NOTED: SOCIAL MARKETING IN THE NEWS
(or can a one-armed gangly googler add value)
Suburban Stroke Deaths Prompt Action (March 5). Residents of the Chicago suburbs are more likely to die of a stroke than the average American who suffers one, a recent study by the Alexian Brothers Medical Hospital Network says. At a meeting of local and state elected officials Friday in Schaumburg, Alexian Brothers officials tried to expand a "social marketing" initiative aimed at reducing stroke mortality by emphasizing the need for immediate critical treatment and cooperative action.
Canadian Cancer Society: Action Needed to Make Healthy Choices Easier (March 3). To support the implementation of Cancer 2020 strategies, the Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division has provided funds to several projects in Ontario including "Let's get moving... for the health of it" - An innovative social marketing health campaign that increases knowledge of the connection between policy, social support/environments and physical activity in Northeastern Ontario.
Thinking Green: Activists say Arlington (MA) Well Suited for Wind Power (March 3). Arlington is part of the Cities for Climate Action and as part of that association must create a conservation action plan and execute its recommendationsp. Sustainable Arlington has taken on that role. As part of Monday's discussion, Sustainable Arlington member Michael Roache said a study shows Arlington is a good candidate for a windmill-style turbine like the one currently in use in Hull "Basically, [we] are trying to put together as close as we can to a final draft for a conservation plan," said Tufts student Tara Santimauro. "Such a plan includes recommendations on transportation, energy efficiency, energy sourcing and community-based social marketing."
Thunder Bay Regional Cancer Center Launches Colorectal Cancer Awareness Campaign (March 2). "The Bottom Line" is the title of its new advertising campaign designed to raise awareness of prevalent and preventable colorectal cancer. The campaign is a light-hearted one, the posters featuring rear-views of bent-over people at a supermarket, a gym, a bowling alley and a hospital. Awareness campaigns work, said Michael Power, Regional Cancer Services vice-president. “Social marketing is at times difficult to evaluate because what you’re looking at is changes in behaviour at a population level,” Power said. However, there are good examples, like the heart disease social marketing strategies of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, he said.
Addressing Meth Use In the Gay Community (March 2). Haymarket Center held a public forum at Uptown Bank Feb. 24 to discuss the skyrocketing use of crystal methamphetamine throughout Chicago, particularly in the gay community. While not all gay men take meth, enough arrests have happened ( with more likely to come ) for community leaders to become alarmed. “Things have been bad for a while; however, we have a lot more evidence now,” according to Lora Branch, director of the Chicago Department of Public Health’s STD/HIV Prevention & Care Program.
There is also reportedly a stunning correlation between crystal meth use, unsafe sexual practices, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs ) . Several recent studies from San Francisco document the link between crystal meth use and unsafe sex. Research in Seattle suggests that gay and bisexual crystal meth users are three to four times more likely to be infected with HIV than other gay and bisexual men.
Lora Branch is involved in social marketing programs to help battle the problem. Interestingly, the approach to market the problem with meth use will mirror the tactics used with Chicago’s Syphilis Elimination Task Force ( SETF ) . The SETF campaign has employed everything from public transportation advertisements to a Web site ( www.GetTestedChicago.com ). The result has been that the number of syphilis cases has decreased in Chicago, while cases have risen elsewhere in the country.
Expert Questions New Zealand Drinking Programme (March 1). Government spending on a new programme to reduce binge drinking has come under fire from local and international researchers at a meeting at parliament. At a policy roundtable organised by the Drug Foundation, Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor was told social marketing and education programmes do not work. Massey University Professor Sally Casswell chairs an alcohol policy advisory committee for the World Health Organisation and says evidence shows education and marketing of moderate drinking is ineffective. She says eventually politicians will have to tighten the rules for advertising liquor.
But O'Connor says social marketing and education programmes shift public opinion over time and that the programme's focus is on getting people to understand firstly that drunkenness is not the norm and secondly to think about how they can improve their own drinking habits.
Promoting Regional Energy and Power Sector Reforms in South Asia (February 25). The board of directors of the South Asia Regional Energy Coalition (SAREC) met for the first time to formulate a structure to carry forward the SAREC agenda of promoting regional energy and power sector reforms. V Raghuraman, the first chairman of this board, said major energy issues facing South Asian countries include accommodating rising energy demand and the promotion of cross-border energy trade. Given the economic and political ramifications of limited and infrequent power supply, South Asia is faced with the challenge of diversifying traditional energy supply, including expansion of indigenous energy resources, promoting additional foreign investment for energy infrastructure development and expanding regional trade and investment. Apart from these issues, the board also formally adopted a Social Marketing Program (SMP) for SAREC members that would help them with limited financial support to develop and implement regional awareness advertising campaigns that highlight the need for increased regional energy cooperation and specific energy issues of interest to the selected members.
Eight states receive "A" grades for their progress in promoting oral health (February 23). A report card released by Oral Health America. details innovative programs that have the potential for greatly improving the nation's oral health. Among the states highlighted in the report was South Carolina for the development of a social marketing campaign to educate the public on the importance of oral health. Market research was performed to find out what level of public knowledge exists as well as the best channels for communicating oral health messages. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control initiative, "More Smiling Faces," is the first statewide attempt at implementing a broad social marketing campaign to improve oral health.
For a copy of the report detailing the states' efforts, visit http://www.oralhealthamerica.org.
10:39:21 AM 
|
