Social Marketing in the News
Health Guns Fire on Obesity Front
Groups battling obesity want the educational approach expanded with wide-ranging "environmental" initiatives…Child nutrition expert Associate Professor Robert Scragg says it's unrealistic to rely on social marketing to change behaviours. "We really need to pull all guns out on this" … Professor Scragg says the Government needs to act "because it's in the interests of television and food manufacturers to keep advertising in this area".
He says a tax on high-sugar drinks is favoured as a first step to prepare the public for a possible fat tax, with the money raised put towards nutritional programmes.
Culture and Behavioural Changes
“My nephew became very ill and within one week he died all because a sorcerer had put a spell on him”. These statements clearly indicate that it is now urgent to find out the impact of traditional belief systems on present behavioural practices. The result of such studies should provide a sound basis for an effective behavioural change social marketing campaign.
The major function of culture is to pass on survival strategies from past to future generations. Culture can be defined in many different ways; I find the following a useful working definition. “Culture is an inventory of solutions to problems the particular society encountered.”
Food and Calorie
Drewnowski says economic changes might succeed in reducing obesity among the poor where other tactics such as "healthy eating" messages have not. For instance, a 2002 study by Katherine Horgen and Kelly Brownell of Yale University found that price decreases alone, rather than a combination of price decreases and health messages, helped boost restaurant sales of healthy food items. "Health messages may have paradoxical effects if foods labeled as healthy are assumed to taste bad," Horgen and Brownell write.
Drewnowski agrees. "The so called 'social marketing' has not really worked since it appeals to a sense of duty rather than to pleasure or satisfaction. Marketers also tell us that labeling a product as 'healthy' is the kiss of death - nobody wants it."
Interview - Professor Boyd Swinburn
President of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity
[The food industry’s nutrition program] is done the total absence of anything happening on the ground; disconnected with any other intervention or activity. To me it’s a total, probably a total waste of space. It wasn’t developed by social marketers with a social marketing goal and a social marketing end point.
In 10 years’ time, I hope even before that, we’re going to look back and say I can’t believe that we allowed big multi-national organisations to run sophisticated advertisements aimed at young children, to buy the types of food that are promoting obesity. Just like we can’t believe that we used to promote cigarettes for you know, for health or doctor’s recommend. And you know, we look back on those advertisements like we do and we laugh at those, that’s a bit of a joke, I can’t believe doctors even said that, and ah we’re going to look back in the same way, I think.
WSAC Lands $500,000 Grant
The Office of National Drug Control Policy recently announced that Winchester will receive a five-year Drug-Free Communities grant for the Winchester Substance Abuse Coalition (WSAC) totaling $500,000
The goals of the WSAC are: 1) to delay first use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; 2) to develop effective community responses to youth alcohol, tobacco, and drug use: and 3) to enhance efforts to address the specific problem of underage drinking by Winchester youth. In order to achieve these goals, the coalition will implement the following strategies: 1) an adaptation of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's (CSAP) model program, the Communities Mobilizing for Change Around Alcohol (CMCA) as a community organizing model to address underage alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and heroin use; 2) develop and implement a social marketing campaign to address the social sources and/or norms that allow access to the above mentioned substances; and 3) build the capacity of our police department and school systems to respond to underage drinking and drugging.
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