrating that the demand for the excessive intake of sugar-sweetened beverages was elastic in the Mexican population (a 10% increase in price was associated with an 11.6% reduction in the demand) and that the principal substitutes were healthy options including water and milk. It also projected body weight and diabetes reduction under different tax scenarios. These studies, along with the existing evidence on the impact of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to disincentive their intake, the reduced health care costs associated with unhealthful foods and beverages, and the potential use of tax revenue to support obesity prevention efforts, were key for civil society organizations to strongly shape public opinion in favour of the policy. This in turn was essential for securing support from Congress and the Ministry of Finance.

13.3  Behavioural objectives The specific objectives of this case study are to show (1) how evidence-based advocacy and social marketing strongly driven by civil society organizations in partnership with academia can shape public opinion, a crucial step for the successful passing, implementation and sustainability of the sugar-sweetened beverages taxes in Mexico; (2) how a well thought out policy co-designed with strong input from civil society organizations can lead to lower purchase and consumption of sugarsweetened beverages among individuals living in obesogenic environments that are conducive to the development of non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

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13.4 Intervention In September 2013, as part of the federal budget, the Mexican Congress passed an excise tax, i.e., charged at the point of production instead of at the point of purchase; on sugar-sweetened beverages and a sales tax on several highly energy-dense foods (Colchero et al., 2017; PérezEscamilla et al., 2017). This case study focuses on the excise tax added to sugar-sweetened beverages. A specific excise tax of 1 peso/L (approximately a 10% price increase based on 2013 prices) on non-dairy and non-alcoholic beverages with added sugar, including powdered sugarsweetened beverages based on their reconstitution and flavoured or sweetened dairy products that are not milk, came into effect on 1 January 2014 (Colchero et al., 2017). The Ministry of Finances became responsible for collecting the excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages from the manufacturers, with the expectation that this tax would be entirely passed on to consumers at the point of sale, as it happened with tobacco products. The regulation allows for the tax to be adjusted when the cumulative inflation rate compared to January 2014 in Mexico reaches 10% (Colchero et al., 2017). Civil society organizations played a crucial role co-designing, advancing and defending the tax policy once it went into effect. To create a strong unified voice with the public and policymakers, an alliance of close to thirty non-governmental organizations (NGOs), led by El Poder del Consumidor (The Consumer’s Power), formed a coalition that partnered with academic and international organizations. This coalition lobbied Congress for sugar-sweetened beverages taxes, front-of-package and marketing legislations, conducted extensive evidence-based advocacy and designed and implemented a strategic social marketing campaign that included the timely release of high-impact policy reports, press releases and conferences, highly visible public demonstrations (Figures CS13.1 and CS13.2), and a mass muti-component media campaign through multiple communication channels including print media, street billboards, subway stations posters (Figures CS13.3–13.5), TV and radio public service announcements. Campaign messages and dramatic images highlighted the exceedingly high content of sugar-sweetened beverages, and the harmful relationship between high sugar consumption, obesity and diabetes (Figure CS13.4), and how the tax revenue could be used to improve access to drinking water in schools and public spaces (Figure CS13.5). The campaign also exposed legislators opposed to the tax measures. The strategic civil society-academic partnership allowed for effective and rapid translation of scientific findings to both the public and policymakers and added credibility to the social marketing campaign.

13.5 Outcomes In Mexico, Congress approval of excise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and taxes on nonessential energy-dense food was made possible through the strong cooperation and strategic coordination of a coalition involving an alliance of civil society organizations, academia, and the legislative and executive branches of government. As a result of strategic evidence-based advocacy led by this coalition, the Ministry of Finances began implementing the sugar-sweetened beverages and nonessential energy-dense food taxes in January 2014 and mandated food producers to paying these taxes based on accurate estimations (Colchero et al., 2017).

CASE STUDY 13

Figure CS13.1 Demonstration in front of the Ministry of Health in Mexico City dramatically highlighting the 500,000 due to diabetes that happened during President Calderon’s administration (2006–2012). It received widespread media coverage as shown by the print media clip at the Bottom left of the image Source: Courtesy of Alejandro Calvillo, El Poder del Consumidor.

Evidence collected in 2014 showed in urban areas that the tax was fully passed on to consumers through increased product prices. Nielsen Mexico’s Consumer Panel Services showed that in both 2014 and 2015 there were significant declines in the taxed beverages purchased by households across socioeconomic levels, but reductions were stronger in the poorest households that experienced declines in sugar-sweetened beverages purchases of 18.8 ml per capita per day in 2014 and of 29.3 ml per capita per day in 2015 (Colchero et al., 2017). Therefore, the policy was not only effective during its first year of its implementation, but it became even more effective during its second year. Furthermore, the fact that it worked the best among the poorest members of society indicates that from a public health perspective the tax policy has a strong potential to reduce inequities in adverse health outcomes related to the excessive consumption of added sugars. These results, which showed that the taxes were working, were crucial for the civil society organizations alliance to prevent an attempt by the sugar-sweetened beverages industry in September 2015 to repeal the tax measure a year after it took effect by claiming that it had been ineffective. This illustrates how crucial research was in Mexico not only for the design, approval into law and launch of the implementation of the tax policy as well as but also for facilitating evidence-based advocacy to defend and keep the policy in place despite the strong opposition from the powerful food industry.

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Figure CS13.2 A public demonstration in front of Mexico’s COFEPRIS (equivalent to the USA’s FDA) showcasing Coca Cola’s polar bear symbol in front of a huge banner indicating the hundreds of thousands of deaths that had happened as a result of diabetes during President Calderon’s administration (2006–2012) Source: Courtesy of Alejandro Calvillo, El Poder del Consumidor.

13.6  Lessons for the planet Although Mexico was not the first country to implement an excise tax policy on sugar-sweetened beverages, the highly participatory whole of society process that it followed and the highly innovative and effective social marketing campaign that implemented to garner public support to pass the law and then to overcome resistance to its regulation from very powerful industries (Carriedo et al., 2021) caught the attention and imagination of the world. As a result, Mexico’s sugar-sweetened beverages tax law experience has influenced and facilitated the rapid dissemination of this policy in Latin America and beyond. To date, over 50 locations worldwide have adopted sugar-sweetened beverages taxes, and fully consistent with the findings from Mexico, a recent systematic review showed that this policy works at reducing purchase and consumption across very diverse social, political and economic and cultural contexts (Teng et al., 2019). In conclusion, crucial to the success of the tax policy in Mexico was that inclusion of a well-coordinated civil society alliance with strong expertise in lobbying. This alliance was crucial for analyzing the political environment, mapping positions among congressmen and promoting the tax initiative within Congress. This well-organized strategy which drew heavily from the civil society partners’ strengths including the academic sector, was instrumental in overriding efforts from the taxes’ opponents, mainly the food industry, to undermine the effort before during and after

CASE STUDY 13

Figure CS13.3 This campaign material displayed in public spaces including subway stations and busy streets billboards asks, “Would you drink 12 spoons of sugar?”, “Why you drink soda?”, “Would you give them [children] 12 spoons of sugar?” and “Why do you give soda to them [children]?” The subway billboard also states that “soda is sweet, diabetes is not.” (continued) Source: Courtesy of Alejandro Calvillo, El Poder del Consumidor.

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Figure CS13.3  (continued)

the law was passed (Pérez-Escamilla et al., 2017; Carriedo et al., 2021). This was a Mammoth challenge given that industry invested heavily in forming a strong anti-tax alliance together with food retailers and sugar producers; strongly lobbied congress and policymakers claiming policy would lead to strong discontent among the population and the closure of factories and the loss of jobs in the country; advised the population against supporting the “Bloomberg tax” (injecting a xenophobic sentiment given that the USA-based Bloomberg Philanthropies funded the campaign and related research); messaged that lack of physical activity – not nutrition – was the problem; funded anti-tax “consumer associations”; funded academicians to conduct studies contradicting the vast majority of evidence available in support of the policy and had a strong presence in mainstream media channels that did not give space to the civil society organizations efforts to reach to the public to counteract many of its unfounded claims. The success of the sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy is now having ripple effects within Mexico and beyond. Building from the strong partnership that led the charge with the sugar-sweetened beverages taxes, including its civil society alliance, and building from the experiences of Chile and other Latin American countries, Mexico recently successfully passed its front of package warning labels and marketing protection law that came into effect in 2020. This ripple public health nutrition policy effect within and across countries may empower countries to join forces to continue pushing for the urgent reform of global food systems to bring the obesity and related non-communicable diseases pandemic under control. This effort needs to be substantially strengthened by addressing the social determinants of health considering the political economy factors that currently drive the quite unhealthy food systems all over the world (Perez-Escamilla et al., 2018;

CASE STUDY 13

Figure CS13.4 Dramatic image highlighting the serious consequences of diabetes including limb amputations and blindness. The key messages of this campaign material displayed through multiple channels including print media and subway stations reads “First came obesity and then diabetes,” “let’s demand soda marketing regulations” and “Let’s demand that package labels warn us.” (continued) Source: Courtesy of Alejandro Calvillo, El Poder del Consumidor.

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Figure CS13.4  (continued)

Figure CS13.5 Multimedia campaign message delivered in public spaces indicating that sugar-sweetened beverages taxes could be used to provide drinking water in schools and public spaces. Billboard also indicates “Soda is sweet, diabetes is not.” (continued) Source: Courtesy of Alejandro Calvillo, El Poder del Consumidor.

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Figure CS13.5  (continued) Carriedo et al., 2021). This case study leaves little doubt that civil society organizations alliances will have a central role to play to also attain this goal across the globe.

Case study questions 1. Was it justifiable to target sugar-sweetened beverages with excise taxes in Mexico to cope with obesity pandemic? 2. What explains the success that Mexico had designing, launching, and thus far sustaining the sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy?

References Carriedo, A., Koon, A.D., Encarnación, L.M., Lee, K., Smith, R., & Walls, H. (2021). The political economy of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation in Latin America: Lessons from Mexico, Chile and Colombia. Global Health, 17(1), 5. doi: 10.1186/s12992-020-00656-2 Colchero, M.A., Rivera-Dommarco, J., Popkin, B.M., & Ng, S.W. (2017). In Mexico, evidence of sustained consumer response two years after implementing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Health Aff (Millwood), 36(3), 564–571. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1231 Perez-Escamilla, R., Bermudez, O., Buccini, G.S., Kumanyika, S., Lutter, C.K., Monsivais, P., & Victora, C. (2018). Nutrition disparities and the global burden of malnutrition. BMJ, 361, k2252. doi: 10.1136/ bmj.k2252 Pérez-Escamilla, R., Lutter, C.K., Rabadan-Diehl, C., Rubinstein, A., Calvillo, A., Corvalán, C., & Rivera, J.A. (2017). Prevention of childhood obesity and food policies in Latin America: From research to practice. Obes Rev, 18 (Suppl 2), 28–38. doi: 10.1111/obr.12574 Rivera Dommarco, J.A., González de Cosío, T., García-Chávez, C.G., & Colchero, M.A. (2019). The role of public nutrition research organizations in the construction, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based nutrition policy: Two national experiences in Mexico. Nutrients, 11(3), 594. doi: 10.3390/nu11030594 Teng, A.M., Jones, A.C., Mizdrak, A., Signal, L., Genç, M., & Wilson, N. (2019). Impact of sugarsweetened beverage taxes on purchases and dietary intake: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev, 20(9), 1187–1204. doi: 10.1111/obr.12868

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Case study 

The Baby Killer revisited Regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes Gerard Hastings, Kathryn Angus, Douglas Eadie and Kate Hunt

14.1  Introduction and problem definition It is nearly fifty years since the charity War On Want published its landmark report “The Baby Killer” (Muller, 1974). It exposed the shocking problems being caused across the world by “the promotion and sale of powdered baby milks,” which were pulling women away from breastfeeding to lethal effect. The reaction was dramatic and determined: at a grassroots level there was a global boycott of products made by the biggest culprit, the food giant Nestle; and upstream, the World Health Assembly (WHA), a United Nations body made up of representatives from nearly 200 countries, developed the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO 1981) which required companies to acknowledge the superiority of breast milk, and outlawed any advertising or promotion of what are now called breast milk substitutes (BMS). It seemed that the problem had been solved, and the world’s attention drifted away. In reality, BMS marketing did not stop and remains widespread to this day because some countries (e.g. the USA) have not adopted the Code, and across the world, industry has developed follow-on and specialist milks which they use to promote BMS by proxy. That is, they are branded in exactly the same way and the boundaries between BMS and follow-on and other products have been

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-25

CASE STUDY 14 deliberately blurred. The WHA has moved to close these loopholes by clarifying that the Code also applies to these products, but the marketing continues. The advent and proliferation of digital media have further undermined the Code. This marketing is living up to its notorious ancestry. A recent analysis shows that if all babies were breastfed as the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends, over 800,000 infant deaths would be avoided each year (Hastings et al 2020). The analysis also shows that BMS harms the intellectual development of the baby to such an extent that it is possible to detect the impact on the GDP of a predominantly bottle-fed population. In addition, there is an increased risk of breast cancer for the mother, and significant ecological harm: packaging, supply chains and bottle-feeding apparatus all have a carbon footprint and introduce durable plastics into the environment. The competition, breast milk, has none of these drawbacks, and comes with natural antibodies that turn it into “a personalised medicine for infants”; manufactured products cannot begin to replicate these benefits. Breast milk is also much cheaper. Bottle feeding a baby for six months in the UK cost £175 (approx. US$210) in 2019 for the cheapest own-label products, and more than double that for a premium brand, and these figures do not include any equipment, such as bottles, teats and sterilisers. Comparable data from the USA suggested that it could cost between US$451 and $810 to buy BMS product to feed a baby for 6 months. There are some advantages to bottle-feeding: for some women, breastfeeding can be difficult to instigate and maintain so BMS is a necessary alternative; conflicts can arise (for mothers or observers) between the feeding and sexual functions of the breast; and unsupportive public and workplaces make breastfeeding difficult. The fact that breastfeeding is not readily accommodated by the world of work worldwide makes it particularly challenging for women to breastfeed in the absence of or beyond any period of maternity leave. This is a marked problem in low-income countries where welfare systems are less well-developed. However, in most cases, when taken in the context of threats to the baby’s life and future prospects, or the risk of cancer, these benefits become much less persuasive. The World Health Organization – the executive arm of the WHA – has now decided that action is needed. A stronger light needs to be shone on BMS marketing practices, the world’s attention recaptured and the regulatory controls greatly strengthened. As a first step, it commissioned The Institute for Social Marketing and Health at the University of Stirling to conduct a critical analysis of current BMS marketing practices.

14.2  Primary research The link between commercial marketing and ill-health has been established in many markets – tobacco, processed food and alcohol as well as BMS – so there was no need to prove cause and effect. Rather WHO wanted to know more about the nature and extent of BMS marketing, and in particular how it manages to persuade so many parents to opt for a product that is so clearly inferior to breastmilk. We used a mixed methods approach involving two linked data collection exercises: a review of publicly available data on the global marketing of breast milk substitutes, followed by qualitative interviews with marketing practitioners with experience of breast milk substitutes and food

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Gerard Hastings et al. marketing and infant feeding experts (n = 20). Further details on the methodology can be found here (Hastings et al., 2020). Previous studies have described BMS marketing and tried to unpick its impact on behaviour; to our knowledge, ours is the first investigation to look underneath the hood and examine how the engine works. We also assessed the size and power of the BMS Industry, to provide an indication of the resources it has at its command.

14.3  Behavioural objectives To regain the world’s attention and stimulate a debate amongst non-governmental organisations (NGOs), policymakers and nation states about the need for much more effective regulation of BMS marketing.

14.4 Intervention There was no intervention in a conventional sense: we had no media budget or new product development strategy. We just had data with which to make an impact. Our aim, therefore, was to publish the study in a highly regarded peer-reviewed journal and disseminate it through respected professional networks. The project was not expected to “regain the world’s attention” on its own; it was nested in a wider programme of work including: ••

A much bigger WHO/UNICEF-funded mixed method study of 8350 pregnant women and mothers, and 300 health professionals from Bangladesh, China, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

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A series of three articles targeted at The Lancet, a world-leading medical journal explaining in turn: 1) the health benefits of breastfeeding; 2) the nature and extent of BMS marketing; and 3) the political economy of the BMS market.

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A new debate at the World Health Assembly (target date: 2023).

14.5 Outcomes 14.5.1 Findings The results of our study make uncomfortable reading. New parents are often extremely vulnerable; raising a baby is immensely challenging, and almost all parents are primarily motivated by doing the “best” for their child in whatever circumstances they find themselves. They badly need reassurance and support. They also need a convenient and dependable way of feeding their child: a healthy diet compatible with hectic modern life, and the norm of working mothers and fathers. BMS companies have developed an intimate understanding of these needs and are delivering to them with a combination of “sympathetic” relationship building, non-judgmental support, individually targeted communications, a readily available range of reliable products and the construction of reassuringly familiar and evocative brands. Digital marketing, where the social and commercial have melded, is greatly enhancing their efforts, whilst making the breadth of industry marketing strategies increasingly difficult to track and document. As one marketing expert explained, for many pregnant women, the first point of contact is with the brands rather than health services.

CASE STUDY 14 The reach and wealth of the multinational corporations have turned this soft power into a very hard global force. The BMS market is worth about US$70bn per annum and is controlled by six of the most powerful food companies in the world, with massive household and global reach. High-profit margins offer attractive investment and business opportunities. Marketing spend is extremely difficult to quantify accurately but certainly runs into billions of dollars annually, which is used to target governments and stakeholders as well as consumers. This is corporate marketing at its most powerful and disturbing. The concerns are twofold. First, in most cases, BMS feeding is not the best option, from a health or ecological standpoint. As noted above, its use is causing immense harm to babies, mothers and the environment. Second, the marketing is built on deception. BMS is in reality the definitive one-size-fits-all product. By law, all products must have the same formulation, as established by independent research. The only permitted variation from this is for unproven additives, which if they ever prove to be beneficial, would, again by law, have to be added to all BMS products. The product ranges, the segmentation and bespoke targeting, the carefully honed brands, are simply subterfuge. In the UK the two leading and supposedly very different brands which dominate the market are in fact made by the same multinational. Our study was limited to a small number of interviews and relied on access to secondary data, mostly from high-income economy countries. Thus it is not representative and in particular, reveals less than we would like about what is happening in the global south. Nonetheless, it provides key insights into how BMS marketing works, and adds to our understanding of how unscrupulous business causes harms to health.

14.5.2 Conclusions There is an urgent need to shed more light on the harm being done by BMS marketing; its extent is revelatory to all but a small group of public health experts. Even the marketing practitioners who had worked in the industry were taken aback by it and began to express overt regrets about their past actions. As one experienced executive put it: “everyone ‘drinks the Kool-Aid’ that it’s a good thing.” Just as BMS is being normalised, so too is BMS marketing. Corporate marketing careers move between companies and sectors – from BMS to supermarkets to tech – this unthinking and completely unwarranted moral equivalence has to be challenged. The medical establishment has also been pulled into this charade; just as 50 years ago it had to rethink tobacco, so today it needs to review fundamentally its relationship with the BMS industry. The decision by the British Medical Journal (The BMJ) and sister journals to refuse BMS advertising is a welcome move in this direction. The regulation of marketing needs to be greatly strengthened; as one marketing practitioner observed: “the most effective response would be to prohibit any BMS marketing at all; much like is done with tobacco.” The point is well-made, but BMS is not tobacco; it can be an essential option in specific circumstances – with preterm or SGA (small-for-gestational-age) infants, for instance, or when, even with optimal support, breastfeeding proves impossible. The problem is not the product but rather out-of-control marketing, which is driving dangerous over-consumption in the interests of profits. This needs to change. The sole purpose of communications about BMS should be to help parents and carers make the best possible decision for the baby. Advertising does nothing to help in

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Gerard Hastings et al. this regard. It promotes spurious product differences and reinforces these with confected brands. In its digital form, which has become so prominent in recent years, it is particularly manipulative. All this advertising should cease forthwith, as demanded by the WHO Code four decades ago. The packaging should be unbranded and become a platform for objective guidance, from an accredited public health source, explaining the product contents, how it should be used and by whom. Point-of-sale activity should add further health promotion support, again from an independent source. Pricing also needs to be tightly regulated; BMS is immensely profitable for a small number of multinational corporations, while the costs to society are enormous. In addition, it should no longer be possible to use price as a bogus indicator of quality. Only with these radical revisions will we get a BMS market that serves the needs of babies and their parents rather than shareholders. They are big steps that will take careful, sustained management and will meet resistance from very powerful vested interest. In other contested fields, where radical change is needed, such as tobacco and climate, a Framework Convention, with its global reach, has provided the answer; the equivalent is now needed for infant feeding (Hastings et al., 2020).

14.5.3 Impact ••

Our study was published in Globalization and Health (Hastings et al., 2020), a respected international public health journal, where the article has been accessed 30K times and cited by 34 other academic articles in the 21 months since publication. The article was widely shared on social media among professionals and other networks, the lead author was interviewed by news media, and the full article was translated into Italian and disseminated by NGO IBFAN Italia. The study was presented at numerous conferences including a global event organised by WHO and UNICEF in May 2022 to mark the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the Code.

••

The larger UNICEF/WHO study has now also been published (Kingston et al. 2022) and given a global launch.

••

The three paper Lancet Series is under review.

••

A Group Action legal case against the BMS industry has begun in the USA, and one of our study’s authors has been retained as an expert witness.

The long-term goal of strengthening the regulation of BMS marketing has not yet been achieved, but it has been advanced.

14.6  Lessons for the planet 1. Breastfeeding is the ultimate example of an ecological feeding system: there are no, factories, supply chains, plastics or equipment; no profits or losses. It is time-honoured and deeply respectful of nature. The rest of our food system can learn invaluable lessons from it. 2. There are very real limits to commodification. The same powerful marketing tools that are used to push the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and fast food are being applied to BMS and the harms to health are equally unacceptable. We need a profound rethink of these business models.

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Case study questions 1. What role can evidence play in policy change? 2. What ethical problems did the research with marketing practitioners throw up?

References Hastings, G., Angus, K., Eadie, D., & Hunt, K. (2020) Selling second best: How infant formula marketing works. Globalization and Health, 16: 77. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00597-w Kingston, G., Maplethorpe, N., Spencer, M., Power, G., Symington, L., Jones, H., & Walsh Glinert, K. (M&C Saatchi World Services) (2022) Multi-Country Study Examining the Impact of Breast-milk Substitutes Marketing on Infant Feeding Decisions and Practices: Commissioned Report. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). https:// apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/354094. Accessed 26 May 2022. Muller, M. (1974) The Baby Killer. London: War On Want. https://waronwant.org/sites/default/files/ THE%20BABY%20KILLER%201974.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2022. WHO. (1981) International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO). https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2022.

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Case study 

Healthy breakfasts in Armenia Rowena Merritt and Nanna Skau

15.1  Introduction and problem definition Malnutrition has been identified as a global health crisis, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) identifying nutrition as the main cause of death and disease in the world (WHO, 2019). Rates of malnutrition are continuing to rise, due to the nutrition transition that many developing countries are experiencing, where undernutrition remains alongside micronutrient deficiencies and rapidly growing overweight/obesity rates. The 2018 Global Nutrition Report identified two forms of malnutrition affecting Armenia: overweight and anaemia (Developments Initiative, 2018). In terms of prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents, the recent Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) Armenia study found that 27.7 per cent of surveyed children were overweight, and 12.6 per cent were obese. The gender disaggregation analysis showed that 30 per cent of boys and 25.4 per cent of girls were overweight. Similar tendency was observed for obesity as well, for which boys are more obese than girls (15 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively). Increases in overweight and obesity rates add to the burden of several non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cancers, heart disease and diabetes affecting the performance of the workforce of current and future generations and thereby having significant socio-economic impacts on the country. Healthy breakfast consumption is associated with positive outcomes for diet quality, micronutrient intake, weight status and lifestyle factors (Balvin Frantzen et al., 2013). Breakfast has been

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-26

CASE STUDY 15 shown to positively affect learning in children in terms of behaviour, cognitive and school performance (Littlecott et al., 2016). However, formative research conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Armenia highlighted that many families do not see the value or the need to consume a healthy breakfast. Or, when breakfast is consumed, this is often an unhealthy one consisting of tea or coffee with added sugar and biscuits and sweets. The research also highlighted that the lack of healthy breakfasts meant that children were more likely to snack on unhealthy foods on their way to school, or during breaks. To improve nutrition outcomes among children and adolescents in Armenia, WFP prioritised the development of social behaviour change interventions, activities, and messages to increase the consumption of healthy breakfasts.

15.2  Primary research In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with parents, school-aged children (ranging from 8–18 years of age), teachers and school heads, and shop keepers. The research explored participant’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviours in relation to breakfast consumption. Wider questions were also asked to understand people’s motivations and aspirations, including: Who do you trust? What makes you smile? What are your hopes for the future? When you look back on your childhood, what are your fondest memories? These questions were important as it stopped the research looking at nutrition in a silo, and instead helped to identify the cultural, social, and behavioural dynamics which influenced food preferences and eating habits. The research found that most people did not have breakfasts as they “did not have time” in the morning. There appeared to be no understanding of the importance and value of giving a child a good breakfast before they go to school. This was despite the parents wanting their children to achieve good grades and perform well at school. The lack of breakfasts often led to unhealthy snacking patterns. The research also found that children had enormous influence and control over what they ate and were often allowed to snack on unhealthy foods. Parents often felt as if they had little control over what the children ate and/or appeared unconcerned about the lack of breakfast consumption or the resulting snacking choices and habits. Other key insights identified which focused on the Armenian cultural values, lived history and social norms, included: ••

Armenians love their children. Armenian’s love and praise their children very much; children are seen as the nation’s future citizens who will preserve and continue the Armenian legacy, identity and culture. Armenian families are ready to sacrifice to a great extent in order to secure their children’s dreams and aspirations. Parents are also often very lenient with their children giving their children much say and control within a household. The formative research showed that this trait is reflected in the adult’s inability to say no to unhealthy foods, if their children ask for them, as such, they end up making separate dishes (often unhealthy) for their children on regular basis.

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Armenians are often very traditional and conservative․ Preservation of the national and cultural identity is a priority for Armenian families. In order to preserve the Armenian identity, Armenians tend to keep traditions alive through their practices, eating habits, festivals and celebrations.

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Sense of humour. Armenians are known for their unique sense of humour and quickly replicate and respond to received humour. This sense of humour came through strongly during the in-depth qualitative interviews.

••

Social influence. Habits and lifestyles established early in life and the influences of the surrounding social environment have an impact on the future health and development of Armenian children. The formative research showed that mothers have little control over what their children eat as children get older and more influenced by their peers. Word of mouth also seemed to be a powerful communication channel. However, people were often fearful of gossip and liked to keep many matters private. This meant that often they trusted the advice of immediate family members above others.

15.3  Behavioural objectives The objective of the project was to increase the consumption of healthy breakfasts among school-aged children (aged 6–11 years old) and their parents. The project focused on primary-school aged children due to WFP’s existing links to primary schools through their school lunch programme. Unhealthy breakfasts consisted of tea, coffee and biscuits and/or sweets.

15.4 Interventions To increase the consumption of healthy breakfasts, WFP Armenia developed a Social Behaviour Change Strategy. The Strategy used the findings from the formative research and the behavioural science literature to develop a mix of interventions aimed at the children. A bold and humorous campaign was developed to challenge social norms, create a sense of need, and depict breakfasts as a way of showing love to family members and helping people to understand the value of eating a healthy breakfast in relation to achieving more in life (including greater wealth). Details of the campaign are presented in Table CS15.1. The campaign was supported by a set of interventions, which aimed to support positive changes in buying and eating habits, by creating new cues and prompts, and generating social commitment and utilising all communication channels including social media. The interventions included: ••

Food truck located outside of school offering healthy breakfasts.

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Goal setting with students committing to eat healthy breakfasts for 60 consecutive days. The activity was supported by a habit tracker where the students could keep a record of their breakfast consumption.

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Interactive community theatre delivered in schools to the children and teachers.

CASE STUDY 15 Table CS15.1  Campaign details Campaign positioning and promise

Helping you make the most out of each day. Healthy food fuels your day and future.

Campaign Personality

• Tongue in cheek – reminding people why their norms are not healthy or aspirational for their children. • Inspirational, helping you (your children) to achieve your dreams – let their future shine. • Healthy on the inside, happy on the outside. • Time goes so fast, make every second count. • Showing love and affection.

Campaign tone

• Health equals wealth (all the things you can achieve if you have your health, and what healthy children can achieve now and, in the future). Overall, the tone of all activities, materials and messages was focused on the love family members have for each other and their children, as opposed to “preachy,” as well as: • Reflecting – Acknowledging the busy chaos of most young families. • Questioning of social norms – Just because that is the way, does not mean it is right. • Aspirational – “It goes so fast. Make time last.” Make the most of every second. • Motivating /Linking health with wealth – Focusing on all the things adults and children can achieve if they have a healthy breakfast, including being more effective at work and achieving more at school, helping children reach their career dreams.

Campaign slogan Messaging

• Practical – Some tips to help you make the most out of your day. This day is yours. The healthy breakfast campaign messaging reflected the fact the most people think it does not really matter if children do not eat breakfast, thereby challenging this notion in terms of reducing the ability of young people to make the most of their day and achieve their aspirations in terms of study, sports and hobbies.

Other interventions were developed which were aimed at parents or were focused on both parents and children, including: ••

PR activities, including a breakfast competition and interactive games.

••

Facebook page and other social media activities aimed at parents.

All the interventions were carefully pre-tested before implementation, and co-design workshops were held with 30 children and their parents to create the campaign messages, logo and materials.

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Figure CS15.1  Campaign materials

CASE STUDY 15

15.5 Outcomes The Strategy was shared with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Health, and from April-June 2021 was piloted in partnership with the government departments. To gain rapid feedback on the effectiveness of the interventions, Nimble Trials methodology as used. Nimble Trials seek to decrease the gap between research and action by testing short-term outcomes quickly and cheaply and by gaining rapid feedback on behavioural interventions (Peace, 2018).

15.5.1  Sample size The interventions were implemented in three schools, with a fourth school acting as a control group (receiving no interventions). The schools selected were compatible in relation to the socialeconomic profile of students. Within each school, 30 parents and 20 children were systematically randomly selected, resulting in a total sample size of 200 participants.

15.5.2  Data collection Two surveys were conducted: one with school-aged children and one with their parents. The baseline data was collected in April 2020, and the follow-up work was conducted 6 weeks later at the start of June 2020. The same participants were interviewed at both timepoints.

15.5.3 Measures The key outcome measure included changes in breakfast consumption among children and parents and consumption of healthy breakfasts.

15.5.4  Multi-faceted interventions Table CS15.2 details the interventions each of the pilot schools received. A different mix of interventions was implemented in different schools. By testing different intervention mixes, the trial data can identify which mix of interventions is the most effective. Table CS15.2  Intervention mix, by school Intervention type Overarching campaign Goal setting/Habit tracker Community theatre performance PR activities Food truck

School 1

School 2

School 3

School 4

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Rowena Merritt and Nanna Skau School 4 was the control group and received no interventions and was in a different province. The campaign was just implemented at a local level to reduce the risk of the messages being received by School 4. During the evaluation this was checked for, but the findings showed that the campaign messages had remained within the intervention area.

15.5.5  Parents findings When asked about their consumption of breakfasts, there was an increase in the number of parents eating a healthy breakfast across all groups receiving the interventions, with the greatest increase seen in School 3, the school where the whole intervention mix was implemented (Figure CS15.2). This compares to the control group, where a decrease of 25% in breakfast consumption was reported. There were increases in the consumption of healthy breakfasts, when compared to the control school (School 4). School 3 reported the greatest increase of 22% between baseline and follow-up. There was only a slight increase in School 1 (3%) (Figure CS15.3). There was also an increase in the number of parents in Schools 1–3 stating that they ate breakfast 5–7 days a week in the followup survey, an increase of 13% (from 50% at baseline to 63% at follow-up). By comparison, in the control school (school 4), there was a decrease of 17% in the number of parents eating breakfast 5–7 days a week between baseline and follow-up (a decline from 44% to 27%).

15.5.6  Children’s findings As with the parents, there was an increase in the number of students eating breakfast in all the intervention groups, and a decrease of 12% in the control group. The greatest increases were seen in Schools 2 and 3 (Figure CS15.4). The greatest increase of 33% was seen in School 3 which received all the interventions, including the food truck, which increased from 62% at baseline to 95% at follow-up. When asked what they had eaten for breakfast, there was a positive increase in the number of students eating a healthy breakfast in Schools 1 to 3. The greatest increase was seen in School 3 (Figure CS15.5).

Figure CS15.2  Responses to the question to parents: Did you eat breakfast today?

CASE STUDY 15

Figure CS15.3  Percentage of parents who ate a healthy breakfast

15.6  Lessons for the planet Children are in some cultures the main “influencers” on food consumption behaviours of themselves and their families and are to a large extend influencing each other’s food behaviours, for example related to breakfast consumption and snacking. This project was designed with positive and aspirational messages engaging the school-going children in reflections about the future

Figure CS15.4  Responses to the question to students: Did you eat breakfast today?

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Figure CS15.5  Percentage of students who ate a healthy breakfast and “growing to one’s potential” rather than prescriptive messaging and learning about nutrition values of “carrots.” The campaign was designed to have the children and parents realising the connection between healthy breakfast consumption to physical and mental growth and therefore change behaviour.

Case study questions 1. Why was it important to ask broader questions such as Who do you trust? What makes you smile?, etc. 2. What do you think are some of the advantages of using the Nimble Trial methodology?

References Balvin Frantzen, L., Treviño, R.P., Echon, R.M., Garcia-Dominic, O., & Dimarco, N. (2013). Association between frequency of ready-to-eat cereal consumption, nutrient intakes, and body mass index in fourth- to sixth-grade low-income minority children. Journal of the Academy Nutrition and Dietetics, 113, 511–519. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2013.01.006 Development Initiatives (2018). 2018 Global Nutrition Report: Shining a Light to Spur Action on Nutrition. Bristol, UK: Development Initiatives. Littlecott, H., Moore, G., Moore, L., Lyons, R., & Murphy, S. (2016). Association between breakfast consumption and educational outcomes in 9–11-year-old children. Public Health Nutrition, 19(9), 1575–1582. doi:10.1017/S1368980015002669 Peace, F. (2018). Policy evaluations fail too often. Here’s how to make them more nimble. Retrieved 15 February 2022, from https://apolitical.co/solution_article/policy-evaluations-fail-too-often-hereshow-to-make-them-more-nimble/ World Health Organization. (2019). Malnutrition is a world health crisis. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2022, from https://www.who.int/news/item/26-09-2019-malnutrition-is-a-worldhealth-crisis

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Case study 

Social marketing at multiple levels of the fashion system with fashion revolution Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy

16.1  Introduction and problem definition Fashion Revolution was founded in 2013 because of the Rana Plaza Factory disaster where 1,138 people lost their lives due to the clothing factory collapsing. They aim to combat the negative effects of fast fashion. It is a non-profit organization that focuses on creating behaviour change through social marketing at multiple levels of the fashion system. It is a self-proclaimed fashion activism movement, mobilising citizens, brands, and policymakers through research, education and advocacy. It is a change-oriented organization, with the aim to impact the fast fashion system and make sure that every employee in the system is seen and heard. They also create pressure points for relevant stakeholders forcing transparency in fashion supply chains. Fashion Revolution has a presence in 94 countries, this creates collective and global movements driving change throughout multiple levels of the whole fashion system. While Fashion Revolution has made a lot of progress in fighting inequality in pay and poor working conditions, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to change the system entirely. Fashion Revolution attracts a lot of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) to join their movements.

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Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy However, there is still a lack of accountability by big brands globally. This creates issues around transparency of the supply of materials and production of fast fashion goods. Fashion Revolution is faced with a challenge of attracting different audiences, such as big brands, to join their movement for the fast fashion industry to become more transparent. Furthermore, because the majority of workers in the fast fashion industry are women, the pay gap still remains an issue due to gender inequality, as well as many workplaces not meeting humane conditions and requirements. This movement has created many small wins throughout the fast fashion system, though they are still on the path to global and macro levels of change. Hence, another challenge that Fashion Revolution faces is making sure that the movement influences the sought change areas in key aspects of the system, and that the key players such as governments and major fashion brands and retailers are committed to these changes.

16.2  Primary research Fashion Revolution undertakes regular surveys of different stakeholders each year. This includes Consumers, Supply Chains, and Fashion and Retail Brands. The latest includes a consumer survey of 5000 people in 2020. This focused on the effects of fast fashion on people’s purchasing behaviours including people from the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, aged 16–75. Specifically, it asked what conditions people felt were important in the way their clothing was made. Their yearly Fashion Transparency Indexes feature research they have done to ascertain the level of disclosure and transparency regarding supply chains and sustainable practices of 250 of the largest fashion brands according to a very thorough methodology. They score publicly available information on companies’: 1) Policy and commitments; 2) Governance; 3) Traceability; 4) Supply chain due diligence and 5) Recent issues. Finally, they also continually undertake more in-depth research into supply chains for 62 major fashion brands beyond their publicly available documentation and publish this each year. The outcome of these pieces of research is up-to-date information on the key areas where companies need to change, key areas where there is synergy between what customers hold important and these areas for change, and key areas where policy change can be used effectively to mitigate negative environmental and social impacts.

16.3  Behavioural objectives Their overall aims span across the whole system to include macro policy level change, meso industry level change, and micro cultural change. They lobby and advocate for policy changes, regulation changes and law enforcement regarding “corporate accountability, transparency, working conditions and environmental practices.” While their meso-level aims include undertaking research into both environmental and social impacts of fashion brands’ supply chains and publishing reports to promote accountability, drive change, and create consumer pressure. They also aim to highlight responsible brands. Lastly, their consumer-based micro-level aims are to increase awareness and education regarding fast fashion impacts on people and the planet, as well as drive collective consumer action. They also seek to help people to purchase less new clothing and take care of their current clothing for longer.

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16.4 Intervention Fashion Revolution (2020a, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c, n.d) intervene in three main ways. First, through its campaigns such as Fashion Revolution Week where the global community comes together to remember those who died as a result of the Rana Plaza disaster. Specific campaigns on social media include “#Who Made My Clothes,” “#I Made Your Clothes,” “#Who Made My Fabric” and “#I Made Your Fabric,” which is an important tool for activism. Consumers are encouraged to post pictures of themselves with their clothes on their own and fashion brands/retailers social media holding signs with the appropriate #sentence. The aim is for retailers to respond in kind with the answers and increase transparency and awareness of the working conditions of the people who made the clothes or fabric. Fashion Revolution uses these campaigns and blogs to enhance activism and give customers voice. This intervention can be quite powerful in creating change and impact of the fast fashion system, if these voices are heard by necessary audience. Resources that they provide that help consumers and organisations to get involved include guides for each stakeholder group (citizens; brands/wholesalers/retailers/distributors; farmers/producers/factories; trade unions); guides on how to be a fashion revolutionary, to host an event; to buy #haulternative (e.g. pre-loved clothing); and how to get in contact and share views with policymakers and brands. Second, Fashion Revolution engages in education of consumers and provides a number of free courses. This has proven to be an effective way to educate customers about their consumption habits, impact on climate change and socio-economic impact in developing countries. 24,000 people completed the online course in 2021. This led to consumers wanting to know where their clothes come from. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers became more vigilant about their clothes, hence the need to be more educated. This intervention tool has had a significant influence on consumers’ engagement with the fast fashion industry. In support of this, they also offer educational toolkits and reports for meso-level intervention in the form of policy dialogue toolkits, case studies and evaluations of policy interventions. There are sections and learning resources aimed at primary, secondary and college educators and their students. Third, collaboration with governments is another level of intervention that Fashion Revolution employs to make changes. For example, the long-standing collaboration with British Council and the programme offered to younger generations to become advocates of sustainable, ethical and socially engaged fashion. This intervention is designed to help SMEs to engage in a more sustainable design and production of fashion, which is achieved by creating knowledge, skills and networks of leaders in fashion industry, governments and consumers. These networks should encourage conversations among different stakeholders, and reach momentum that will lead to change in the system by amending policies and behaviours. They also take on specific lobbying over policies and regulations including the UK and Australian Modern Slavery Acts, and Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation in the EU. The key issue of these interventions, is their implementation across 94 countries, which may be challenging to achieve due to varying economic and political environments of these countries.

16.5 Outcomes The historical analyses indicate that social media presence has intensified over the years and the campaigns mentioned above do indeed give voices to consumers. These campaigns create collective action, which is important in changing the system. They also lead to activism, which can have

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Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy a significant impact socio-economic change of the workers in the fast fashion industry. Through the use of blogs and increase in social media campaigns, Fashion Revolution has made important changes for the industry in terms of policy change and government engagements (Table CS16.1). Consumer behaviour has become more sophisticated over the years because of the availability of and access to information regarding fast fashion practices. The increase of this information together with availability of resources available to consumers, enables them to question the current practices and engage in co-creation of new practices. The co-creation process is really important in terms of listening and valuing consumers’ voices that come through blogs and campaigns (Table CS16.1).

16.6  Lessons for the planet The fast fashion system presents a wicked problem that by its very nature presents impact on all areas of sustainability. Presently, according to the transparency index’s and reports from Fashion Revolution we can see that many of these impacts are negative. Fashion Revolution is campaigning to right these wrongs according to many different areas, and many different levels of the system. Fast fashion can exploit workers who may be enslaved, in danger, overworked, abused or discriminated against. Fashion Revolution has driven policy acceptance against some aspects of this with regards workers’ rights, human slavery, and safe and healthy working conditions. This aspect includes fair and equal pay. To address this, Fashion Revolution created a petition for living wages to be implemented in the fashion industry supply chain. The petition targeted existing businesses as well as governments to change policies in relation to the minimum wage. Fast fashion also has many detrimental effects on our natural environment. It’s use of resources can deplete our virgin resources, increase soil degradation, and increase air and water pollutants, harming ecosystems. By increasing consumer acceptance and knowledge of circular economy practices, reusing, recycling, upcycling, and repairing clothing, Fashion Revolution aims to address this from a consumer perspective. Transparency index indicated that transparency behaviour by big brands worldwide remains low, at approximately 18%. Transparency of the supply chain is important. Their transparency index also helps to highlight the impacts that individual brands and retailers are having on the environment, both the natural and social environment and is being used as a lever for change. Lastly, another lesson is the importance of the collective movement and its positive impact it makes on consumers, farmers, and brands. The collective action illustrates that Fashion Revolution global network has become stronger over the years and engages in activism which can lead to changes in consumer buying behaviours. This is crucial because global collective movement can create powerful shifts in the fast fashion system.

Table CS16.1  A selection of the key outcomes of the different campaigns in 2021

Fashion Revolution Week

#Who Made My Clothes? – #I Made Your Clothes?

#What’s In My Clothes?

Consumer

Industry

Policy

63,000 reads of resources

4.9 billion global press reach

434 global partnerships

51 Policymakers engaged

569 million social media reach

24, 000 new learners in online courses

230,000 global network event attendees

228 Student ambassadors globally

4.2 million posts with Fashion Revolution hashtags 851,000 posts using the hashtag 223,000 responses Events, shop displays, blog posts, videos and podcasts on the topic from throughout the supply chain and among fashion brands and retailers.

Get involved 20,700 Instagram posts using guides highlighting the hashtag the impact on the planet of the fashion supply chain 5,000 Instagram posts using the 1,000 responses from brands hashtag and producers. 100 Influencer press releases globally

3600 emails sent to brands by consumers

(continued)

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#Who Made My Fabric? - #I Made Your Fabric

Education

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Education

Consumer

Industry

Policy

#Loved Clothes Upcycling Tutorials 7000 views of upcycling Last created. tutorials. Book published with Penguin. Fashion Open Studio

7 video tutorials were created showcasing Latin American Community upcycling and repair Upcyclers. events. 17,700 event attendees 30 plus videos produced 15,900 Instagram followers

70 plus designers showcased from 20 plus countries Hyeres Fashion Festival masterclass and mentorship programme on sustainability in Fashion.

Lobbying and Policy Advocacy

Lobbying positively contributed to the adoption of the new International Accord for Health and Safety in the Textile and Garment Industry by over 102 international brands include 13 major brands, replacing the Bangladesh Accord. Contributed to the EU Strategy for sustainable textiles. Strengthened UK Modern Slavery Act Contributed to the EU Directive on Mandatory Human Rights, Environmental and Good Governance Due Diligence.

Anna Earl and Ann-Marie Kennedy

Table CS16.1  A selection of the key outcomes of the different campaigns in 2021 (continued)

Online Courses

Fashion’s Future and the Sustainable Development Goals – 32,000 learners Who Made My Clothes? – 18,200 learners

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Case study questions 1. What are the sustainability related issues to the clothes we wear? 2. Name an intervention that Fashion Revolution ran at each of the micro, meso, and macro levels.

References Fashion Revolution (2020a). Consumer Survey Report 2020. Accessed 12/12/21, available at: https:// www.fashionrevolution.org/resources/consumer-survey/ Fashion Revolution (2021a). Fashion Revolution Transparency Index 2021. Accessed 12/12/21, available at: https://issuu.com/fashionrevolution/docs/fashiontransparencyindex_2021 Fashion Revolution (2021c). Out of Sight: A Call for Transparency from Field to Fabric 2021. Accessed 12/12/21, available at: https://issuu.com/fashionrevolution/docs/tna_fr_freedomfundreport_261121_v3.5 Fashion Revolution (2021b). Fashion Revolution Impact Report 2021. Accessed 12/12/21, available at: https://www.fashionrevolution.org/impact/ Fashion Revolution (n.d.). Manifesto for a Fashion Revolution. Accessed 12/12/21, available at: https:// www.fashionrevolution.org/manifesto/

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Case study 

Autism Change your reactions Sandra C. Jones, Jennifer Lowe, Nicola Edwards and Jade Maloney

17.1  Introduction and problem definition In 2008, the United Nations officially proclaimed 2 April as “World Autism Awareness Day” highlighting the need to improve quality of life for all autistic people. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises the diversity of autism as a neurodevelopmental condition which often manifests as differences in social interaction, communication, behaviour and interests. Although 1 in 160 people are autistic, many experience stigma, discrimination and human rights violations due to a lack of public awareness on a global scale (WHO, 2022). The Sixty-Seventh World Health Assembly urges member states to support research and public campaigns to raise awareness about autism and remove stigmatisation. With a population of more than 25.6 million people, it is estimated that 1 in 70 Australians are on the autism spectrum. Although the “neurodiversity paradigm” was conceptualised by an autistic Australian academic and continues to be promoted by researchers and advocates, there have been no public health campaigns dedicated to autism education in Australia. In 2017, the Parliament of Victoria’s “Inquiry into Services for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Final Report” recommended an extensive public education campaign about autism (Parliament of Victoria, 2017). As the peak body for autistic people and their supporters in

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Sandra C. Jones et al. Victoria, Amaze commissioned a research project in partnership with the Australian Catholic University to better understand the community’s knowledge of and attitudes towards autism and gain firsthand insights into the lived experiences of autistic people.

17.2  Primary research The research consisted of two ground-breaking studies which examined autism in Australia, resulting in novel and invaluable insights. Led by Professor Sandra Jones, a participatory approach informed the design, implementation and evaluation to highlight autistic perspectives.

17.2.1  Study one: Community knowledge and attitudes The first study focused on the community’s knowledge of and attitudes towards autism, with more than 2,400 non-autistic Australians participating in the online survey. This research revealed that 98% of those surveyed have heard of autism and 86% have contact with an autistic person. One in four have an autistic family member and one in five have an autistic friend. Despite seemingly high levels of public awareness and connection, only 29% of respondents believe they know how to support an autistic person (Jones et al., 2021).

17.2.2  Study two: Autistic peoples lived experiences The second study sought to capture the perspectives of autistic people and their families, based on their lived experiences within their communities, attracting over 1,200 responses. When autistic people and their families were asked whether other people in the community knew how to support them, a meagre 4% agreed, highlighting a more nuanced opportunity to bridge the evident gap between autistic and non-autistic Australians (Jones et al., 2022). The autism community expressed a desire for the public to have an increased awareness of five common challenges: difficulties in social situations, anxiety about unexpected changes, needing extra time to process information, sensory sensitivities and meltdowns. More than half of autistic Australians reported feeling socially isolated and experiencing negative day-to-day interactions, with 81% receiving stares and 61% being subjected to “tutting” and “headshaking” from community members when in public (Jones et al., 2022).

17.2.3  Key collective findings Although the majority of Australians conveyed a level of autism awareness, autistic people and their families still reported high incidence of negative day-to-day experiences in their communities, specifically relating to various aspects of social interactions out in public. This dissonance highlights the lack of research which has aimed to integrate autistic and nonautistic community members’ perspectives to improve broader societal cohesion in Australia. Collectively, the findings of studies one and two indicate a decisive need for autism-focused education and communication initiatives that are developed in collaboration with the autistic and autism communities to ensure meaningful participation and inclusion is achieved. More specifically, the broader community’s lack of understanding about how autism might affect an individual’s behaviour gives rise to myths and misperceptions that may lead to negative attitudes towards autism, autistic people, their families, carers and friends.

CASE STUDY 17 It is noteworthy that autistic and non-autistic adults in Australia similarly recognised that autistic people are subjected to discrimination and exclusion within the broader community. Public education efforts which strive to inform others about the needs of autistic people and their families would contribute towards better supports, inclusion and societal acceptance. The utility of integrating the perspectives and lived experiences of autistic and non-autistic Australians across these studies have firmly established that autism awareness is not akin to possessing, practicing and implementing the skills required to engage with autistic people through individualised adjustments and/or accommodations across range of settings.

17.3  Behaviour objectives Based on the key findings gleaned from research studies one and two, Australia’s first autism public education campaign aimed to influence behavioural change across both individual and collective levels of society, with the overarching aim to foster understanding, acceptance and engagement. Ultimately, the community autism education campaign sought to create a more inclusive community for autistic Victorians, their families, carers and friends. As a social marketing campaign, the autism community education initiative moved towards advancing longer-term strategic objectives and implementing short-term marketing activities that are built upon three core campaign goals: 1. More Victorians understand the facts and reject myths and misperceptions about autism. 2. More Victorians know how to act and what to do to support autistic people. 3. Autistic people and their families/carers feel better understood and included by society. Fundamentally, the research findings make clear that autism awareness does not translate into autism-friendly practices adopted by the wider community. The autistic community has clearly surmised their day-to-day interactions with others across a range of everyday settings and social contexts may cause confusion, distress and often result in feelings of exclusion, stigmatisation and discrimination. Whilst being autistic may inherently be challenging in settings such as supermarkets where the lights are bright and consumers are manoeuvring between aisles, more often than not, the reactions of non-autistic community members towards autistic people were detrimental. Having identified this nuanced aspect of public social interactions as problematic, the core behavioural objective for the autism social marketing campaign was to change the way that members of the community respond and react towards autistic individuals and their families. Overcoming these barriers commonly experienced by autistic people in everyday community settings provides an opportunity for authentic autistic inclusion and community engagement.

17.4 Intervention In line with a participatory research approach, the advertising campaign concepts were cocreated with input and feedback from over 200 autistic people, their families and carers. The integrity and authenticity of the portrayal and representation of the autistic community were

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Sandra C. Jones et al. honoured by the intentional decision to cast actually autistic actors in the role of autistic people in each of the advertisements. The creative suite of three advertisements aligned with the autism communities’ priorities for the public to have an increased awareness of meltdowns, sensory sensitivities and needing extra time to process information across three commonly recognised community contexts. A short description of each advertisement is outlined below; each scenario has a “before” and “after” version, based on the idea that the general public change their actions.

17.4.1  Supermarket checkout A mother is clearly struggling to juggle paying for her groceries and caring for her autistic school-aged son who is being tactile and jumping up and down in what may be perceived as a “meltdown.” In the “before” scenario, shoppers are judgemental, making comments about the need for her to discipline her son, whilst the “after” scenario depicts shoppers offering to help the mother with her shopping bags. This makes an obvious positive difference to the mother (Figure CS17.1).

17.4.2  In the office A young autistic woman is shown sitting at her desk in the office, looking overwhelmed with an emphasis placed on the sounds of phones ringing, people talking and the big bright office lights above her head, leading her to put on her sunglasses. The “before” scenario depicts her work colleagues laughing, insinuating she was hungover from a big night out, but the “after” scenario demonstrates an understanding of sensory sensitivities with a colleague asking if she could put the blinds down for her. The young autistic woman is grateful for their support (Figure CS17.2).

Figure CS17.1 A still image from the “Supermarket Checkout” advertisement shown on television

CASE STUDY 17

Figure CS17.2  A still image from the “In the Office” advertisement shown on television

17.4.3  Ordering at a Café A young autistic man is shown sitting at a café with a friend when the waiter comes to take their order. Observing the autistic man’s lack of eye contact and delay in responding to the question about what kind of coffee he would like, the waiter defaults to asking his friend rather than waiting for the autistic man to speak. In the “after” scenario the waiter asks the autistic man directly and waits for his verbal response. The young autistic man simply needed more time to process the question and appreciated the opportunity to speak for himself (Figure CS17.3). Each of these advertisements are 30 seconds in length and ends with the voiceover “Autism, change your reactions, change your actions.” The freeze end frame displays the logo which was specifically designed for the autism public education campaign and the website address “changeyourreactions.com” is presented as a simple reminder of the desired behavioural change as the advertisements call to action. The inclusion of the microsite address also provides the audience with a real-time opportunity to explore additional resources and engage across social media platforms (Figure CS17.4). The social marketing campaign “Autism: Change Your Reactions” is the first-of-its-kind. Aligned with the integrated social marketing communications philosophy and practice of selecting and coordinating all social marketing communication elements, the public education campaign featured above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) advertising to achieve campaign goals. Given ATL advertising is used to reach large audiences via mass media promotion and BTL advertising seeks to target smaller audience segments, adopting both strategies provides a holistic approach which often yields greater return on investment. The social marketing campaign ran in two waves, with $909,000 spent between 17 Feb – 15 March 2020 and an additional $600,000 spent between 25 April and 22 May 2021. ATL and

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Figure CS17.3  A still from the “Ordering at a Café” advertisement shown on television BTL advertising channels included social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, free-to-air and on-demand television, radio spots, newspapers, digital displays within shopping centres and outdoor advertising across digital billboards and metropolitan buses. The custom-designed microsite “changeyourreactions.com” offers all visitors an opportunity to learn more about autism through frequently asked questions and practical support guides. The website content has been strategically segmented based on the target audience’s needs (Figure CS17.5).

Figure CS17.4 A screenshot of the “Autism: Change Your Reactions” advertising campaign end tag

CASE STUDY 17

Figure CS17.5 A screenshot from the changeyourreactions.com website homepage which shows the campaign’s target audience has been segmented according to their information needs

17.5 Outcomes As a pioneering social marketing campaign in Australia, measuring the success of the “Autism: Change Your Reactions” initiative was challenging due to an absence of benchmarking metrics and the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic occurring during the planned campaign period. It is estimated that social media advertising generated 13.6 million impressions. It is worth noting that 29.9% of the impressions on social media were attributable to advertisements written in languages other than English, targeting Victorian audiences who are culturally and linguistically diverse. The total reach generated by each marketing channel varied with television generating 1.6 million views, radio reaching 1.2 million listeners and newspaper readership at 560,000. Even with Metropolitan and Regional Melbourne in and out of lockdowns during the campaign, the outdoor advertising campaign achieved reach across 38.3% of the metro market and digital displays in shopping centres generated 1.1 million impressions. BTL advertising efforts were also fruitful with an additional 18.5 million impressions attributable across 466 media items. The “Autism: Change Your Reactions” evaluation survey found 46% recalled the campaign, 91% found it believable and 57% felt motivated to take action as a result of seeing it. Moreover, 90% of respondents were concerned about how others treat autistic people and 51% were concerned about their own treatment of autistic people. Pleasingly, over 41% of respondents reported talking about the advertising campaign with someone else. Whilst there is evidence the campaign began to generate the intended behavioural changes, supporting inclusion is a long-term process, and there remains a need to increase understanding of autism and how to support autistic people among the Victorian community.

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Sandra C. Jones et al. Whilst quantitative online survey data results and digital analytics provide one perspective of the social marketing campaigns success, the views of the general public and members of the autistic and autism communities must also be taken into consideration during the evaluation. The qualitative data collected from the autism community in Victoria suggests the campaign has resulted in positive real-world outcomes that have translated toward improving the lives of autistic people, their families and the wider community. “I have seen more tolerance and acceptance. The campaign has facilitated a discussion between myself - mother to a beautiful boy with ASD - and strangers at shops parks etc within our community.” “I think families are becoming more educated in advocating for their loved ones and fostering authenticity and educating others. There is a growing awareness around ableism which helps.”

17.6  Lessons for the planet Despite the proliferation of autism research over the last 20 years, there have been limited studies examining the inclusion of autistic people in their local communities. The research conducted by Australian Catholic University and Amaze clearly demonstrates an urgent need to improve society’s acceptance and inclusion of autistic people of all ages. It is imperative to remain cognisant of the findings that community awareness of autism does not automatically extend to an understanding of how to support autistic people. Based on collective responses to the “Autism: Change Your Reactions” campaign, we encourage social marketing researchers and practitioners to consider the development and implementation of autism initiatives that are informed by and developed with autistic people, rather than for them. Public education campaigns that are intentionally co-created with autistic people and their families will move towards the creation of a more inclusive, informed and welcoming community for everyone.

Case study questions 1. In considering the research findings and desired behavioural changes, why was a social marketing campaign considered more appropriate than a health education initiative? 2. Research findings highlighted five common challenges among the autistic community, three of which were addressed by the “Autism: Change Your Reactions” advertisements. The two remaining experiences autistic people would like the general public to know more about are their difficulties in social situations and anxiety about unexpected changes. Describe the “before” and “after” scenarios if you were responsible for creating these two advertisements.

Videos Each of the 30-second “Autism: Change Your Reaction” advertisements can be viewed via the Amaze Channel on YouTube using the following links: •• Supermarket Checkout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_okvxXNZA14

CASE STUDY 17 •• In the Office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv_9XbbLvTs •• Ordering at a Café: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5DrKv1h3Z4

References Jones, S.C., Akram, M., Gordon, C.S., Murphy, N., & Sharkie, F. (2021). Autism in Australia: Community knowledge and autistic people’s experiences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(10), 3677–3689. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04819-3 Jones, S.C., Gordon, C.S., Akram, M., Murphy, N., & Sharkie, F. (2022). Inclusion, exclusion and isolation of autistic people: Community attitudes and autistic people’s experiences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(3), 1131–1142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04998-7 Parliament of Victoria. (2017). Inquiry into services for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder Final Report. https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/fcdc/inquiries/58th/ Autism/FCDC_58-03_Autism_report.pdf World Health Organization. (2022). Autism. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ autism-spectrum-disorders

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Case study 

Active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city Christine Domegan, Tina Flaherty, Dmitry Brychkov, Evelyn Fanning and Caroline Murray

18.1  Introduction and problem definition National and international research show that what happens to a child during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life will influence the child’s health and well-being for their lifetime (Child Research Network 2017; Centre for Community Child Health, 2018). This is a critical developmental stage as it is within early childhood that a child’s brain and biological system rapidly develop (Canny et al., 2017). Favourable experiences, which occur during this critical stage, impact positively on the child’s development including social, motor, cognitive and linguistic development (Canny et al., 2017). Evidence suggests that leading an active lifestyle in early childhood is likely to translate into high activity during adulthood (National Childhood Network, n.d). An active lifestyle during the early years has multiple benefits including development of bones and muscles, movement skills, development of coordination and development of self-confidence (Maternal and Early Years, n.d; HSE, n.d). Importantly, it lays the foundations for the attitudes, skills and behaviours for lifelong improved health and well-being. In early childhood, active play is the most appropriate form of physical activity as it helps learning, communication and improves confidence. Active play can be found in almost all types of physical activity including everyday tasks (climbing steps), unstructured tasks (lying and rolling),

DOI: 10.4324/9781003200086-29

CASE STUDY 18 structured tasks (Incy wincy spider), and active travel like walking. The World Health Organization published guidelines in 2019 (WHO 2019) for physical activity for children. These guidelines suggest that: ••

Infants less than 1 year should be physically active several times a day in a variety of ways, particularly through interactive floor-based play; more is better. For those not yet mobile, this includes at least 30 minutes in prone position (tummy time) spread throughout the day while awake and

••

Children 1 and 2 years old should spend at least 180 minutes in a variety of physical activities at any intensity, including moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, spread throughout the day; more is better.

In a national context, guidelines on physical activity for Ireland cover children and young people aged 2–18 years and suggest; all children and young people should be active, at a moderate to vigorous level, for at least 60 minutes every day. Include muscle strengthening, flexibility, and bonestrengthening exercises 3 times a week.

18.2  Primary research In the formative research stage, a systematic literature review was undertaken to understand other successful interventions that targeted increasing physical activity and active play opportunities among 0–3 years olds. This review uncovered relatively few interventions, which specifically aimed to increase or improve physical activity among 0–3 years olds. Generally, the physical activity element was part of a wider objective, for example, obesity prevention or bone formation in premature babies. This review was supplemented by the collection of primary survey data from key stakeholders (n = 115) including dissenting voices, who identified and listed their top three barriers and enablers, with clarification statements to active play for 0–3 years olds in Galway city. This data identified all the barriers or inhibitors and drivers or bright spots perceived by stakeholders to affect active play for 0–3 years olds in Galway city. The second stage entailed paired comparisons that generated 40 barrier and enabler themes, 22 of which were negative (barriers) and 18 of which were positive (enabling) to active play for 0–3 years olds in Galway city. Causes and effects and the dynamic multi-causal relationships between all these perceived forces were then analysed based on the systems group modelling (n = 7). The central driving forces and rooted patterns within the system were identified. This resulted in the generation of a multi-causal active play for 0–3 years olds systems map which represented the interactions between the structural, behavioural and stakeholder elements that hinder and/or enable active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city. The final stage, a triangulation stage, involved key informant interviews with other system stakeholders (n = 5) beyond the modelling group to verify the map and ensure it is representative of what is currently taking place in Galway city among 0–3 years old and active play. This final stage also identified solutions and leverage points across the active play systems map.

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18.3  Behavioural objective The project’s overarching goal was to identify evidence-based active play/physical activity strategies covering multiple levels and multiple stakeholders to increase opportunities for 0–3 years old active play/physical activity in Galway city.

18.4 Outcomes System stakeholders (see Figure CS18.1) included local and national HSE stakeholders, crèches and preschools, parent and toddler groups, child and family agency stakeholders, city council stakeholders, community and voluntary representatives, national organizations, private childcare providers and stakeholders from the education and media sector. The stakeholders identified 239 barriers to active play and from these, 8 underlying forces and factors which are interconnected. One hundred and twenty-nine solutions were identified to address the barriers and underlying forces. These findings are illustrated in Figure CS18.2. The systems map presents a visualization of all the dynamics at work in relation to active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city. The map captures the interrelated factors and incorporates diverse perspectives, experiences, and structural issues. It illustrates the micro, individual variables,

Figure CS18.1  Stakeholder representation

CASE STUDY 18

Figure CS18.2 A social marketing systems map of the factors that influence active play for 0- to 3-year-olds in Galway City such as awareness and motivation; the meso factors such as the public health nurse and parent groups as well as the macro, organizational and structural components such as health and safety in crèches together with the interplay between them. The map identifies “lack of co-ordination/integration of national and local policy” and “parenting motivation and lifestyle” as the dominant dynamics that currently undermine or block (act as a barrier to) active play in 0–3 years old in Galway city. These form negative feedback loops, which are examples of vicious loops. The map also identifies “parent support and resources,” “registered childcare setting” and “targeted interventions” as the bright spots or positive patterns (enablers) that facilitate active play for 0–3 years old in Galway city. These enablers form positive feedback loops. To address these dynamics, 25 solutions were identified by the stakeholders, including addressing the funding around active play facilities, lobbying policymakers, educating stakeholders and developing/improving initiatives targeting parents and 0–3 years old (Table CS18.1). Parenting and parents’ lifestyle: Parents, parents’ lifestyles and parenting are not homogenous but are heterogeneous behaviours; parenting is strongly influenced by the parent’s status in life. Parents who are living in poverty or substandard conditions, their ability in relation to active play is negatively impacted by their living conditions. The heterogeneous parenting and lifestyles strongly influence’s parents’ motivation to want to actively engage in these activities with

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Christine Domegan et al. Table CS18.1  Potential solutions identified by stakeholders to address the barrier “lack of co-ordinated/integrated local and national policy” Funding:

• More funding needed. • Often pots of money come about through council, etc., and there is often very little lead time so need to have projects ready. • Government-subsidized access to resources and supports for vulnerable parents and children.

Policy:

• Provide funding for parents to purchase all weather suits to allow their children to play outdoors. • Need a “champion” to advocate and lobby government on need for policy. • Increased presence of community Gardaí. • City development plan is currently being developed – look at that and see how you can lobby to better support 0–3. • Lobby for parks and recreation officer in Customs house. • Establish local policy in Galway to build evidence of effect. • Local policy: planning needs to factor in play spaces and make conscious decisions about the requirements for play facilities. • Lobby for free childcare for 0–3 years old. • Lobby for cross-funding between departments and local authorities. • Intervene in the escalating costs of insurance for indoor play centres so they can stay open and not put up their prices. • Look at planning by design for inclusion – consider all citizens and consider those who might live differently. • Local council need more power/autonomy in decisions and implementation.

Education:

• Explore inspection of active play for 0–3 in early years settings. • Educate the public on being more proactive in the development planning processes; this will help with ensuring there are adequate play spaces and facilities. • Need to educate parents and stakeholders that play is not just about physical development, it is also about emotion and psychological development and the child using their imagination. For example, a play space does not have to be somewhere that has a swing, it can be an area designed that could have interesting rocks or boulders or logs. • There needs to be a balance between awareness /good practice and the practical resources that parents require.

CASE STUDY 18 Initiatives:

• Use a system like the Planet Youth system where each child is given a specific fund to be spent on their active play activities per year, such as €100 per child per year, that can be used for water babies, active play centres, best start club or gymnastics. • Seek the roll out of the “Leisure card” that WRDTF are looking at that has been used in Iceland. This would allow parents access to water activities and soft play where there are income restrictions. • Show parents where all the local areas are for active play – David and Joann Curran used to have a book on family time and in it they listed all the local parks, etc., you could go with your family, the distance to them and how to access them. • Increase the number of free indoor spaces for 0–3 years old in Galway city – for example, in parks have part that is covered so parents can meet and be covered. • Expand the public health nurse service to allow every family to receive support on active play not just a focus on physical milestones or introduce a service like Family Nurse partnerships or Parents as Teachers. • Consulting with communities so that appropriate supports are offered and so that local communities “take pride” in the maintenance and use of their resources.

their 0–3 years old. Parents and children also spend lots of time watching screens indoors. This discourages children spontaneously engaging in active play. Due to the abundance of screens, parents and children sit for long periods, fuelling a sedentary lifestyle. Other parents and families have very busy lives with work and family commitments and have a perception that they do not have the time to spend playing with the child indoors or outdoors. The perceived inclement weather also hinders active play among 0–3 years old. Parents do not want their child outside in bad weather and/or do not have appropriate clothing for different weather conditions. To address parenting and parents’ lifestyles, stakeholders generated 18 potential solutions. The solutions focused on policy implementation around the areas of marketing equipment to parents, educating parents on the importance of active play, and targeting initiatives such as weaning workshops and developing initiatives such as Play Cafes (see Table CS18.2).

18.5 Lessons for the planet ••

Complex problems such as Active Play for 0–3 years old spanning stakeholders from children and parents to policymakers require a highly collaborative and participatory systems approach, reflective of UN SDG #17 to listen to and learn from all the system members.

••

The dominant dynamics in a deeply entrenched provisioning system map will highlight the forces that undermine or block significant progress being made. Other dynamics will suggest bright spots or seeds of improvement for nurturing.

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Christine Domegan et al. Table CS18.2  Potential solutions identified by stakeholders to address the barrier “parenting and parents’ lifestyle” Policy:

• Cease the marketing of devices that stop children from moving, such as the bumbo. • Prohibiting the sale of swings or baby-holding implements that have a screen holder attached to them.

Education:

• Lobby council to provide funding for the likes of water babies and run them on the weekends so it can be a family activity. • Promotional campaign about tummy time for early years. • Promote indoor play activities. • Promote set times to play with children. • Educate on lifestyle and the benefits eating healthy can have on energy levels. • Promote the concept that raingear/appropriate clothes can overcome weather barriers. Encourage families to get out regardless of incremental weather conditions.

Initiatives:

• Have more facilities like kids’ space as they offer a great service and are very price conscious. It is for children under 7 so parents do not have to worry about their young child being knocked by an older child. • Weaning workshops and babies are often weaned once they start being more mobile, could a part of that workshop cover active play even if it is just ten or so minutes on the importance of avoiding screens and allowing movement. • Play Café: The idea of a centre that would focus on community transmission of peer parental support and evidence-based information including promotion of activity for babies and children. • Whatever is ran, there needs to be something in it for the parent also. • Workplace programmes/communication/promotion focused on emphasising the importance of spending time with your child. • Do not have a generic campaign. Get insight into different cohorts of people and their needs, lifestyles, etc. For example, look at developing targeted groups. For example, a traveller only baby and toddler group. Sometimes minority groups want to be integrated and want mixed groups but sometimes, initially, it is better to have a traveller only group because their background and living conditions are so different to other parents. • Supports and intervention for managing screen time for the entire family. • Focus on attachment between the parent and baby – similar to the circle of security parenting programme. • Have an informal support group for parents who don’t have family or friend support. • Design a campaign, using the media, to raise awareness of the new guidelines on screen time.

CASE STUDY 18 ••

Various stakeholders, with on-the-ground knowledge, and lived experiences will identify and collectively, develop solutions and leverage points to address the harmful dominant dynamics and facilitate bright spots. These solutions are the starting point in the development of the systemic change strategy. In addressing these behaviours and structures, greater opportunities exist to create positive change.

Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank Galway City Early Years subcommittee of Galway Children and Young People’s Services Committee and all the stakeholders who participated in this case study.

Case study questions 1. Inspections plus risk and Lack of awareness and understanding are other blocking dynamics evident in the provisioning systems map. What “Acceptable,” “Appealing,” “Affordable” and “Accessible” solutions would you recommend? 2. The provisioning systems map identifies “Parent support and resources,” as one of the drivers or enablers currently facilitating active play for 0–3 years olds in Galway city. “Parent support and resources – Parents will often ring/text each other to get out and meet up, have fun with the kids and socialise. When parents link up with each other, this increases the opportunity for parents and children to go out to play and be active; offsetting the lack of parent interest or motivation. Parents meeting up and going out to play is facilitated by free/low-cost parent and toddler/parent and baby groups. Parents meeting up and going out to play is also facilitated by the abundance of natural spaces and parks in Galway city such as the prom in Salthill, woods and beaches. These natural spaces facilitate different organisations and institutions to provide parks and playgrounds where parents can meet up and children can actively play. The need for parents to meet other parents also contributes to the provision of indoor soft play equipment and the provision of indoor facilities by private operators including soft play activity centres. Parent to parent promotion drives private parenting websites/app, for example, Rollercoaster.ie that promote a range of issues including active play. These private parenting websites/apps reinforce parent-toparent promotion. The public health nurse who talks to parents about tummy time, promotes active play and directs parents to public health websites such as MyChild.ie, and offers booklets as part of the National Healthy Childhood programme also drives parent-to-parent promotion. The public health nurse and the public heath websites promote events such as the national play day that takes place each year.” What “Acceptable,” “Appealing,” “Affordable” and “Accessible” solutions would you recommend as an intervention or leveraging mix?

References Canny, M., Clarke, A., Cooney, F., Heslin, J., Jennings, P., Mason Mohan, C., McDermott, R., & McNamara, A. 2017. The impact of early childhood on future health. Retrieved from: https://www. cypsc.ie/_fileupload/Documents/News%20and%20Events/The%20Impact%20of%20Early%20

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Christine Domegan et al. Childhood%20on%20Future%20Health,%20FPHM%20RCPI,%20May%202017.pdf Centre for Community Child Health. 2018. The First Thousand Days- Our Greatest opportunity, policy brief Number 28. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute/The Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria Child Research Network. 2017. The impact of early childhood on future health. Retrieved from: https:// childrensresearchnetwork.org/knowledge/resources/the-impact-of-early-childhood-on-futurehealth National Health Network. n.d. Introduction - Promoting Active Play (Physical Activity) in Early Years Settings. Retrieved from: https://www.ncn.ie/index.php/2-ncn/155-introduction-promotingactive-play-physical-activity-in-early-years-settings World Health Organization. 2019. Guidelines on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/ handle/10665/311664/9789241550536-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Index

Note: Page references in italics denote figures, in bold tables and with “n” endnotes. Abbeyleix vi Aboriginal people see First Nations above the line (ATL) advertising 325 academic writing 247 accessible offers 66 achievability: of objectives 63–65; and strategic planning 63–65 Act-Belong-Commit campaign 216, 219; cultural adaptation of 216–217; and indigenous beliefs about emotional wellbeing 216; and indigenous beliefs about social well-being 216 action research 70–72, 71; defined 70; evaluation questions 70, 80–83; intervention-building questions 70, 74–80; preparatory questions 70, 72–74 active audiences 92, 93 active competition 26–28, 31 active play: for 0–3 years old in Galway 330–337; behavioural objective 332; introduction and problem definition 330–331; lessons for the planet 335–337; outcomes 332, 332–335, 333, 334–335, 336; parenting 333–335, 336; parents’ lifestyle 333–335, 336; primary research 331; social marketing systems map of factors influencing 333; stakeholder representation 332 activism 315–316 advertising 3, 63–64, 301; above the line (ATL) 325; below the line (BTL) 325–326; and communication 91–92; early models of 91–92; effects, Rosser Reeves model 130;

expenditure 132; outdoor 326, 327; programmatic 8; propaganda 130; tobacco 49, 60, 72, 82, 98; see also branding; marketing affordable offers 65–66 “Agents of Change contest” 199 AgitÁgueda: Arts Festival 197, 197; bodypainting 202 Águeda, Portugal 195–203; behavioural objectives 197–198; C-Change: Arts and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities 196; Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2019–2027 197; intervention 198–201; introduction and problem definition 195–196; lessons for the planet 202–203; outcomes 201–202; primary research 196–197; Smart City Lab 200; social innovation journey at 195–203 Almeida, Laura 199 alternatives 123–136; and consumers 124–125; hyperconsumption 129–131; indigenous communities 133–136; marketing perspective 131; wooded isle 126–129 Aluna 134 Amaze 322, 328 Amazon 4 American Civil War 89 American Declaration of Independence 129 American Dream 92 anaemia 222, 304 Anand, Marisha 63, 188–194 Andreasen, Alan 37

340

Index Angus, Kathryn 298–302 Anibaldi, Renata 249–264 anti-microbial resistance (AMR) 235 antimicrobial resistant genes (ARG) 235 anti-vax movement 29, 97 Anwar-McHenry, Julia 215–220 appealing offers 65 Apple 4 Armenia 11, 61, 81, 95; healthy breakfasts in 304–312; World Food Programme (WFP) in 305–306 Armenians: sense of humour 306; and social influence 306; and their children 305; as traditional and conservative 306 Arnold, Ben 193 artificial intelligence (AI) 114 arts and climate crisis 195–203 Arts and Culture Leading Climate Action in Cities 195 aspiring communities 240–247; behavioural objectives 241–243, 242; and connection 240–247; and creativity 240–247; felt evidence and the unseen 245–246; intervention 243; introduction and problem definition 240–241; lessons for the planet 246–247; outcomes 243–246; pockets of power 246–247; primary research 241; and relationships 247; “Slow Tiny Acts of Resistance (STaRs)” 244–245; and unseen as felt evidence in 240–247 The Aspiring Communities Fund 247n1 Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) work 241 Attar, Farid ud-Din 147 attitudes 180–189, 210–211, 223, 230, 305, 322; and active play 330; towards autism 322 audience: as active participant 92, 93; passive 92 austerity 240, 246 Australian Catholic University 322, 328 Australian First Nations community: Aboriginal well-being 215–216; Act-BelongCommit campaign 216–217; behavioural objectives 217–218; indigenous beliefs about social/emotional well-being 216; intervention 219; introduction and problem definition 215–216; lessons for the planet 220; outcomes 219–220; primary research 216–217; social/emotional well-being intervention in 215–220 Australian Human Rights Commission 210

Australian Modern Slavery Acts 315 Australian Sports Commission (ASC) 282–283 Australian universities: connection to place 206; as culturally safe places for First Nations peoples 204–208; findings and outcomes 206–207; introduction and problem definition 204–205; lessons for the planet 207–208; primary research 205–206; relationality 207 autism 321–329; autistic peoples lived experiences 322; behaviour objectives 323; collective findings 322–323; community knowledge and attitudes 322; intervention 323–327, 324, 325, 326, 327; introduction and problem definition 321–322; lessons for the planet 328; in the office 324, 325; ordering at a café 325–326, 326, 327; outcomes 327–328; primary research 322–323; supermarket checkout 324, 324 “Autism: Change Your Reactions” advertising 325, 326, 327, 327, 328 autistic peoples lived experiences 322 “The Baby Killer” report 298 Baby Killer revisited 298–302; behavioural objectives 300; conclusions 301–302; findings 300–301; impact 302; intervention 300; introduction and problem definition 298–299; lessons for the planet 302; outcomes 300–302; primary research 299–300 Bagozzi, R. 46 Bakan, Joel 11, 97, 110 barrier analysis 168 barriers: behavioural 168; segmentation 61; structural 168 Bathing Water Directive (BWD, 2006/7/EC) (BWD) 235 Beesabathuni, Kalpana 222–232 behaviour: and climate crisis 37; commercial determinants of 108; and social context 39–40; social determinants of 18; and social marketing 5–6, 34; and Stages of Change Theory 37–38; victim blaming 23; see also human behaviour behavioural barriers 168 behavioural enablers 168 behavioural objectives: active play 332; Águeda, Portugal 197–198; aspiring communities 241–243, 242; Australian First Nations community 217–218; autism 323;

Index Baby Killer revisited 300; civil society alliance 289; Fashion Revolution 314; gender inequality 284–285; healthier masculinities 211; healthy breakfasts in Armenia 306; Lake Tuggeranong 253; LCC wildlife movement campaign 270; Malawi 223; meat thermometer 190–191 behavioural outcomes: LCC wildlife movement campaign 275–276 behavioural scientists 49 behaviour change theory 107–108 behaviour change wheel 190, 190 behaviour strategy, and meat thermometer 191 below the line (BTL) advertising 325–326 Bernays, Edward 130, 144 biomimicry 263 Blink (Gladwell) 85 Bloomberg Philanthropies 294 Bloomberg tax 100, 294 Blue Space System: quality through stakeholder engagement 234–239; stakeholders classified in 237 Body Bags commercial 98 bog(s) vi, 163 bottle-feeding 111, 299 branding 96–98, 102; assets 254, 256; baby milk industry 111–112; children 110–113; infant formula 111–112; see also advertising branding identity: and key messages 254, 254, 255; and narrative 254, 254, 255 breastfeeding 77–78, 298–302 breast milk substitutes (BMS) 298–300; regulating marketing of 298–302 Brennan, Linda 209–214 British Council 315 British-Irish Agreement Act 194 British Medical Journal (The BMJ) 301 Brockenhurst, Robert 152 Brychkov, Dmitry 179–186, 330–337 Burke, Liam 234–239 business 109, 131; impact on lives 3; social consequences of 107; strategic plans 101 butterfly effect 42 Cambridge Analytica 114–115 Campbell, Colin 240–247 Camus, Albert 147–148 Canadian Tar Sands 129 capitalism 92; computational 115; free-market 246; good side of 125–126; surveillance 8 carbon footprint 26, 46, 111, 157, 193, 232, 299

“Carbon Literacy Training” 199 carbon neutrality 58, 93; achieving 19; and sustainable tourism 46 Carson, Rachel 132 Carter, Jennifer 204–208 categorical imperative 146 causal loop diagrams (CLDs) 168–169, 169 C-Change project 195–199, 200, 201–202 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 25, 113 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 131 change 2; climate (see climate change); and Exchange Theory 43–44; and stakeholders 59 changeyourreactions.com 326, 327 Chemie Grünenthal GmbH 82 Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) Armenia 304 children: Armenians and their 305; baby milk industry 111; branding 110–113; and healthy breakfasts in Armenia 310, 311, 312; and marketing 128; see also teenagers choice ordering 96 Chueiri, Alexandra 234–239 citizen empowerment 199 ‘Civil Disobedience’ (Thoreau) 149 Civil Liberties Movement 3 Civil Rights movement 55 civil society alliance: behavioural objectives 289; intervention 290; introduction and problem definition 288; lessons for the planet 292–297; and Mexican sugarsweetened beverages tax policy 288–297; outcomes 290–291; primary research 289 Clic. Lab 199 client orientation 18, 20–22, 27–28, 135 Clifford, Eoghan 179–186 climate breakdown 116–118 climate change/crisis 26, 36–38; and arts and culture 195–203; and Australian Islanders 133; and behaviour 37; community awareness of 199; and contemplation 37; factors influencing position on 38–43; and indigenous communities 133–136; mitigation and adaptation 195–196; and oil industry 109; and pre-contemplation 37; and Stages of Change Theory 37; and stories/storytelling 100; and tourism 46 climate justice 2, 151 clustering 96, 168 Co-Create-Build-Engage 184 co-create sessions 185–186

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Index co-creation 212, 250 co-design 212, 250, 251 Codina, Víctor 78 collective action 6, 9, 30, 136, 155 collective agency, and human rights 147–150 collective orientation 18, 22–26, 28 colonialism 134–135 Columbus, Christopher 125, 126–127 commercial marketing 3–5, 8, 10–11, 26–27, 107, 115, 140, 158, 299; see also marketing commitment 30, 45; political 202; and trust 29 communication: and advertising 91–92; critical awareness 100–101; digital confirmation 93; limits of 101–102; Lincoln’s lessons on 89–90; participatory 93; and shared creativity 94–95; of social marketers 88–102; and stories 99–100; strategy 254, 257, 258–259; working of 91–93 communities vi; aspiring 240–247; First Nations 206, 207, 215–220; Indigenous 216, 219; knowledge and attitudes 322 competition 59; active 26, 28, 31; passive 26, 27, 31 competitive analysis 118–119 competitive orientation 18–19, 26–27, 28 competitive strategy 59 completion, as projective technique 96 complex exchanges 46–47 complex relational exchanges 29–30 computational capitalism 115 Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP) 19, 134 conformity values 45 connection, and aspiring communities 240–247 consumer behaviour 189, 316; see also behaviour consumerism 4, 124, 126, 132 consumers: and alternatives 124–125; socialization 112–113; sovereignty 132 consumption 117; cultural meaning to 91; downsides of 4; dysfunctional 106–107; human 159–161; and marketing 113 continuous learning 56 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 148, 149 cooperation 29, 59, 290; and coordination 203; voluntary 54 coordinated action 263 Cordova, Lopez 60, 94

corporate marketing 106–107; power of 108–110; reality of 131–133; regulation of 113; see also marketing corporate social responsibility (CSR) 73, 108 cost, and gender inequality 286 Couceiro, Carla 195–203 Covid-19 pandemic 16, 29, 97, 106, 117, 126, 201–202, 315, 327 Craft Butchers of Ireland 192–193 Creating Collective Solutions (CCS) process 250–252, 252, 253 creative orientation 18, 22, 28 creative strategy 254–263 creativity, and aspiring communities 240–247 critical awareness 100–101 critical marketing 26, 27, 105–120; behaviour change theory 107–108; branding 110–113; health issues 26, 27, 106–107; see also corporate marketing; marketing critical thinking: and commercial marketing 107; importance of 6 critical thought 115, 119 Crying Indian ad 101 cultural adaptation of Act-Belong-Commit campaign 216–217 cultural heritage 22, 195 cultural interface 205 culture: and climate crisis 195–203; First Nations 206; indigenous 39, 127 Cuong Pham 249–264 customer-defined quality 131 data 79–80; collection, digital research 79; primary (see primary research/data); secondary (see secondary research/data) Davis, Wade 126, 128, 133 de Andrade, Marisa 240–247 de Castro, Raquel 179–186 Delsahut, Fabrice 127 denormalization 40 dental health 23–24 Deontological theory 146 deregulation 246 descriptive norms 40 detailed complexity 170 DiClemente, C.C. 37 digital billboards 326 digital capability 8, 115 digital communications 93, 94 digital ethnography 185–186

Index digital marketing 113–116, 254, 300; see also marketing digital research 79–80; and interventionbuilding questions 79; pros and cons of 79–80; see also online research digital technology 8, 107–108, 113–116 digital tools 72 Dingeldei, John 209–214 disadvantaged communities 241; see also aspiring communities Djokovic, Novak 97 Dobbing, Jean 240–247 Doherty, Edelle 179–186 Domegan, Christine 29, 179–186, 234–239, 330–337 Donnar, Glen 209–214 Donovan, Robert J 215–220 Drane, Cathy 215–220 Duane, Sinead 26, 29, 234–239 Duffy, Sarah 282–286 dynamic complexity 170 dynamics 168; analysis 168–169; and systems map 168–169 Eadie, Douglas 298–302 Earl, Anna 30, 313–320 ecological crisis 140; see also climate change/crisis ecosystems 152, 234; balanced 263; earth’s 140, 152; and fashion 316; planetary 19; school 181; vital 163 Edwards, Nicola 321–329 Egg-hub 222–223 Elite Butchers 193 El Poder del Consumidor (The Consumer’s Power) 290 Emmett, Steve 4 emotional well-being: Aboriginal 215–216; in Australian First Nations community 215–220; indigenous people’s beliefs about 216 emotions 90; empathy 95–96; negative 95; positive 95; trust 96–98 empathy 95–96 empowerment: citizen 199; grassroots 5, 144 enablers: analysis 168; behavioural 168; structural 168 ENERGE project 179–187; behavioural objectives 184; co-create sessions 185–186; digital ethnography 185–186; digital platform 185; ENERGE committees and

teacher network 184–185; energy literacy modules 185; identification of new stakeholder roles 181; in-depth interviews 182; intervention and outcomes 184–186; introduction and problem definition 179–180; lessons for the planet 186; primary research 180–184; stakeholder segmentation 181–182; survey 180–182; value exchange mapping 180, 180 energy literacy modules 185 energy-saving activities 182 energy-saving behaviours: casual (routine) performers of 182; regular performers of 182 engagement strategy 257, 260, 260 English as a Second Language (ESOL) 244 Equifax 114 Estima, Ana 195–203 ethical dilemmas 142 ethical risks: and intervention 143–145; and research ethics 145; in social marketing 141–145 ethics 8–9, 139–152; research 145; tackling ethical issues 145–146 European Green Deal 235, 238 European imperial ventures 126 European Social Fund (ESF) 247n1 European Union (EU): Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation 315; URBACT 195–196 evaluation: outcome 81–82; process 80–81; real change in real world 240–247; “Slow Tiny Acts of Resistance (STaRs)”6 to 244–245; social marketing strategic plan 67 evaluation research questions 70, 80–83; outcome evaluation 81–82; process evaluation 80–81, 81; reflective 84 exchange analysis 165–167 Exchange Theory 43–44, 47, 149 Experian 114 Facebook 201, 254, 326 Fanning, Evelyn 330–337 Farrell, Maeve 234–239 fascism 92–93 fashion activism movement 30, 313, 315–316 Fashion Revolution: behavioural objectives 314; Fashion Transparency Indexes 314; founded in 313; intervention 315; introduction and problem definition 313–314; lessons for the planet 316; outcomes 315–316, 317–319; primary

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Index research 314; social marketing of fashion system with 313–320 Fashion Revolution Week 315 Fashion Transparency Indexes 314 feedback loops 168 felt evidence and the unseen 245–246 Fernandes, Viktor 199–200; materials workshop 201, 201 fiduciary imperative 110 “Fight BAC/Thermy” campaign 189 Finn, Fiona 209–214 First Nations 94, 204–207: and Act-BelongCommit framework 216; Australian universities as culturally safe places for 204–208; beliefs about emotional well-being 216; beliefs about social well-being 216; communities 206, 207, 215–220; culture 206, 208; health and well-being of 220; in higher education 204–205; intergenerational social mobility for 204; language groups 217; lived experience of 207; mental health of 215–216; social/emotional well-being 215–216 Flaherty, Tina 330–337 Floyd, George 55 Food and Drug Administration 25 foodborne illnesses 188 Foote, Liz 5 fossil fuel: extraction 26; funding 73; industry 110; job loss in 58; see also carbon footprint Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) 59–60, 302 framing, and positioning 66 free-market capitalism 246; see also capitalism Freire, Paulo 78 Freud, Sigmund 130 Friedman, Milton 109, 110 From the Heart of The World 134 Fyall, Felicity 240–247 Galway, Ireland 330–337, 333 gender inequality 282–286; cost 286; intervention 285–286; mental health and resilience resources 286; network effects 286; outcomes 286; primary research 283–284 General Booth 4–5 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 80 General Electric 97 Gettysburg military cemetery 89–90 Gilbey, Kathryn 204–208

Gladwell, Malcolm 85 global change 1, 9, 170; social marketing (see social marketing) Globalization and Health 302 Global North 124, 124–125, 147; consumerism in 124; inequality in 124 Global Nutrition Report (2018) 304 Global South 124, 124, 132, 133, 147 Good Friday Agreement 194 good theory 36 Google Scholar 72 grassroots empowerment 5, 144 greenwashing 59, 73 Gualinga, Nina 135, 151 Guterres, António 19, 110 Harari, Yuval 2 harm(s): of carbon fuels 109; ecological 111; to health/planet 109; of infant formula 111; planetary 106–107, 117 Harris, Tristan 115, 116 Hastings, G. 44, 129, 298–302 healthier masculinities: behavioural objectives 211; intervention 212–213; introduction and problem definition 209–210; lessons for the planet 213; outcomes 213; participatory co-design defining 209–214; participatory co-design supporting 209–214; primary research 210–211 health issues: client orientation 27–28; and corporate marketing 109; critical marketing 26, 27, 106–107; dental health 23–24; dysfunctional consumption 106–107; inequalities 62 healthy breakfast consumption 304–305 healthy breakfasts in Armenia 304–312; behavioural objectives 306; children’s findings 310, 311, 312; interventions 306–307, 307, 308; introduction and problem definition 304–305; lessons for the planet 311–312; multi-faceted interventions 309, 309–310; outcomes 309, 309–311, 310, 311; parents findings 310; primary research 305–306 healthy lifestyle, promoting 282–286 hedonism value 45 Hewitt, Jon 209–214 The Hidden Persuaders (Packard) 132 Higham, Charles 119 high self-interest values 45 HIV/AIDS 85 Hollinsworth, David 204–208

Index hope 125 Huma Betang 135 human behaviour 64; collective action 6; grassroots empowerment 5; and social marketing 5–6; see also behaviour human consumption 159–161 human rights 8–9, 133, 139–152; and collective agency 147–150; right to participation 150–151; and social marketing 148–149 humble egg in Malawi 222–232 humour and Armenians 306 Humphrey, Jordan 193 Hunt, Kate 298–302 Hunt, S.D. 29 Hurley, Erin 266–281 hyperconsumption 126, 129–131 IBFAN Italia 302 ice cream 120 If this is a Man (Levi) 146 “#I Made Your Clothes” 315 imperative: categorical 146; fiduciary 110 imperialism 126 implementation 213; awareness campaign measures 275; ENERGE project 186; of plan 70; programme 81–83; public health policy 100; and social marketers 55 in-depth interviews 182 indicators: relationship 170; systems social marketing 170–172, 171 indigenous communities 133–136, 216, 219 indigenous cultures 39, 127 Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement 206 indigenous people see First Nations indigenous wisdom 127 individual in-depth interviews 75 individualised values 44 industrial epidemics 106, 113; climate breakdown 116–118 inequalities: gender 42, 47, 58, 282–286; and Global North 124; health issues 62; racial 55; structural 148 infant formula 111–112 injunctive norms 40 “Inquiry into Services for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder Final Report” 321 Instagram 193, 326 International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (WHO) 298 Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) software 252

intervention-building questions 70, 74–80 interventions: Águeda, Portugal 198–201; aspiring communities 243; Australian First Nations community 219; autism 323–327, 324, 325, 326, 327; Baby Killer revisited 300; civil society alliance 290; and ethical risks 143–145; Fashion Revolution 315; gender inequality 285–286; healthier masculinities 212–213; healthy breakfasts in Armenia 306–307, 307, 308; Lake Tuggeranong 253; LCC wildlife movement campaign 271–273; Malawi 224–229, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229; multi-faceted 309, 309–310; testing mentality 83; university-based 210; upstream 145 interviews: individual in-depth 75; qualitative interviewing 75 “In the Office” advertisement 325 Ipsos MRBI 193 Ireland 163 Irwin, Paul 100 “Is It Done Yet?” campaign 189 Jones, Sandra C. 321–329 Journal of Macromarketing 173 Journal of Marketing 5 Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 107 Journal of Social Marketing 32, 51, 68, 86, 120, 173 Kant, Immanuel 146 Katz, E. 91 Keep America Beautiful 101 Kennedy, Ann-Marie 30, 313–320 Kennedy, J. 188 King, Martin Luther 3, 43, 54–55, 67 Klein, Naomi 11 knowledge: community 322; indigenous 134; individual 36; and relationship marketing 170; traditional 134; transfer 170 koala conservation: LCC wildlife movement campaign 276, 277, 278; leveraging partnerships for 276, 277, 278 Kotler, P. 5, 44 Kubacki, K.A. 148 Lake Tuggeranong: biomimicry 263; branding assets 254, 256; CCS process 250–252, 252, 253; co-design 250, 251; communication strategy 254, 257, 258–259; coordinated action 263; creative strategy

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Index 254–263; engagement strategy 257, 260, 260; intervention 253; introduction and problem definition 249–250; outcomes 263, 264; primary research 250–253; targeted groups 263; treatment areas 260, 263 Lancet Series 302 Laranjeira, Célia 195–203 Layard, Richard 64 Lazarsfeld, P. 91 Leaf Collective 94–95, 249–264; behavioural objectives 253; biomimicry 263; branding assets 254, 256; branding identity, narrative and key messages 254, 254, 255; CCS process 250–252, 252, 253; co-design 250, 251; communication strategy 254, 257, 258–259; coordinated action 263; creative strategy 254–263; engagement strategy 257, 260, 260; intervention 253; introduction and problem definition 249–250; lessons for the planet 263; outcomes 263, 264; primary research 250–253; targeted groups 263; treatment areas 260, 263; website 254 learning: continuous 56; progressive 56; and relationship marketing 170 Lefebvre, R.C. 61 Lenziemill 222 lessons for the planet: active play 335–337; Águeda, Portugal 202–203; aspiring communities 246–247; Australian First Nations community 220; Australian universities 207–208; autism 328; Baby Killer revisited 302; civil society alliance 292–297; Fashion Revolution 316; healthier masculinities 213; healthy breakfasts in Armenia 311–312; LCC wildlife movement campaign 276–280; Leaf Collective 263; Malawi 232; PIER 238 Levi, Primo 146–147, 148 Lewin, Kurt 36, 70 Lieberman, Mathew 160 lifeboat dilemma 141, 152 lifestyle illnesses 106 Lima, Rodrigues 179–186 Lincoln, Abraham 89–90, 102 linear sequential models 91–92 Lingala, Srujith 222–232 Logan City Council wildlife movement campaign 266–281; behavioural objectives 270; behavioural outcomes 275–276; inspiring real action for impact 277–278; intervention 271–273; introduction

and problem definition 266–267; koala conservation 276, 277, 278; lessons for the planet 276–280; outcomes 273–276; partnership and collaboration 271; primary research 267–270; social media and positive change 278, 279, 280, 281; social media outcomes 273–275 Lorenz, Edward 42 Lowe, Jennifer 321–329 Lowry, R. 44 low universalism mutuality value 45 Lucas, Teghan 156 Luisa Lopez Cordova, 249–264 Malawi: behavioural objectives 223; findings 230–232; humble egg in 222–232; interventions 224–229, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229; introduction and problem definition 222–223; lessons for the planet 232; outcomes 229–232; primary research 223 malnutrition 222, 304 Maloney, Jade 321–329 Man Cave 212 Manchester Arts Sustainability Team (MAST) 196–198; members 198, 198 Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation (EU) 315 Mandela, Nelson 99 mapping 58, 79, 96, 165–167, 166; and exchange analysis 165–167; stakeholder 167; value exchange 180, 180 marketing: of breast milk substitutes 298–302; and children 128; commercial 3–4; corporate 106–107; critical 26, 27, 106–107; digital 113, 300; drawbacks of 4; origins of 2–3; perspective 131; relationship 19, 29; social (see social marketing) marketing research 71, 81, 84–85, 101, 328 Marlboro 98, 102 Marques, S. 22, 29 Marques, Susana 195–203 Martin, Micheál 28 masculinities: healthier (see healthier masculinities); participatory co-design 209–214 materialism 126, 133 maternal undernutrition 222 Matthews, Eric 192 Maxwell, Hazel 282–286 McConnell, Jack 28 McDonald’s 118–119

Index McGloin, Aileen 63, 188–194 McHugh, P. 42, 83, 170 measurability: of objectives 63–65; and strategic planning 63–65 meat thermometer 188–194; behavioural objectives 190–191; behaviour strategy 191; intervention 191–193; intervention functions used 190–191; introduction and problem definition 188–189; lessons for the planet 193–194; outcomes 193; partnership 192–193; place 192; price 192; primary research 189; product 192; promotion 192 mental health 157, 209, 240, 284–285: Aboriginal 215–216; positive 216, 220; and resilience resources 286 mental illness 151, 215–216, 219 Merritt, Rowena 22, 61, 222–232, 304–312 Mesquita, Adriana 195–203 Mexico: COFEPRIS 292; prevalence of overweight and obesity 289; sugarsweetened beverages tax 288–297 Milligan, Darragh 192 Mitakuya Oyasin 100 Moezzi, Mithra 100 Monbiot, George 11 monitoring: social marketing strategic plan 67; social media 79 Montgomery, Rilza 240–247 moral agency 140–141, 147, 150 moral dilemmas 141 morality 45–46, 139–152 moral values 45–46 Morgan, R.M. 29 Morris, Dearbháile 234–239 Mullins, Gareth 193 multi-faceted interventions 309, 309–310 Murray, Caroline 330–337 Murray, Lesley A 215–220 mutuality 45–46 mutually beneficial exchange 21–22; and compromise 21; and Exchange Theory 44; motivation for 21 Nakata, M.N. 205 narratives 254, 254, 255 National Agreement of Closing the Gap 204 National Institute of Public Health (INSP) 289 National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) 283 Native American storytelling 100 negative emotions 95 Nestle 298

network effects, gender inequality 286 “neurodiversity paradigm” 321 new industrial revolution 8 Newton, Isaac 9 New York Times 119 Nicholas, Amberlee 215–220 Nielsen Mexico: Consumer Panel Services 291 Nimble Trials 309 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 290, 300 non-performers 182 norms: climate 41; descriptive 40; injunctive 40; social 41; Social Norms Theory 40–41 nudging, concept of 144 objectives: achievability of 63–65; measurability of 63–65; strategic planning 63–65 occasional performers of energy-saving activities 182 offer formulation 65–66, 169–170; accessible 66; affordable 65–66; appealing 65 oil industry 73, 109 “one-size-fits-all” approach 238 online research 79; see also digital research opinion leaders 91 “Ordering at a Café” advertisement 326 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 41, 158 O’Shea, Michelle 282–286 outcome evaluation 81–82 outcomes: active play 332, 332–335, 333, 334–335, 336; Águeda, Portugal 201–202; aspiring communities 243–246; Australian First Nations community 219–220; Australian universities 206–207; autism 327–328; Baby Killer revisited 300–302; civil society alliance 290–291; Fashion Revolution 315–316, 317–319; gender inequality 286; healthier masculinities 213; healthy breakfasts in Armenia 309, 309–311, 310, 311; LCC wildlife movement campaign 273–276; Leaf Collective 263, 264; Malawi 229–232 outdoor advertising 326, 327 overweight 19, 26, 111, 113, 119, 289, 304 Oxfam 4 Packard, Vance 132 Palmers, Kate 283 parenting and parents’ lifestyle 333–335, 336

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Index Parker, Lukas 209–214 participatory co-design: and healthier masculinities 209–214 participatory communications 93 participatory research 76–78 partnership: and LCC wildlife movement campaign 271; leveraging 276, 277, 278; meat thermometer 192–193; safefood, with Craft Butchers of Ireland 192 passive audience 92 passive competition 26, 27, 31 peatlands vi, 163–165, 164, 169, 174n22 Peel, Nicole 282–286 Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael 27, 111, 113, 129, 288–297 personification 96 PESTEL analysis 58 Peyden Tshering, Puja 222–232 PIER project 234–239; introduction and problem definition 234–238; lessons for the planet 238; stakeholder interviews 235–238, 236, 237 PIER (Public health Impact of Exposure to antibiotic Resistance in recreational waters) project see PIER project Pinker, Susan 160 Pinterest 326 Pippos, Angela 283 planetary harm 106–107, 117 Ponting, Clive 126, 132 positioning: and framing 66; strategic planning 66–67 positive emotions 95 power 246–247 preparatory research questions 70, 72–74 primary research/data 72; active play 331; aspiring communities 241; Australian First Nations community 216–217; Australian universities 205–206; autism 322–323; Baby Killer revisited 299–300; civil society alliance 289; Fashion Revolution 314; gender inequality 283–284; healthier masculinities 210–211; healthy breakfasts in Armenia 305–306; LCC wildlife movement campaign 267–270; Leaf Collective 250–253; Malawi 223; qualitative 72, 75; quantitative 72, 75 priority group 62–63; accessibility 62; responsiveness 62; viability 62 process evaluation 80–81, 81 Prochaska, J.O. 37

pro-environmental values 45 progressive learning 56 projective techniques 96 Projeto Circular 199, 200 propaganda 130 Propaganda (Bernays) 130 provisioning systems 159–161, 161; identification 165; problem 162–163; and systems maps 168 public education campaigns 321, 323, 325, 328 public health 8, 11, 20, 126; activity 90; community 96; harm 8, 26, 126; interventions 126; research 289; Scottish 27–28 Pupavac, Vanessa 151 qualitative interviewing 75 qualitative research 72, 75 quantitative research 72, 75; questioning procedures 75; sample selection 75 racial disharmony 59 Raciti, Maria 127, 204–208 Rana Plaza Factory disaster 313, 315 Reeves, Rosser 130 regulation: of corporate marketing 113; marketing of breast milk substitutes 298–302 relationality 205, 207 relational thinking 28–29 relationship: and aspiring communities 247; marketing 19, 29 research 69–86; action 70–72; digital 79–80; ethics 145; online 79; participatory 76–78; primary 72, 75; public health 289; secondary 72, 73–74, 79–80; social marketing 71, 81, 84–85, 101, 328 rights and responsibilities 140 right to participation 150–151 ripple effect 100 Ropati, Charitie 135 Rowlings, J.K. 6 Roy, Arundhati 125 Rundle-Thiele, Sharyn 6, 249–264, 266–281 safefood 93, 188–189, 192; behaviour change wheel 190; created in 194; partnership with Craft Butchers of Ireland 192 Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de 95 Saiyeda, Zahraa 100 Salamone, Vanessa 249–264

Index Salvation Army 4–5 Santos, Edson 195–203 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Harari) 2 school personnel, and energy use and saving 181 Schumacher, Fritz 132 Schwartz, S.H. 44 The Sea Starts Here urban art installation 199, 199 secondary research/data 72, 73–74; digital research 79–80; importance of 74; online research 79; and systems thinking 74 Second World War 148 segmentation: benefits and barriers 61; criteria in social marketing 61; past behaviour 61; personal characteristics 61; and strategic planning 60–62; as unfair 61 self-interest values 45–46 sexual health 64 Seydel, Tori 266–281 shared creativity, and communication 94–95 shareholders 110, 302 Shell 4 Sight and Life (Humanitarian Think Tank) 222 silent pandemic 235 Silent Spring (Carson) 132 Silva, Luis 199–200 situation analysis 57–58 Skau, Nanna 22, 61, 304–312 “Slow Tiny Acts of Resistance (STaRs)”6 to evaluation 244–245 Small is Beautiful, A Study of Economics as if People Mattered (Schumacher) 132 small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) 313, 315 smoking 20; active competition 26, 28; client orientation 27–28; collective orientation 28; competitive orientation 28; creative orientation 28; and intervention 145; passive competition 26, 27, 31; Philip Morris Unsmoke campaign 57; relational thinking 28–29; Social Norms Theory 40; truth campaign 97–98 social capital 41–42, 283–284; relational element of 41; structural aspect of 41; types of 41, 42 Social Capital Theory 41–42, 283 social change 5–6, 18 Social Cognitive Theory 39, 39, 107 social context 23; and behaviours 39–40; and social marketers 39–40

Social Ecological Theory (SET) 42–43, 43, 158 social influence, and Armenians 306 social innovation 195–203 social listening 79 social marketer(s) 9; collective orientation 24; communication 10, 88–102; competitive orientation 26–27; mutually beneficial exchange 21–22; roadmap 53–67; and social context 39–40; and trust 29; and values 45 social marketing 11, 107; and behaviour 34; case studies from around the world 12–15; collective action 6; defined 5; effectiveness of 6–8; environment 57; ethical dilemmas 142; ethical risks in 141–145; ethics in 139–152; and Fashion Revolution 313–320; grassroots empowerment 5; and human behavior 5–6; human rights in 139–152; moral dilemmas in 141; morality in 139–152; orientations 17–31; overview 4–5; relational thinking 28–29; and removal of eucalypt leaves from stormwater drains 249–264; research 71, 81, 84–85, 101, 328; strategic plan 55–56, 56; and strategic planning 55–56, 56; strategic vision of 30; systems 155–172; value-based exchanges 46–48; see also marketing Social Marketing @ Griffith 250, 267–268, 271 Social Marketing Quarterly 32, 51, 68, 86, 120, 173 social marketing strategic plan 55–56, 56; achievability 63–65; evaluation 67; formulating offer 65–66; measurability 63–65; monitoring 67; positioning 66–67; priority group 62–63; segmentation and targeting 60–62; systems 161–162, 162 social media 115; advertising and promotions 95; LCC wildlife movement campaign 278, 279, 280, 281; monitoring 79; outcomes 273–275; and positive change 278, 279, 280, 281; and Social Listening 79 social networking sites 79 Social Norms Theory 40–41 social systems 160 social well-being: Aboriginal 215–216; in Australian First Nations community 215–220; indigenous people’s beliefs about 216 Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect (Lieberman) 160 Solnit, Rebecca 1–2, 6, 16 source effect 96–98

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Index Stages of Change Theory 34, 38; and behaviour 37–38; and climate crisis 37; weaknesses of 37 Stages of Exchange Theory 34 stakeholder analysis 59–60; systemic 163–165, 164 stakeholders 26, 158–159; and change 59; classified in the Blue Space System 237; engagement, and Blue Space quality 234–239; PIER 235–238, 236, 237; segmentation 181–182; in social system 28; and value exchanges 46 Stiegler, Bernard 115 stimulation value 45 stockholders 110 stories/storytelling 76–77, 90; and climate 100; Native American 100; power of 99–100 strategic planning 53–67; evaluation 67; monitoring 67; objectives 63–65; offer formulation 65–66; positioning 66–67; priority group, choosing 62–63; problem definition 57; segmentation 60–62; situation analysis 57–58; and social marketing 55–56, 56; stakeholder analysis 59–60; targeting 60–62 structural barriers 168 structural enablers 168 subjective values 44 sugar-sweetened beverages tax policy: and civil society 288–297; in Mexico 288–297 “Supermarket Checkout” advertisement 324 SuperValu 192, 193 surveillance capitalism 8 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 38, 150, 157–158 sustainable energy performance: barriers and implemented measures 183; of schools 183; in systemic school environment 179–187 sustainable tourism 46, 163 SWOT analysis 58 systematic review 72–73 systemic change 30 systemic school environment 179–187 systemic stakeholder analysis 163–165, 164 systems map 168–169 systems science 158–159 systems social marketing 155–172; indicators 170–172 systems thinking 158, 210, 235, 238 Szablewska, N. 148 Szreter, S. 283

Tapp, Alan xxii, 174n18 targeted groups 263 targeting: strategic planning 60–62; as unfair 61 technology 58, 93; carbon-neutral 157; digital 8, 107–108, 113–116 teenagers: and junk food 65; safe sex 64; smoking 44, 49, 95, 97; see also children Teleological theory 146 Telford, Amelia 135 Teller, Edward 109 thalidomide scandal 82 Theories of Social Change see Social Change Theory theory 34–50; choosing 48–49; good 36; importance of 35–36; of social change 34; Stages of Change Theory 34, 37–38; Stages of Exchange Theory 34 Thoreau, Henry David 149 Tkaczynski, Aaron 249–264 Tobacco Control 28 Torres Strait Islander 133, 134, 204, 208, 217 tourism: and climate change 46; sustainable 46, 163 transparency index 316 treatment areas, and Lake Tuggeranong 260, 263 Trump, Donald 97 trust 96–98; branding 96–98; and commitment 29; defined 29; and social marketers 29, 96–98; source effect 96–98 “Trust the Meat Thermometer” campaign 189, 191, 192 truth campaign 97 Twitter 79, 158, 275, 326 Umbrella Sky project 197 UN Climate and Biodiversity Treaty 156 UNICEF 302 United Fruit Company 131 United Kingdom (UK): and alcohol advertising 82; and bottle feeding 299; and Fashion Revolution 314; foodbanks in 124; intestinal disease in 188; Modern Slavery Acts 315; overweight or obese in 111; removal of tobacco marketing 27 United Nations (UN) 148, 321; Sustainable Development Goals 38, 150, 157–158, 235, 238; Universal Declaration of Human Rights 9; World Tourism Organization 46 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 19

Index Universal Declaration of Human Rights 89, 148 university-based intervention 210 unseen as felt evidence 245–246; in aspiring communities 240–247 upstream interventions 145 URBACT Local Groups (ULG) 196 Urban Art programme 197 utilitarianism see Teleological theory value(s): client orientation 22; conformity 45; defined 44; hedonism 45; high self-interest 45; individualised 44; low universalism mutuality 45; moral 45–46; pro-environmental 45; and social marketers 45; stimulation 45; subjective 44; at work and play 45 value-based exchanges 46–48, 47 value exchange mapping 180, 180 victim blaming 23, 142 The Village Effect: Why Face-to-Face Contact Matters (Pinker) 160 vision 30, 54–55, 57, 84, 90 Volkswagen 4 Wallace, David Foster 22–23 Wal-Mart 4 War On Want 298 Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/ EC) (WFD) 235 Welles, Orson 91, 102 WFP Armenia: Social Behaviour Change Strategy 306 WhatsApp 201

whistle blower 116 “#Who Made My Clothes” 315 “#Who Made My Fabric” 315 wicked problems 212–213 Wicked Problems studio 212, 214n1 Wiebe, Gerhard 5 wildlife movement campaign 272–273 Williams, Rowan 152 women in sport roadshow (WISR) 282–286; behavioural objectives 284–285; cost 286; intervention 285–286; introduction and problem definition 282–283; mental health and resilience resources 286; network effects 286; outcomes 286; primary research 283–284 wooded isle 126–129 Woolcock, M. 283 World Autism Awareness Day 321 World Food Programme (WFP) 305 World Health Assembly (WHA) 298–299, 300, 321 World Health Organization (WHO) 41, 57, 158, 188, 289, 299, 302, 304, 321, 331; European region 106; Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 59–60; World Food Safety theme of 2021 193 Yeats, W.B 98 Yue Xi 249–264 Zak, P. 44 Zaltman, G. 5 Zuboff, Shoshana 8, 115 Zuckerberg, Mark 114, 115

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