Social Marketing in the News
The Cost of Making the Poor Pay
… malaria continues to exert a huge toll on developing countries, because even these basic and effective methods remain out of reach to the very poorest. No matter how cheaply bednets, insecticides, or drugs are sold, many people in developing countries simply cannot afford them. Without a massive push to get bednets and effective drugs to those who need them most, malaria will never be controlled.
Few people in rural Africa can afford to pay US$5–7 for a long-lasting bednet. Social marketing (i.e. selling at a discounted price, with subsidies from official aid programmes) has been used in several countries in an effort to convince people to buy bednets. But on the whole, it has had only a slight effect, and continues to leave many among the population at risk of malaria unprotected.
Universal coverage of long-lasting bed nets and ACTs cannot be achieved until all donors abandon the idea of social marketing and other methods that attempt to extract payment from people who are living below the poverty line.
It is urgent, therefore, that all donor and recipient countries adopt a policy of mass distribution of free nets and mass free access to ACTs, in accordance with the recommendations of the UN Millennium Project.
Ad Campaign Targets Would-be Sex Abusers
Coming soon to billboards, bus stops and bar bathrooms near you: Ads urging people to get help before they sexually abuse a child. [Editor’s Note: An earlier on-line version of this article referenced the term ‘social marketing.’]
Beginning Monday, a 2-year-old nonprofit group called Stop It Now! Minnesota will mount the unusual campaign -- believed to be the first of its kind in the United States -- using $35,000 in grants from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Newspaper and magazine advertising as well as radio public service spots are planned. Most of the ads will appear in the Twin Cities area through the end of December.
The target audience is people -- mostly men -- who have sexually abused children or who struggle with urges to do so, said Yvonne Cournoyer, the program's director. The ads address their fears of being exposed or hurting children and direct them to call a confidential help line at 1-888-773-8368 (PREVENT) or to visit the website www.youcanstopitnow.org.
[And other coverage]
Working with a focus group including sex offenders, researchers learned potential abusers were less likely to respond to ads featuring happy, smiling people.
"These are, by and large, individuals who are miserable, depressed, out of control," Cournoyer said.
One ad features a photo of a middle-aged man shielding his face from the camera. Another shows an obviously distressed mother shielding a young girl from her father.
The campaign will be focused in the Twin Cities and last a few months, Cournoyer said, but they hope to expand it.
Such "social marketing" is increasingly being used to prevent destructive behaviors, experts say.
"Rather than outsiders preaching to do the right thing and be noble and virtuous, you're trying to understand your target audience and the mechanisms that are driving them," said Alan Andreasen, a marketing professor at Georgetown University.
David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he "would welcome any new, sincere initiative to make a difference." But he remained skeptical.
"I think it may prove a little naive to think that a couple phone calls with a counselor would fundamentally change someone's destructive sexual drive," he said.
Social Marketing Scores: Condom Sales Soar
Sale of condoms in Madhya Pradesh has been higher when compared to their sale in Bihar and Rajasthan [India] and if figures are to be believed it comes at a time when there has been a decline in condom sale by about 10 percent nationally.
The findings of the research were alarming for the governments in the sense that although awareness about condoms is high but its use remains very low at 3.1% nationally. This after numerous efforts by both the public and the private sector.
The study provides some insights into the barriers associated with condom use. The large-scale study interviewed over 3,000 men aged 20-45 in 30 cities across north Indian states. Across both married and sexually active single men two distinct barriers to condom use were repeatedly expressed – a) product related – “condoms reduces sexual pleasure” and b) image related – “If I love my partner I don’t need to use a condom”.
Taking the War on Malaria a Notch Higher
The Tanzanian ministry of health in collaboration with partners in research, donor community and the grassroots communities has developed innovative programmes to scale up an effective means of fighting malaria. A number of projects like the provision of insecticide treated nets (ITNS) to vulnerable groups of Children and pregnant women have achieved phenomenal results. In October 2004,Tanzanian Government began to scale up an innovative programme that uses discount vouchers to provide pregnant women and infant’s access to insecticide treated nets at reduced prices.The Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS) is a unique and innovative model that provides targeted subsidies to those who are vulnerable to malaria. The Voucher scheme is a collaborative venture involving various players like Government, private sector, Donors and community groups.
Through [the] Voucher scheme, pregnant women who visit antenatal care at health facilities are issued with a voucher that they present to any recommended retailer and are given the net at reasonable cost. Government and donors have developed social marketing strategy and the private sector is involved in the supply of the treated nets to reach a wide berth of population of vulnerable groups in an economically viable manner.
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