Capturing the Ripples: Addressing the Sustainability of the Impact of Social Marketing

Abstract

This article reports the development and implementation of a social marketing campaign that was designed to address the interactions between employment seekers and employment providers in the Republic of Maldives. The campaign was implemented in an environment of negative mindsets among young people toward skill-based training and occupations. This in turn has resulted in employers preferring an expatriate workforce, leaving large numbers of Maldivian youth unemployed. Social marketing was used as a device to valorize the notion of work and career by promoting affirmative and positive attitudes toward work. A part of the overall strategy was a career counseling program which followed the campaign to build on this valorizing effect and provide a contextually grounded structure and system for making effective career choices. Based on the data gleaned from these interventions, the article examines the relative and combined impact of social marketing and career guidance on the targeted behaviors and attitudes. In its conclusion, the article discusses the role that social marketing could play along with a partner intervention to effect long-term behavioral and attitudinal change.