social marketing and consumer policy · social marketing and consumer policy > iii many consumer...

Consumer Affairs VictoriaSocial Marketingand Consumer PolicyResearch Paper No. 4 March 2006

Disclaimer

The information contained in this research paper is of a general nature onlyand should not be regarded as a substitute for reference to the legislation orlegal advice.

© Copyright State of Victoria 2006

This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any processexcept in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. For adviceon how to reproduce any material from this publication contact ConsumerAffairs Victoria.

Published by Consumer Affairs Victoria, 121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000.

Authorised by the Victorian Government, 121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000.

Consumer Affairs Victoria is a division of the Department of Justice.

Printed by BLS Printing, 179 Cherry Lane, Laverton North, 3026.

Preface > i

Preface

While many consumer agencies use informationstrategies to influence consumers’ or trader behaviour,these strategies often fail to generate the behaviouralchanges desired. Social marketing is a comprehensiveapproach to policy development that targetsbehavioural change.

This paper discusses how social marketing is used inother social policy fields, such as environmental andhealth policy, and the potential for consumer agenciesto learn from the experience in other areas. While notsuited to all consumer problems, there appears to bescope for consumer agencies to expand their use ofsocial marketing.

The research paper is one in a series designed tostimulate debate on consumer policy issues. It doesnot represent government policy and is intended as abasis for discussion only. It is informed by a relatedpaper on Information Provision and Education Strategies,which discusses the strengths and weaknesses ofinformation strategies and how consumers useavailable information.

Consumer Affairs Victoria would like to thankDeborah Cope from PIRAC Economics for herassistance in preparing this paper.

Consumer Affairs Victoria would welcome yourcomments on the paper. These may be directed to:

Mrs Sally MacauleyConsumer Affairs VictoriaLevel 17, 121 Exhibition StreetMelbourneVIC 3000Tel (03) 8684 6091Email [email protected]

Dr David CousinsDirectorConsumer Affairs Victoria

Social marketing and consumer policy > iii

Many consumer agencies use information campaignsand marketing to influence people’s behaviour andreduce the risk of consumer detriment. Such strategiesinvolve messages such as informing teenagers aboutthe impact of excessive debts, encouraginghouseholders to use licensed tradespeople orinforming businesses about ethical processes forconducting real estate auctions.1 Evaluations of theseinformation campaigns often measure the penetrationand accessibility of the information, but not its successin changing behaviour. Sometimes, the target audienceis aware of the messages being delivered but does notrespond by changing its behaviour.

This raises a question about whether there are other,more effective ways to tackle behavioural change. Onealternative could be to use strategies that focus moreon the individual’s behaviour and less on simplyproviding information, for example, social marketing.Consumer Affairs Victoria already takes socialmarketing strategies into account in some of itsactivities – for example, it is considering whethercommunity based social marketing can be used inareas such as youth debt and the safe handling ofasbestos. It may be possible to increase the use andeffectiveness of such strategies by better understandingthe barriers to behavioural change.

Social marketing can target consumers and traders.While relevant to all consumers, it may highlight newways to assist vulnerable and disadvantagedconsumers in particular, who are often the leastresponsive to traditional efforts to influence behaviourthrough information provision. It may also encouragecompliance by creating industry environments thatpromote ethical behaviour, increasing consumerconfidence and hence business growth, and reducingthe need for other forms of regulation.

This paper looks at the potential to use socialmarketing tools to achieve consumer policy objectives.It discusses the following questions:

• What is social marketing?

• When do consumer policies need to targetbehavioural change?

• What are the tools and processes that socialmarketing uses to achieve behavioural change, andhow do they differ from traditional consumer policytools?

• Under what circumstances is a social marketingapproach likely to reduce the risk of consumerdetriment and improve traders’ business practices?

Social marketingand consumerpolicy

1 See section 2 of the Consumer Affairs Victoria Research Paper Information Provisions and Education Strategies.

Preface i

Social marketing and consumer policy iii

What is social marketing? 11.1 The use of social marketing in consumer policy 4

Why target consumer or trader behaviour? 5

Social marketing and processes and strategies 73.1 Information based policy development 73.2 Current strategies used to achieve

behavioural change 83.3 Consumer and trader orientation 113.4 Targeting factors that encourage

behavioural change 123.5 A multifaceted approach 16

Using social marketing in consumer policy 17

Appendix 1: Achieving behavioural change 19A1.1 Behavioural change theories 20

Bibliography 23

Consumer Affairs VictoriaResearch and Discussion Papers 25

CCoonntteennttss

What is social marketing? > 01

While different commentators vary somewhat in theirdefinition of social marketing, it can be broadlydefined as:

the application of marketing concepts, tools, andtechniques to any social issue. (Donovan & Henley2003, p. ix)

The objective of social marketing is to changeindividuals’ behaviour to achieve a socially desirablegoal (Donovan & Henley 2003, p. ix). The key aspectsof social marketing are its approach to policydevelopment and the way in which it applies policytools:

• It uses policy development processes that aregrounded in research and fact. Each strategy ispreceded by an analysis of the problem, trialled andsubject to ongoing monitoring, and evaluated for itssuccess.

• It uses tools that encourage behavioural change andbreak down barriers to change, often relying on amultifaceted approach that simultaneously informs,persuades and uses incentives and deterrents.

While social marketing applies concepts, tools andtechniques that are common to commercial marketingstrategies, it is considerably more complex and oftenmore ambitious in its objectives. There are four mainareas of difference between commercial marketing andsocial marketing. First, the purpose of social marketingis to benefit the individuals who are the target of thecampaign or the general community, not theorganisation responsible for the campaign. It focuseson the target audience, who have a primary role in theprocess (Kline Weinreich 1999, pp. 4 and 9).

Second, the changes in behaviour sought throughsocial marketing are often far more ambitious thanthose sought through commercial marketing. Socialmarketers seek fundamental, long term behaviouralchange; commercial marketers usually aim to induceconsumers to change brands or try a new product:

If motivating people to change their health or socialbehaviour were as easy as convincing them to switchbrands of toothpaste, then there would be no need for thesubfield of social marketing. But trying to affect complexand often emotion based decisions is rather different fromselling a tangible product. (Kline Weinreich 1999,pp. 9–10)

Similarly, the amount of change needed before theproject is considered a success is often much greaterfor social marketing campaigns. Many commercialcampaigns would be highly successful if they shiftedmarket share by 2–3 per cent (Braus 1995, p. 2). Thedesired success rates for social marketing campaigns,however, can be 10 or 20 times higher.

Third, the product being ‘sold’ is more difficult todefine, is often intangible and has benefits that couldbe delayed or difficult to detect (for example, avoidingpotential harm) (Donovan & Henley 2003, pp. 33–4).Finally, social marketing strategies need to harness theinvolvement of many stakeholders, frequently in apolitically sensitive environment:

Social and health issues often are so complex that oneorganisation cannot make a dent by itself. By teaming upwith other groups in the community, your organisationcan extend its resources as well as its access to members ofthe target audience. (Kline Weinreich 1999, p.17)

1What issocial marketing?

02 > What is social marketing?

Despite the challenges, social marketing has beenused (with some success) to encourage the adoptionof environmentally friendly behaviours such ascomposting, recycling and conserving energy. It is alsoused in health policy. Box 1 presents three examples ofsocial marketing strategies.

Box 1: Social marketing examples

Immunisation

In late 1997, the Commonwealth Governmentadopted the Immunise Australia Program. Theprogram involved:

• improving immunisation practice and servicedelivery

• establishing a National Centre for ImmunisationResearch and Surveillance

• introducing requirements for immunisation beforecommencement of school

• providing financial incentives to doctors, parentsand guardians

• undertaking a national education campaign, and

• implementing a measles control campaign.

Following the campaign, the proportion of Australianchildren who were fully immunised increased from76 per cent to 85 per cent. By 2001, the level of fullimmunisation was 91 per cent (Donovan & Henley2003, pp. 334–40).

Energy conservation

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company in Californiaoffered homeowners free home inspections and adviceon ways to make their dwellings more energyefficient. The advice was free and financing wasavailable to make the recommended changes. Initially,the take-up of advice was low and the program wasmodified to incorporate two behavioural changetechniques:

• The information provided was made more vividand personal. Rather than simply identifying cracksunder doors, ‘the auditor would compare the crackto a hole the size of a basketball’ (Aronson, p. 1).

• Auditors involved customers in the inspection,getting them to take measurements, or read meters,for example.

As a result of the enhanced program, 60 per cent ofhomeowners made changes to improve the energyefficiency of their houses. This was more than threetimes the national average (Aronson, p. 1).

Public transport use

A pilot program was introduced in the United Statesto increase the use of urban bus services. The mosteffective strategy involved:

• providing participants with information on routesand schedules, and

• obtaining an agreement from participants to ridethe bus twice a week.

Free bus tickets increased the number of rides perindividual, but obtaining a commitment was moreeffective in encouraging new passengers to take thebus (Bachman, pp. 1–2).

What is social marketing? > 03

Social marketing recognises that behavioural change ismore complex and difficult to achieve than is oftenanticipated. It thus emphasises understandingproblematic behaviours and using multiple strategiesto simultaneously target behavioural change.Community based social marketing is a good exampleof the systematic approach to problem solving thatsocial marketing typically advocates. It involves thefollowing four steps (summarised in Box 2):

1. Identifying the barriers and benefits to an activity.

2. Developing a strategy that utilizes ‘tools’ that havebeen shown to be effective in changing behaviour.

3. Piloting the strategy.

4. Evaluating the strategy once it has been implementedacross a community. (McKenzie-Mohr 2005, p. 1)

Sources: McKenzie-Mohr 2005; McKenzie-Mohr &Smith 1999.

Box 2: Community based social marketing

Identifying barriers and benefits to an activity

Community based social marketing begins with areview to understand undesirable behaviours andalternative positive behaviours. It analyses people’smotivations, the benefits they would receive fromchanging specific behaviour, and what barriers tochange exist. The review is based on communityconsultation, and the information could be gatheredthrough literature reviews, observation of behaviour,focus groups and surveys.

Behavioural change tools

The second step is to identify tools that would beeffective in promoting behavioural change. The toolsselected should closely target the barriers tobehavioural change, or promote the benefits ofchange, identified in the previous step. They shouldremove significant external barriers and break downinternal barriers by encouraging people to commit tomaking the change, using prompts to remind peopleto continue the desired activity, developingcommunity norms so the desired behaviour isperceived as consistent with accepted communitybehaviour, communicating the change message andcreating incentives to change.

Piloting the strategy

The tools used in community based social marketingstrategies are often non-regulatory and lendthemselves to testing through pilots. This helps avoidcostly mistakes.

Given the difficulty of changing complex behaviours,strategies should recognise that problems are likely.The implementation process should identify andrectify these problems before rolling out the fullstrategy.

Evaluation

The evaluation stage examines the strategy’seffectiveness in changing behaviour, not just raisingawareness or changing attitudes. It is a criticalcomponent of the process, because it is necessaryto test the effectiveness of existing programs andimprove the effectiveness of future programs.

04 > What is social marketing?

While there are many examples of social marketingstrategies being used in the environmental and healthfields, there are fewer instances where such approacheshave been comprehensively applied to consumerissues. There appears to be scope, however, to increasethe use of social marketing strategies in consumeraffairs. Many consumer problems are similar to thosein the environment and health fields:

• Consumers or traders need to make significantand lasting changes to overcome the identifiedproblems.

• The provision of information alone is oftenineffective in achieving change.

• The factors that inhibit change can be subtle andcomplex.

• There are significant barriers to change.

A key difference between the health andenvironmental fields is the identity of the primarybeneficiary of the behavioural change. In theenvironmental area, the primary beneficiary is thecommunity, although individuals making the changemay receive some benefits (such as lower energy costs).In health, the primary beneficiary is usually theindividual making the change, or the immediatefamily of the individual.

Consumer policy strategies that change traders’behaviour to improve outcomes for consumers havecloser parallels with environmental strategies,particularly those targeted at business. They oftenbenefit the businesses undertaking the change byimproving their business practices and consumers’confidence on their products or services, while alsobenefiting consumers generally by reducing the risk ofdetriment. Strategies that empower consumers toprotect themselves have similar objectives to those ofhealth policy strategies.

1.1 The use of social marketing inconsumer policy

Why target consumer or trader behaviour? > 05

The overall objective of consumer policy is to reducedetriment to consumers. When both the demand andsupply sides of markets work well, they deliver goodoutcomes for consumers, but markets that fail result inbehaviours by traders and/or consumers that lead toconsumer detriment. Analysing the problems thatresult in consumer detriment requires a goodunderstanding of the three levels shown in figure 1.2

Government action can target each of the three levels.The most effective tools are likely to be those thatremove the causes of problematic behaviour, but suchremoval is not always possible. If it is not practicableto remove the causes of problematic behaviour, thepolicy could target the second part of the chain: thatis, changing that behaviour. Then, if it is not viable tochange behaviour, government could considerwhether it should offset the impact of the consumerdetriment.

Social marketing is a policy tool that can be used whenthe best policy response is to target behaviouralchange. It recognises the difficulties associated withtrue behavioural change and has a concrete focus onenabling that change and reducing the barriers tochange.

2Why target consumeror trader behaviour?

Figure 1: Defining problems that affect consumers

Consumer detriment: Analyse the effect onconsumers if the market is not delivering theexpected economic and social outcomes.

Problematic behaviour: Analyse the behaviours oftraders, consumers and third parties that lead toconsumer detriment.

Causes of problematic behaviour: Identify thesecauses, which can be deficiencies in either thedemand side or supply side of the market, resultingfrom market failure, regulatory failure or a failure toachieve other social policy objectives (for example,poverty or individual behaviour that is inconsistentwith the community’s social or ethical standards).

2 The Consumer Affairs Victoria research paper Information Provision and Education Strategies discusses this framework in more detail.

Social marketing processes and strategies > 07

Section 1 briefly discussed the concept of socialmarketing. Those processes have some similarities withprocesses currently used by Consumer Affairs Victoria,but there is still scope to learn from the experience ofsocial marketing to improve the effectiveness ofconsumer policy. This section compares a socialmarketing approach to existing strategies. It discusses:

• an information based approach to policydevelopment

• the range of tools currently used and targeting ofpolicy strategies, and

• social marketing tools and strategies.

All advocates of social marketing stress the need tobase strategies on a sound understanding of theproblems, behaviours that exacerbate those problems,and the benefits and barriers to changing thosebehaviours:

Speculation regarding what leads individuals to engage inresponsible environmental behavior should never be usedas the basis for a community based social marketing plan.Prior to designing such a plan you need to set asidepersonal speculation and collect the information that willproperly inform your efforts. (McKenzie-Mohr 1999, p.19)

Similarly, Health Canada (2003, p. 1) stresses that its“process is strongly oriented around evidence baseddecision making of which research and evaluation area key part”.

Information based policy development is advocated inspheres outside social marketing. Those involved inbehavioural economics argue that a realisticunderstanding of people’s decision making processes iscritical to developing effective policy. The Organisationfor Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)checklist for regulatory decision making emphasisesthe need to correctly define the problem thatgovernments are trying to address:

The problem to be solved should be precisely stated, givingclear evidence of its nature and magnitude, and explainingwhy it has arisen (that is, identifying the incentives ofaffected entities and their consequent behaviors) … Manyproblems are multi-faceted – affecting a variety of groupsin a variety of ways – and in these cases regulators shoulddocument the full scope of the issue, drawing particularattention to supporting and opposing linkages betweengroups and their incentives. (OECD 1995, p. 7)

Consumer Affairs Victoria already collects and analysesinformation when it prepares regulatory impactstatements and business impact assessments for new oramended regulation or legislation. Consistent with theVictorian Government guide on regulatory impactstatements, Consumer Affairs Victoria analyses theproblems that the regulation is trying to address, theobjectives of that regulation, policy alternatives andjustification for the action being proposed (DTF 2005,pp. 4–12).

3Social marketingprocesses andstrategies

3.1 Information based policydevelopment

While various disciplines advocate an informationbased approach to policy development, three keypoints distinguish the approach that is supported bysocial marketers from that used in most consumeraffairs agencies.

First, social marketing advocates a full analysis of theproblem regardless of the tools or method chosen toaddress the problem. In most Australian jurisdictions,formal requirements to analyse and justify policyresponses are restricted, based on the regulatoryinstruments used to implement the policy. In Victoria,an agency is required to undertake a formal assessment(that is, prepare a business impact assessment ora regulatory impact statement) only where the agencyis proposing to introduce or amend primary orsubordinate legislation.3 This does not mean thatagencies do not undertake analysis in other situations,but the nature and extent of the analysis are notsubject to any formal requirements or reviewprocesses.

Many of the policy responses advocated under socialmarketing do not involve regulation. Whether toundertake a full analysis of the nature and extent ofproblems, the behaviour of those involved and therange of possible solutions is thus decided at thediscretion of the agency developing the policyresponse.

Second, existing processes require analysis of theproblems that regulation is trying to resolve and thecauses of those problems. These analyses usuallydescribe the problem faced by consumers or tradersand, in many cases, the market failures (such asasymmetries in access to information) that are likely toresult in those problems. In the past, they have notattempted to undertake a comprehensive analysis ofconsumer and trader behaviour, or the benefits orbarriers to behavioural change.

As noted in the preceding section, the best policyresponse does not always involve trying to influencebehaviour directly. But those policies that do, couldbenefit from initial policy analysis involving greaterunderstanding of behaviour.

Third, social marketing places considerable emphasison trialling marketing strategies, continuallymonitoring and refining their effectiveness, andevaluating their performance against behaviouralchange indicators. The consumer policy fieldsometimes uses focus groups to test publications andoften evaluates its programs, but the level ofmonitoring and continual refinement is less than thatenvisaged under social marketing (Andreasen 1995,pp. 91–96; McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999,pp. 126–30).

Consumer Affairs Victoria already uses innovative toolsthat target behavioural change (Box 3). Many of thesetools are consistent with social marketing principles.It may be possible, however, to improve theeffectiveness of consumer policy by better targetingand increasingly using these strategies, and improvingthe understanding of behaviours that need to bechanged.

08 > Social marketing processes and strategies

3 Primary legislation comprises Acts of Parliament. Subordinate legislation comprises mostly the Regulations attached to Acts.

3.2 Current strategies used toachieve behavioural change


Working directly with Indigenous communities

Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Indigenous ConsumersUnit works directly with communities to help educateconsumers about their rights and responsibilities:

In 2003-04 the ICU [ Indigenous Consumers Unit] mademore than 150 community visits throughout Victoria,and met with a range of Indigenous co-operatives,community organisations and service providers, includinghealth education workers. The ICU worked withIndigenous communities to improve their capacity torecognise consumer rights, to raise awareness ofcomplaints reporting processes, and to identify emergingconsumer and tenancy problems. (CAV 2004, p. 43)

Consumer Stuff! Challenge competition

This competition invites secondary students to createinformation messages for young people to improvetheir understanding of a consumer or financial issue.Prizes are awarded to individual winners and theirschools (CAV 2005a).

Consumer Education in Schools program

The program targets students and teachers and comprisesa website, information giveaways for young consumersand resources for teachers. The resources focus on lifeskills such as money management, communication,problem solving, critical and creative thinking, andemotional intelligence. These skills provide the buildingblocks to empower young people to become confidentand assertive consumers (CAV 2005b, p. 5). Teachingresources are available for year 9 and 10 commerce,English and mathematics students in Victoria (CAV2005c). Consumer Affairs Victoria conductsprofessional development workshops to assistVictorian teachers to use this material effectively.

Direct response real estate campaign

When the regulation covering estate agents wasamended in 2003, Consumer Affairs Victoria releaseda guide for consumers buying and selling real estate.One objective of the communications strategy was toincrease awareness of this guide. A direct responseadvertising campaign (initially intensive) was used toleverage media and consumer attention and then wasfollowed by an ongoing lower level campaign.

Eco-smart house

Consumer Affairs Victoria sponsored an eco-smarthouse at the Housing Industry Association’s 2005Home Ideas Show. Visitors walked through a life sizedhouse that demonstrated design principles forsustainable building. Consumer advice on domesticbuilding was available at the display (CAV 2005d, p. 12).

Retail Excellence Awards

Small, medium sized, large and franchise businesseshave been recognised for their efforts to abide by Victoria’sfair trading laws. The Consumer Affairs Victoria RetailExcellence Award was presented to businesses thatdemonstrated an understanding of the Fair Trading Act1999 (Vic.) and evidence of practices and processesthat reinforce compliance. Zentini, Semaarn Salons,Coles Supermarkets Victoria and Bakers DelightChirnside Park were the 2005 winners (CAV 2005e).

Community education

Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Community EducationUnit assists workers in referral agencies – such ascommunity legal centres, community health centres,citizen advice bureaus, council based family andyouth services, and Centrelink – to understandConsumer Affairs Victoria’s services. These agencies areoften the first point of contact for consumers indifficulty. For example, the Unit visited the Living andLearning Centre in Pakenham to train 17 students inits Community Information Workers Course. Thesession highlighted the role of Consumer AffairsVictoria and its Indigenous Consumers andMulticultural Consumers Units. Course participantscan take up voluntary positions in information andreferral services in Pakenham, providing support,particularly to vulnerable and disadvantaged membersof the community.

The Community Education Unit also has acommunity speaker program, which involves talks forvulnerable and disadvantaged consumers and tenantsabout their consumer rights and responsibilities, andwhere to obtain help regarding disputes with tradersor landlords. These talks are available to groups suchas senior citizens’ clubs, retirement village residents,and youth and school groups.

Box 3: Behavioural change tools used by Consumer Affairs Victoria


Frequently, the objective of consumer policy is toinfluence behaviour, but the assumptions about whatis needed to generate behavioural change are oftensimplistic. Many policies assume that providinginformation or increasing awareness automaticallyleads to behavioural change.

These assumptions mean that consumer marketingstrategies have concentrated on:

• publications targeting industry sectors

• websites

• leaflets and fact sheets

• direct mail

• publications distributed at point of sale

• shows and exhibitions

• conferences, forums and road shows, and

• media campaigns.

Individually, these strategies have varying success inachieving behavioural change. Often, it is difficult todetermine whether a strategy affected behaviour,because its success is assessed on whether informationwas clear and accessible, increased awareness and/orchanged attitudes, rather than whether it affectedbehaviour. The evaluation of previous informationstrategies of Consumer Affairs Victoria includedperformance indicators such as:

• the percentage of respondents who were aware ofthe communication

• the percentage of respondents who had read orheard the communication

• the percentage of respondents who could rememberthe contents of the communication

• respondents’ assessment of the relevance of theinformation in the communication, and

• respondents’ assessment of the accessibility of theinformation in the communication.

The criticism that marketing campaigns do not focusenough on behavioural change is common acrosssocial policy fields:

We are not even sure that it [education] works ... a fewyears ago Social Change Media carried out a consultancyfor the Roads and Traffic Authority. We were asked toevaluate 20-odd evaluations of road safety campaigns.Every one of these campaigns had been evaluated to be asuccess. But, funnily enough, the proof of 'success' waswhatever attitudinal change the campaign happened toachieve, even if it was marginal.

After all, “education” is really a misnomer – our aim isnot to get people to KNOW MORE THINGS. We aretrying to get people to CHANGE WHAT THEY DO.(Robinson 1998, p. 1)

A significant body of research demonstrates thatinformation and communication, while an importantcomponent of any behavioural change strategy, isunlikely alone to generate sustained behaviouralchange:

Information campaigns have been widely used forachieving public interest goals. But they are known tobe less effective than other forms of learning. Researchsuggests that learning by trial and error, observing howothers behave and modelling our behaviour on what wesee around us provide more effective and more promisingavenues for changing behaviours than information andawareness campaigns. (Jackson 2005, p. xi)

While researchers agree that information alone will notmotivate someone to adopt a new behaviour … it isequally clear that a lack of information can be a barrierto changing behaviour. (Monroe 2003, p. 118)


These conclusions are reinforced by research in fieldssuch as psychology, sociology, marketing andbehavioural economics, which all note that peoplefaced with complex decisions will not necessarilyconsider all of the information available to them, orrespond to that information by changing theirbehaviour (Box 4).

In practice, internal and external barriers must beovercome before people will change their behaviour(Appendix 1). Social marketing advocates a moresophisticated approach to behavioural change. Threekey aspects of its strategies and tools distinguish itfrom other policy approaches:

• It focuses on the consumer and understanding thebehaviours that the policy is trying to influence.

• Its tools focus on influencing factors that have beendemonstrated to encourage behavioural change.

• It is a multifaceted approach that often involvesmultiple organisations and uses several strategiessimultaneously.

All social marketing decisions must emanate from aconsideration of the target customer. (Andreasen 1995,p. 37)

In social marketing – particularly in fields such ashealth and consumer policy – the objective is togenerate benefits for the target audience, not for theorganisation initiating the program. Because socialmarketing is trying to change important behavioursthat individuals care about, it has to start byconsidering what consumers want and need, not whatthe organisation wants and needs (Andreasen 1995,pp. 38–41).

Because social marketing strategies target the benefitsand barriers to behavioural change, they need torecognise that what motivates and inhibits change canvary greatly across groups of consumers or traders.Segmenting the audience is thus important. Often,audiences are segmented according to demographiccharacteristics, age, sex, income level and/or ethnicbackground, but this may not be the most effectivesplit. For some problems, traders might be dividedaccording to their size, for other problems industrysegments may be more relevant or the traders currentbusiness approach. It may be worth dividingconsumers according to their attitudes or behaviours(Kline Weinreich 1999, p. 53). A program targeting carbuyers, for example, may benefit from dividing theaudience into new car buyers, second hand car buyersusing dealers and second hand car buyers consideringprivate sales.

Box 4: Limitations of information in promotingbehavioural change

The following extract from McKenzie-Mohr andSmith (1999, pp. 9.9–9.10) illustrates the limitationsof using information to promote behavioural change:

In response to the energy crisis of the 1970s, Scott Gellerand his colleagues studied the impact that intensiveworkshops have upon residential energy conservation.In these workshops, participants were exposed to threehours of educational material in a variety of formats(slide shows, lectures, etc.). All of the material had beendesigned to impress upon participants that it was possibleto significantly reduce home energy use … Uponcompleting a workshop, attendees indicated greaterawareness of energy issues, more appreciation for whatcould be done in their homes to reduce energy use, anda willingness to implement the changes that wereadvocated in the workshop. Despite these changes inawareness and attitudes, behavior did not change.In follow-up visits to the homes of 40 workshopparticipants, only one had followed through on therecommendation to lower the hot water thermostat.Two participants had put insulating blankets aroundtheir hot water heaters, but they had done so prior toattending the workshop. In fact, the only differencebetween the 40 workshop participants and an equalnumber of non-participants was in the installation oflow-flow shower heads. Eight of the 40 participants hadinstalled them, while two of the non-participants had.However, the installation of the low-flow shower headswas not due to education alone. Each of the workshopparticipants had been given a free low-flow shower headto install.

Households who volunteered to participate in a 10-weekstudy of water use received a state-of-the-art handbook onwater efficiency. The handbook described wasteful wateruse, explained the relationship between water use andenergy consumption, and detailed methods for conservingwater in the home. Despite great attention being paid tothe preparation of the handbook, it was found to have noimpact upon consumption.

3.3 Consumer and traderorientation


Alternatively, consumers could be split according tothe stages they are at in the decision making process.As noted by Andreasen (Appendix 1), which is the bestmarketing strategy to use may vary depending onwhether the consumer is unaware there are alternativebehaviours (precontemplation), is actively consideringchange (contemplation), has decided to change and istrying to implement that decision (action), or hasmade the change and is considering continuing theactivity (maintenance). A strategy targeted at teenswho are accumulating excessive mobile phone bills,for example, could divide the audience according totheir awareness of the potential to get into financialdifficulty. Such a strategy might distinguish betweenteens who are:

• intending by buy a phone and unaware of the riskof excessive use

• locked into a phone contract and phone use habits,and at risk of accumulating debts they cannot afford

• in financial difficulty, and

• changing their phone use habits but need assistanceto resist the pressure to revert to unsustainablehabits.

The best approach to, and extent of, segmentationdepends on the problem and the audience in eachcase:

If the population you are addressing is fairly homogeneousto begin with, then extensive segmentation might not benecessary. But if you are dealing with a diverse population,or if your program has a national or state scope,segmentation can help make sense of the complexity.(Kline Weinreich 1999, p. 53)

The tools used in social marketing are designed toremove barriers to behavioural change and encourageand reinforce positive behaviour. These tools includecommon policy responses, such as regulation, andinformation and marketing strategies. They alsoinclude more direct, individual focused strategies thatgalvanise shared feeling and motivations withincommunities. Community based social marketing, inparticular, emphasises “initiatives delivered at thecommunity level which focus on removing barriers toan activity while simultaneously enhancing theactivities’ benefits” (McKenzie-Mohr 2005, p. 1).

McKenzie-Mohr identified six categories of behaviouralchange tools that “have been extensively researchedby social scientists and are known to be effective inpromoting behavioural change” (CISE Task Force 2001,p. 6):

• commitment

• prompts

• norms

• communication

• incentives, and

• convenience.

It is also important to consider whether it is possible toremove external barriers to behavioural change(McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999, p. 116).

Commitment

The theory on commitment notes that once a personcommits to a course of action, they are more likely toundertake that action. Also, once they have made asmall commitment, they are more likely to agree to alarger commitment (Box 5). People follow up oncommitments because they want to be perceived astrustworthy and reliable, because “individuals whosedeeds match their words are viewed as being honestand having integrity” (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999,p. 116). Commitments are most effective when theyare voluntary and made public.

3.4 Targeting factors that encouragebehavioural change


In previous social marketing campaigns, obtainingcommitment has involved strategies such as:

• displaying signs or stickers that say the person isinvolved in recycling or water saving

• obtaining verbal commitments, for example not tolitter, or to exercise

• publishing the names of people who install energysaving devices, and

• having people sign a pledge to quit smoking.

Prompts

Even when people intend to engage in a particularactivity, habit or a busy lifestyle may mean they forget.Consumers may forget to read products’ warning oringredients labels, for example, even after decidingthey should check this information before they buy oruse products.

Prompts can thus be important memory joggers, butthey work only when the consumer or trader is alreadycommitted to the behaviour. Prompts work best,therefore, when combined with other behaviouralchange strategies:

Research has not shown prompts to be very effective asthe sole behavior change strategy. Although they may havean immediate effect, they lose their impact rapidly anddo not create durable or long lasting behavior change.The authors suggest that prompts might be more effectiveif they are combined with other techniques. (Bloch et al.1993, p. 28)

Prompts can be signs or stickers located near thetargeted behaviour – for example, a sign on a lightswitch to remind people to turn it off, or next to aproduct that has special safety features. They may alsobe verbal – for example, a clinic nurse or shop assistantreminding consumers about action they need to takein relation to the product or service they arepurchasing.

Box 5: Examples of the use of commitment

techniques

Recycling

Randomly selected residents in New Zealand wereasked to participate in a curbside recycling trial.Before the trial, they received a letter that explainedthe trial, a telephone number for more information,a recycling bin and a curbside recycling kit. The kitincluded a bumper sticker and a mailbox sticker.There were three groups of participants. The firstgroup was given the bins and the recycling kit.The second group was given the bins and therecycling kit, and asked for a verbal commitment.The third group was given the bins and the recyclingkit, asked for a verbal commitment and asked to mail$8.00 to pay for their bins.

While there was no significant difference in recyclingbehaviour between those who paid for their bins andthose who did not, the two verbal commitmentgroups recycled considerably more than did thecontrol group (who were not asked for a verbalcommitment) (Bryce).

Medical treatment

In an experiment on the effect of verbal commitmentin medical treatment, parents of children with innerear infection were asked to promise to give theirchildren all the prescribed medication. Self-reports atfollow-up visits indicated that obtaining a verbalcommitment significantly increased the likelihood ofall medication being administered and improved thechildren’s recovery rates (Kulik & Carlino 1987).

Volunteering

Residents of Bloomington, Indiana, were asked byphone whether they would consider, hypothetically,working three hours as volunteers to collect moneyfor the American Cancer Society. When a differentcaller contacted these individuals three days later,they were far more likely to volunteer than wereanother group of residents who had not been askedthe initial question (31 per cent versus 4 per centrespectively) (McKenzie & Smith 1999, p. 47).


Norms

People often look at the behaviours of others whenconsidering how they will behave. They do thingsbecause others believe it is the right thing to do andbecause the behaviour is consistent with that of theirpeers. Psychological experiments have illustrated theimpact that others can have on decision making. One of the most renowned is an experiment on socialconformity conducted by Solomon Asch in 1958(Box 6).

Source: McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999, pp. 9.9–9.10.

The impact of norms means social marketing caninfluence behaviour by changing or emphasisingcommunity norms. In curbside recycling, for example,distinctive bins are used for the collection. As thenumber of people putting out recycling bins increases,others are more likely to follow as they see theincreasing number of bins and are influenced by aperception that recycling is the appropriate thing todo. Strategies that influence norms include those thatmake desirable behaviours more obvious, promptpeople to display stickers to show involvement in theactivity, use demonstration projects to illustrate whatothers are doing, get members of the community todiscuss their involvement, and advertise theproportion of the community undertaking the activity.

Communication

While the advocates of social marketing are critical ofbehavioural change strategies that focus too heavily oncommunication (particularly mass communication),they still recognise the importance of communicationin a broader, multifaceted strategy. Social marketers,therefore, combine communication with other toolsand look closely at the type of communication usedand the way in which messages are presented anddelivered.

Good communication in a social marketing strategyhas many of the characteristics of goodcommunication more broadly. The US Department ofHealth and Human Services publication Making HealthCommunication Programs Work is a detailed discussionof how to develop effective communication strategiesto achieve social policy objectives. Social marketing,however, particularly emphasises some elements ofcommunication:

• Information is used to generate awareness of theproblem and potential alternative behaviours, tomake the audience responsive to efforts to changebehaviour (Andreasen 1995, p. 201).

• Information is provided to show people how tocarry out the new activity, because a lack of practicalknowledge can be a significant impediment tobehavioural change (de Young 1989, pp. 349–50).

• The mechanisms for delivering information focusless on mass media and broadcast campaigns, andmore on targeted audience segments and thespecific behaviours to be changed (Costanzo et al.1986, pp. 526–7).

• Where possible, the information is more personal,vivid and concrete. It also emphasises the costs orlosses from not acting (Costanzo et al. 1986,pp. 523–4).

• The delivery mechanisms are both personal andcredible. Avenues are sought to deliver informationthrough interpersonal contacts and by modellingeffective behaviour. These mechanisms facilitatesocial diffusion, which is an effective way ofencouraging behavioural change (Costanzo et al.1986, p. 527).

Box 6: Asch experiment in social conformity

Asch showed bars, similar to the diagram below, togroups of eight to 10 college students.

Asch told the groups that he was studying visualperception and they needed to identify which barswere the same length. Only one of the students wasthe subject of the experiment. The answers weregiven verbally and the other participants gaveincorrect answers 12 of the 18 times. Seventy-five percent of the subjects altered their answers at least onceto concur with the incorrect answers given by the restof the group.

X A B C


Incentives

Behavioural change can be encouraged usingincentives to promote the desirable behaviours anddeterrents to discourage unwanted behaviours.Incentives and deterrents can be financial and non-financial – for example:

• Taxes on tobacco and alcohol discourage theoverconsumption of potentially harmful products.

• Subsidies to financial counsellors encouragevulnerable and disadvantaged consumers infinancial difficulty to seek the assistance of acounsellor.

• Publishing the names of rogue traders increases theperception that rogues will be caught, anddiscourages other businesses from engaging in rogueactivity.

• Presenting public awards to companies thatdemonstrate an understanding of the Fair TradingAct and evidence of practices and processes thatreinforce compliance encourages others to considersimilar compliance.

Many commentators caution, however, againstoverreliance on financial incentives:

Social marketers must be very cautious in using positiveextrinsic rewards. A practical reason is that such rewardscan wear out quickly. A prize offered every week soon losesits salience and effectiveness. A variety of rewards usuallyhas more impact. Further, it may turn out that consumerscome to carry out the behaviour just to achieve the rewardand not because the behaviour is internally satisfying.This is especially the case if the reward is perceived by theconsumer to be excessive for the behaviour being rewarded.Overjustification of behaviour can lead consumers tobelieve that a behaviour is less intrinsically rewarding inthe future. (Andreasen 1995, p. 285)

In these circumstances, consumers or traders mayrevert to the original behaviour, particularly if thereward is withdrawn, and it would be harder to getthem to commit voluntarily to change this behaviourin the future. Rewards are less likely to have negativeconsequences if they are relatively small and used tomotivate a change that consumers or traders wouldchoose to continue once they try it.

Convenience and other external barriers

Even if consumers or traders wish to undertake anactivity, and are ready to change their behaviour,external barriers may prevent them from carrying outtheir intentions:

• A low income borrower who wants to avoid usinghigh interest short term lenders would havedifficulty if he or she were in financial crisis andwere refused credit from other types of lender.

• A consumer who wants to check whether a letteroffering a new weight loss product is genuine wouldhave difficulty if he or she could not obtain reliableadvice on the product.

• A home renovator in a rural area who wants toremove and dispose of asbestos safely would havedifficulty if the necessary equipment were notavailable in the region.

• A trader that wants to change its contracts toremove clauses that are unfair to consumers may beunsure about the legal implications of such changesfor other aspects of its contracts.

• A consumer who wanted to ensure a second handcar was mechanically sound would have difficulty ifhe or she lacked the skills to make that judgementand could not find someone trustworthy to assistwith the assessment.

Where possible, therefore, social marketers identifyand remove barriers that prohibit consumers and/ortraders from changing their behaviour, make desiredbehaviours more attractive or convenient, and makeunwanted behaviours less convenient. The researchbehind a social marketing strategy should identify theexternal barriers and realistically assess the significanceof, and potential to overcome, those barriers. Effortshould concentrate on significant barriers that can bereduced; if it is not possible to remove significantbarriers, then social marketing may not be the bestpolicy for tackling the problem.

McKenzie-Mohr and Smith stressed the importance ofidentifying and reducing external barriers:

In summary, because the nature of external barriers canvary dramatically across communities, strategies forremoving these barriers will have to be tailored to eachsituation. Begin by identifying what external barriers existand then seek information from other communities onhow they have dealt with the external barriers you haveidentified. Next, determine whether you have the resourcesto implement similar initiatives. If you determine that youdo not have the resources, you should seriously reconsideryour options. As mentioned above, a community basedsocial marketing initiative that ignores external barriersis a recipe for failure. (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999,p. 119)


Social marketing is multifaceted in two ways:

1. A range of tools is used simultaneously to encouragebehavioural change.

2. Often, multiple organisations are involved inimplementing the strategy.

Given the complexity of the behaviours that socialmarketing campaigns seek to change, and the rangeof influences that affect consumers’ decisions tochange their behaviour, policies that rely on a singlebehavioural change tool are unlikely to be successful.Appendix 1 summarises Andreasen and Robinson’sviews on the preconditions for behavioural change.No one policy tool can ensure all these preconditionsare met:

A toolbox of strategies is used to reduce barriers, increasemotives, obtain commitment, support social norms,provide information and increase intentions to perform thetarget behaviour. Most reports indicate that combinationsof these tools are more effective than a single tool.(Monroe 2003, p. 118)

Similarly, given the complexity of behavioural changeand the resources available to individual agencies,social marketing strategies often benefit fromcooperation by organisations:

Social and health issues often are so complex that oneorganisation cannot make a dent by itself. By teaming upwith other groups in the community, your organisationcan extend its resources as well as its access to members ofthe target audience. Figure out which organisations havesimilar audiences or goals to yours – although notnecessarily the same goals – and identify ways in whichyou can work together so that both can benefit.(Kline Weinreich 1999, p. 17)

Government agencies, in particular, can benefit fromworking with community groups to increase agencies’understanding of the real barriers to, and benefits of,behavioural change. In addition, messages deliveredthrough community or business groups are more likelyto be concrete and personal, and so more likely toinfluence consumers (see the above discussion oncommunication). The US Department of Health andHuman Services listed the following benefits ofdeveloping strategies in partnership with otherorganisations:

• Access to an intended audience

• More credibility for your message or program becausethe intended audiences consider the potential partner tobe a trusted source

• An increase in the number of messages your programwill be able to share with intended audiences

• Additional resources, either tangible or intangible(e.g., volunteers)

• Added expertise (e.g., training capabilities)

• Expanded support for your organisation’s priorityactivities

• Co-sponsorship of events and activities.(US Department of Health and Human Services,pp. 35–6)

3.5 A multifaceted approach

Using social marketing in consumer policy > 17

As noted, Consumer Affairs Victoria already adoptsstrategies to influence consumers and traders tobehave in ways that reduce the risk of consumerdetriment improve business practices. It is continuallyexpanding the policy tools used, improving itsapproach, changing delivery techniques and usinglong term skills development, as well as simplyproviding information. But even this effort isinsufficient in some circumstances. Other approachesmay be necessary to replace or augment existingstrategies, which is where social marketing ispotentially relevant.

Like all policy tools, social marketing is not a panaceafor all consumer policy problems, and the costs ofadopting any social marketing strategy need to beweighed against its benefits:

As with any tool, social marketing cannot be expected tosolve every type of health and social problem … A socialmarketing program might not be as effective for certainissues such as complex problems with many contributingor confounding factors, problems not under individualcontrol (e.g. genetic flaws), and addictive disorders.(Kline Weinreich 1999, p. 4)

But for those problems where behavioural change isnecessary, social marketing can provide useful insightsinto ways of improving policy effectiveness. Theprocess of identifying when to use social marketingshould recognise the following:

• The detail in the analysis that underpins socialmarketing means this approach is best suited toproblems that are generating significant costs, andwhere it is possible to identify specific behavioursthat need to change.

• Social marketing involves identifying and engagingwith individuals or communities of individuals.It is practicable for Victoria to use social marketingstrategies to target only groups that it can identifyand communicate with. This criterion wouldexclude overseas traders, for example.

• Social marketing works only when it is possible toinfluence people to want to change. Where there isstrong opposition to change (among rogue traders,for example), strategies aimed at achievingvoluntary change would be ineffective.

• In some cases, it is impossible to remove the keybarriers to behavioural change. Social marketingstrategies are likely to be ineffective in these cases.

• Social marketing is a long term strategy, becausebehavioural change takes time to initiate andbecome embed into people’s routine.

Thus, social marketing is most suited to changingconsumer and trader behaviour in situations that meetthe characteristics in Box 7.

A key benefit of a successful social marketingcampaign is that consumer detriment is often reducedas a result of voluntary changes among consumers ortraders. This reduces the need for more explicitregulation.

4Using social marketingin consumer policy

Box 7: Problems suited to social marketing

strategies

Social marketing is best suited to problems where:

• it is necessary to change behaviour or improvebusiness practices to reduce consumer detriment

• the consumer detriment is considerable

• behaviours and people’s motivations can beidentified and analysed

• it is possible to identify and target traders,individuals or communities of individuals andconvince them of the desirability of change, and

• it is possible to identify and remove the keybarriers to change.

18 > Using social marketing in consumer policy

While social marketing has much in common withconventional consumer policy approaches, there arekey differences in the process for developing andimplementing the strategy, and in the policy toolsconsidered (Table 1).

Social marketing

Policy development is preceded by a comprehensivereview of the problem, behaviours in the market andthe benefits of, and barriers to, behavioural change.

Strategies are trialled, continually monitored andevaluated for their impact on behaviour.

Where possible, cooperative approaches amonggovernment and non-government agencies are used.

The audience is segmented and tools are tailored tosegments.

Tools focus on factors known to change behaviour:generating commitment, using prompts, changingnorms, using effective communication, usingincentives and penalties, and increasingconvenience. They seek to remove external barriersto behavioural change.

Traditional consumer policy responses

Policy development is not always preceded by anassessment of the problem and the possible policyresponses. Often, this assessment does not focus onfactors that affect behavioural change.

Monitoring and evaluation of programs usually focuson awareness raising and changing attitudes, notbehavioural change.

Cooperative approaches are less common.

The tools are often higher level and the approach isusually less disaggregated.

Tools focus less on behavioural change and oftenmore on providing information. The ways of makinginformation accessible and delivering it arebecoming more sophisticated.

Table 1: Comparison of social marketing and traditional policy approaches

Appendix 1: Achieving behavioural change > 19

Consumer policy often tries to reduce the risk ofconsumer detriment by informing consumers andtraders about the benefit of changing their behaviouror by making it easier for consumers to access theinformation they need to inform their choices – forexample:

• Fact sheets are produced to warn consumers not tobuy unsafe products or inform consumers abouthow to safely use potentially dangerous products.

• Media releases, website information andpublications are used to inform consumers aboutscams so they can identify and avoid them.

• Conferences are held to inform traders aboutchanges to regulation.

• Guides are published on building and renovating,buying and selling property, buying cars and rentinghomes to encourage people to comply with theirlegal obligations and to empower them to protecttheir interests.

Consumer information and education strategies aresimilar to strategies that have been used for othersocial policy, such as those encouraging people toprotect the environment or change their lifestyle toimprove their health. Social marketing too is now usedin environment and health policy, for example,following a recognition that information does notautomatically lead to behavioural change:

Communication efforts alone cannot achieve allobjectives. Appropriate purposes for communicationinclude:

• Creating a supportive environment for a change(societal or organizational) by influencing attitudes,beliefs, or policies

• Contributing to a broader behaviour change initiativeby offering messages that motivate, persuade, or enablebehavior change within a specific intended audience.

Raising awareness or increasing knowledge amongindividuals or the organisations that reach them is alsofeasible; however, do not assume that accomplishing suchan objective will lead to behavior change. For example,it is unreasonable to expect communication to cause asustained change of complex behaviors or compensatefor a lack of health care services, products, or resources.(US Department of Health and Human Servicesundated, pp. 21–2)

The assumption that information and educationstrategies encourage people to act differently is basedon two theories of behavioural change: the attitudemodel and the rational economic model (see Costanzoet al. 1986, p. 521; CISE Task Force 2001, p. 3).The attitude model assumes that increased awarenesschanges people’s attitudes and that an attitude shift infavour of an activity would be followed by a change inbehaviour. The rational economic model assumes thatpeople use information to inform their actions if theinformation is available and if the benefits of using itare greater than the costs of using it. This model holdsthat providing more accessible and understandableinformation would lead more consumers to use thatinformation in their decision making.

Both models are inadequate, however, because theycannot fully explain what is observed aboutbehavioural change – for example:

Recyclers and non-recyclers were similar in their pro-recycling attitudes, extrinsic motivation, and the degree towhich they viewed recycling as a trivial activity. Theydiffered significantly, however, in the degree to which theyrequired additional information about recycling. Non-recycling respondents indicated a lack of information onhow to carry out the activity. The study is also of interestdue to the isolation of attitudinal and behavioural aspectsof recycling. (de Young 1989, p. 341)

Appendix 1: Achievingbehavioural change

20 > Appendix 1: Achieving behavioural change

Although the rational economic model is able to predictbehaviour in many situations, it has limitations. Certainsituational factors can override the formal logicalproperties of a situation and cause people to endorsepreferences that are not economically rational. (Yates &Aronson 1983, p. 436)

These problems arise as a result of two deficiencies inthe two models. First, simply providing informationdoes not necessarily mean consumers will use it. Asdiscussed in the Consumer Affairs Victoria researchpaper Information Provision and Education Strategies,people faced with complex information often useproxies or shortcuts to deal with an inadequate abilityto incorporate all the relevant information in theirdecisions. They rely on a simplified set of principles tomake complex judgements. But the chosen shortcutcould lead consumers to choose products or servicesthat do not meet their expectations. Also, shortcuts indecision making may be so ingrained that consumersdo not realise they are not identifying the rightproduct for them. In these circumstances, simplyproviding information may have little effect onconsumers’ actions unless that provision isaccompanied by a strategy to convince people of therelevance and importance of the information.

Yates and Aronson supported this view:

The average citizen does not properly integrate allinformation relevant to any given decision … consumerstend to use a simplified strategy which, though intuitivelyappealing, produces systematic errors in quantification.(Yates & Aronson 1983, p. 439)

People may also ignore information if they do notknow they need to change their behaviour, perhapsbecause they think that their current behaviour is nota problem or is only a problem for other people, orthat the new behaviour is inconsistent with their basicvalues (such as religious beliefs) (Andreasen 1995, p. 199).

Second, even if people read, understand and rememberthe information and agree that behavioural change isdesirable, there may be other barriers to making thatchange (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999, p. 11). Socialmarketing recognises that generating sustainedbehavioural change is more complex:

Social marketing is different from alternative approachesto behavioural change such as education, persuasion,behaviour modification, and social influence, although itincorporates many of their principles. Social marketingemphasises behaviours as the bottom line for everything itdoes. It does not settle for merely changing awareness orattitudes. It is fanatically consumer centred. It uses acombination of influence factors to bring about change.(Andreasen 1995, p. 33)

Many models are used to illustrate why behaviouralchange is difficult and the conditions for achievingsuch change.4 To illustrate these theories, thisappendix summarises two models:

• Andreasen’s stages of behavioural change(Andreasen 1995, pp. 141–69), and

• Robinson’s seven steps to social change (Robinson1998).

Andreasen argued that behavioural change, from amarketing perspective, involves four important stages:

Consumers do not undertake high-involvement behavioursrapidly and in one step. They move toward the desiredoutcomes in stages. So, at any point in time, the socialmarketer’s challenge is to move the consumers to the nextstage of the process. (Andreasen 1995, p. 167)

He described how consumer thinking and the policiesthat influence consumers differ in each stage.He noted that social marketing can make the greatestcontribution at the contemplation and action stagesbecause social marketers “are especially adept atunderstanding how consumers make highly complexdecisions and how they can be influenced to make thepreferred decision and motivated to undertake thedesired action” (Andreasen 1995, p. 150).

• Stage 1: Precontemplation – The target population isnot aware of the possibility of behavioural change.The social marketing challenge is to build(1) awareness of the desired behaviour and(2) acceptance that the behaviour would beconsistent with people’s values and culture. Theobjective is to get people to actively contemplatebehavioural change. Andreasen proposed that keytools at the precontemplation stage are educationand promotional information (Andreasen 1995,p. 149).

• Stage 2: Contemplation – consumers actively considerchange. Several factors influence consumers’thinking at this stage:

—the perceived benefits of the action

—the perceived costs of the action

—what others think (social and cultural pressure), and

—whether the consumer could make the actionhappen.

A1.1 Behavioural changetheories

4 See Donovan & Henley (2003, pp. 91–120) for a discussion of several models.

Appendix 1: Achieving behavioural change > 21

Andreasen divided contemplation into two phases:early and late contemplation. He argued that socialmarketers should concentrate on highlightingbenefits at the early stages of contemplation,because people will not consider a new behaviourfurther if they do not perceive it as beneficial.During the later stage, it is more important to helppeople overcome barriers and resistance to change.This effort could include reducing the perceivedcosts of change and harnessing social pressure toencourage change (Andreasen 1995, p. 168).

• Stage 3: Action – For people to move fromconsidering a behaviour to undertaking thatbehaviour they must believe that the actions neededto make the change are within their power andskills, and are not constrained by external factors.External constraints might include theunavailability of necessary products or services, or alack of cooperation from others. Social marketingtools include providing people with skills andknowledge on how to make the change, andreducing either external constraints (if realconstraints are a problem) or the perception ofexternal constraints (if this perception isunfounded) (Andreasen 1995, pp. 161–3).

• Stage 4: Maintenance – In most cases, socialmarketing seeks to permanently change behaviour.Sometimes, consumers or traders trial a newbehaviour but later revert to their originalbehaviour. The challenge is to get consumers andtraders to commit to long term change. Socialmarketing can help reinforce consumers’ andtraders’ belief that their choice to change behaviouris correct, and facilitate continuation of the desiredbehaviour.

Another model of behavioural change was developedby Robinson, who described seven obstacles, orpreconditions, to changing behaviour (Figure A1.1):

• Knowledge – The person is aware of the problem andthat there is a practical solution. They know thepersonal costs of inaction and the benefits of action.

• Desire – The person wants to change.

• Skills – The person can easily visualise the stepsrequired to achieve the goal.

• Optimism – People will not act if they believe theirefforts are futile, so the person needs to believe thathe or she is likely to achieve the benefits of change.

• Facilitation – The barriers to change need to bereduced so achieving change is as simple, quick andlow cost as possible.

• Stimulation – Something needs to initiate action tobreak the inertia of habit.

• Reinforcement – Feedback and recognition are neededto maintain action and build on success. (Robinson1998, pp. 5–7)

Robinson argued that the role of social marketers isto clear these obstacles, rather than pass on wisdomabout the right course of action.

Figure A1.1: Seven steps to social change

Source: Robinson 1998, p. 4.

Bibliography > 23

Andreasen, AR 1995 Marketing Social Change: Changingbehaviour to promote health, social development and theenvironment Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Aronson, Dr E Improving energy conservation witheffective home audit programs in California usingcommunication and commitmenthttp://www.cbsm.com/action.lasso?-database=Cases.fp3&-response=%2fCasesDatabase%2fdetail.lasso&-layout=Cases&-op=cn&Activity=Energy%20Efficiency&-maxRecords=1&-skipRecords=3&-search,accessed 8 August 2005.

Bachman, Dr W Promoting public transit in urban areaswith incentives and commitmenthttp://www.cbsm.com/action.lasso?-database=Cases.fp3&-response=%2fCasesDatabase%2fdetail.lasso&-layout=Cases&-op=cn&Activity=Transportation&-maxRecords=1&-skipRecords=1&-search,accessed 8 August 2005.

Bloch, P, Condict, K, Devlin, F, Elmore, E, Goodwin, J,Johnsen, K, Kaplan, L, Osborn, N & Schmidt, D, 1993Pollution Prevention Strategies for College Campuses: Acase study at the University of Michigan School of NaturalResources and Environment, University of Michigan,Michigan.

Braus, P 1995 “Selling good behaviour” AmericanDemographics vol. 17, no. 11, p. 60,http://mgv.mim.edu.my/Articles/00026/9602046.Htm,accessed 4 August 2005.

Bryce, WJ Motivating Community Recycling:New Zealand curbside trialhttp://www.cbsm.com/action.lasso?-database=Cases.fp3&-response=%2fCasesDatabase%2fdetail.lasso&-layout=Cases&-op=cn&Tools=Commitment&-maxRecords=1&-skipRecords=11&-search, accessed23 August 2005.

CAV (Consumer Affairs Victoria)–2004, Consumer Affairs Victoria Annual Report 2003–04,Report to the Minister for Consumer Affairs for the yearended 30 June 2004 Melbourne.

–2005a Take the Consumer Stuff! Challenge Competition:Information for studentshttp://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902000FE154/Lookup/CAV_Publications_Education/$file/comp%20%201pp%20student%20info.pdf, accessed16 August 2005.

–2005b “Consumer Affairs Victoria’s ConsumerEducation in Schools program”, CAVLink June,http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902000FE154/Lookup/CAV_Publications_CAVLink/$file/CAV_Link_2005_06.pdf, accessed 11 August 2005.

–2005c, Money Stuff Teachers' Resourceshttp://www.moneystuff.net.au/Default.aspx?tabid=95, accessed 11 August 2005.

–2005d “Go green and save” CAVLink June,http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902000FE154/Lookup/CAV_Publications_CAVLink/$file/CAV_Link_2005_06.pdf, accessed11 August 2005.

–2005e “Retail Excellence Awards focus on consumerprotection” CAVLink January,http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256F2B00224F55/page/CAVLink+Newsletter-2005+-+January-ARAV+Awards?OpenDocument&1=90-CAVLink+Newsletter~&2=8970-2005+-+January~&3=410-ARAV+Awards~, accessed11 August 2005

CISE (Canadian Information System on theEnvironment) Task Force 2001 Influencing Behaviour byProviding Environmental Information Report prepared byMcKenzie-Mohr Associates.

Bibliography

24 > Bibliography

Costanzo, M, Archer, D, Aronson, E & Pettigrew,T, 1986 “Energy Conservation Behaviour, the DifficultPath from Information to Action” American Psychologistvol. 41, no. 5, pp. 521–8.

de Young, R, 1989 “Exploring the difference betweenrecyclers and non-recyclers: the role of information”Environmental Systems vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 341–51.

Donovan, R & Henley, N, 2003 Social Marketing:Principles and practice IP Communications, Melbourne.

DTF (Department of Treasury and Finance, Victoria)2005, Victorian Guide to Regulation Melbourne.

Health Canada, 2003 Social Marketing http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/socialmarketing/social_marketing/index.html,accessed 5 July 2005.

Jackson, T, 2005 Motivating Sustainable Consumption: Areview of evidence on consumer behaviour and behaviouralchange Report to the SDRN (Sustainable DevelopmentResearch Network).

Kline Weinreich, N, 1999 Hands-on Social Marketing: astep-by-step guide SAFE Publications.

Kulik, JA & Carlino, P, 1987 “Abstract” of “The effectof verbal commitment and treatment choice onmedication compliance in a paediatric setting” Journalof Behavioural Medicine vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 367–76,http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=Display&DB=pubmed, accessed 22 August 2005.

McKenzie-Mohr, D, 2005 Quick Reference: Community-based social marketinghttp://www.cbsm.com/Reports/CBSM.pdf,accessed 14 June 2005.

– & Smith, W, 1999 Fostering Sustainable Behavior: Anintroduction to community-based social marketing NewSociety Publishers.

Monroe, MC, 2003 “Two avenues for encouragingconservation behaviours” Human Ecology Reviewvol. 10, no. 2

OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment), 1995 Recommendation of the Councilon Improving the Quality of Government RegulationReport C(95)21/Final, 9 March, Paris.

Robinson, L, 1998 “A 7 step social marketingapproach” Paper presented at the Waste Educate98 Conference.

US Department of Health and Human Services MakingHealth Communication Programs Work,http://www.cancer.gov/pinkbook, accessed22 August 2005.

Yates, SM & Aronson, E, 1983 “Psychology in Action:A social psychological perspective on energyconservation in residential buildings” AmericanPsychologist 38(4) April, pp. 435–444

Consumer Affairs Victoria Research and Discussion Papers to Date > 25

1. Consumer Education in Schools: Background reportNovember 2003

2. What do we Mean by ‘Vulnerable’ and ‘Disadvantaged’Consumers? March 2004

3. Information Provision and Education StrategiesMarch 2006

4. Social Marketing and Consumer Policy March 2006

5. Designing Quality Rating Schemes for Service ProvidersMarch 2006

6. Regulating the Cost of Credit March 2006

7. Consumer Advocacy in Victoria March 2006

Consumer Affairs VictoriaResearch and DiscussionPapers

July 2006C-43-01-903

CCoonnssuummeerr AAffffaaiirrss VViiccttoorriiaa

Victorian Consumer & Business Centre113 Exhibition StreetMelbourne 3000Telephone 1300 55 81 81 (local call charge)Email [email protected] www.consumer.vic.gov.au

social marketing and consumer policy · social marketing and consumer policy > iii many consumer...

Documents