Social Marketing Quarterly

Despite conceptual developments of the 1970s which expanded the domain of marketing from a purely business orientation to incorporate wider social causes, marketing education has continued to be dominated by the commercial perspective. Issues such as the appropriateness or otherwise of the application of marketing tools to the selling of ideas and changes in behaviors are usually only addressed as a special interest topic within general marketing courses. However, the expansion of interest in social marketing over the past decade has resulted in a greater demand for a more in-depth treatment of the subject in the tertiary education curriculum.

One university which has taken the opportunity to develop the area of social marketing into a teaching specialization is Griffith University in Australia, which first offered a course devoted entirely to social marketing as part of the undergraduate curriculum in 1994. This paper outlines why and how the subject is taught and how it complements the broader curriculum of the university as well as including an overview of some of the special issues that arise in teaching a subject of this type.

Between 1969 and 1972, the marketing discipline redefined and dramatically broadened its domain. First, Kotler and Levy (1969) broadened the concept of marketing, then Kotler and Zaltman (1971) specifically applied marketing to the arena of planned social change and, finally, Kotler (1972) articulated the generic concept of marketing. This generic concept — the dominant paradigm of the discipline — asserts the applicability of marketing to all kinds of exchanges, not just commercial exchanges between a customer and a supplier (Graham, 1993; Graham, 1994). This expansion of the application of the marketing concept to include nonprofit organizations, government bodies and social causes has provided a fertile ground for researchers. However, it has not yet become a significant, nor even normal, feature of marketing education within University programs.

Griffith University in Australia is ideally suited to taking on the challenge of incorporating social marketing into the curriculum. Griffith University was established in 1971 with a view to broadening the discipline-based structures of traditional universities and has promoted the study and teaching of significant new fields. Evidence of this commitment includes the establishment of specialist faculties in Asian studies and environmental studies, areas not usually found in the older, more traditional universities. From its inception, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching and research has been actively encouraged at Griffith University. It was within this multi- and inter-disciplinary environment that the course in Social Marketing was developed.

It is worth noting that the specialization in Social Marketing was developed in response to student interest, rather than as a result of a traditional inclusion or ideological assertion of relevance. Originally, social marketing was taught as a minor part of another undergraduate elective, Contemporary Issues in Marketing.

The Firearm Injury Reduction Education (FIRE) Program is a comprehensive community-based initiative aimed primarily at reducing the number of unintentional firearm injuries and deaths in Michigan. The FIRE Program is a multifaceted intervention that includes the following components: (1) videotaped testimonials; (2) radio public service announcements (PSAs); and (3) pamphlet distribution. In all cases, target audience members have an opportunity to receive a free gun trigger-lock. Several aspects of the social marketing model will be adopted by the FIRE Program. Pre-production formative evaluation is one important part of social marketing. The information reported here contains results of formative evaluation conducted to obtain feedback to develop and improve program components.

Specifically, focus groups ( N = 6) were conducted with adults and children who owned firearms and/or were members of an at-risk population. Individual in- depth interviews were also conducted ( N = 11) with law enforcement officers and gun shop owners and/or operators. Results suggest that one can learn a reasonable amount of information from a limited number of focus groups and interviews.

Injuries and deaths from guns represent a pervasive problem in American society. Firearms are the second-leading cause of fatal injuries in this country (Kellermann, 1994), and have surpassed automobile accidents in many states to become the leading cause of fatal injuries (Marwick, 1995). In 1994, firearms were involved in 17,866 homicides, there were 1,356 deaths due to unintentional gun injuries and 18,765 individuals prematurely ended their lives through suicide with a firearm (Singh, Kochanek, & MacDorman, 1996). Though fewer individuals died from unintentional shootings, estimates suggest that for every unintentional gun- related death, there are 13 unintentional gun-related injuries (Annest, Mercy, Gibson, & Ryan, 1995). Overall, for every gun-related death, estimates indicate that approximately seven people are injured by guns (Kellermann, 1994). The availability of a gun in a home is cited as a major contributing factor in each of these cases (Michigan Task Force on Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Reduction, 1994; Cook, 1979; Zimring, 1968; McDowall, 1991; Brent et al., 1991; Kellermann et al., 1992; Cotton, 1992), especially when the gun is stored loaded but not locked (Wintemut, Teret, Kraus, Wright, & Bradfield, 1987).

Funding for this program was provided by the Michigan Department of Community Health to the Michigan Public Health Institute.

Gun-related injuries and deaths carry a heavy price tag in terms of years-of-life lost and money spent to treat victims. National estimates indicate that annual costs related to firearm injuries and deaths average $14 billion (Voelker, 1995). Additionally, the life lost is often a young one, losing the potential for many years as a productive citizen. With regard to intentional firearm deaths, 20- to 24-year-olds have the highest death rate (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 1993). Unintentional gun injuries are the third leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds and the fourth leading cause of death for 5- to 14-year-olds in the United States (Kellermann, Lee, Mercy, & Banton, 1991). The populations at greatest risk for gun-related suicide include males 10- to 34-years-old and those 70 and older (Rosenberg, 1993).

These statistics illustrate the seriousness of firearm injuries and deaths. Treating this issue as a public health concern has been growing in popularity as a realistic option to reduce gun violence. Firearm injuries and deaths are increasingly being referred to as an “epidemic” (Mason & Proctor, 1992; Novello, Shosky, & Froehlke, 1992; Randall, 1990), “a public health emergency” (Novello et al., 1992), and one of “the most critical health problems this country faces” (Randall, 1990).

In social marketing, the 4 P's of product, price, place, and promotion are commonly accepted dogma (Andreasen, 1995:15). Their application to the development of effective social marketing interventions, in turn, must be supported by market and audience research, a challenging and often difficult task. On the surface, the specification of these elements may suggest that their application leads down a straight road to desired outcomes. In the real world, the development process usually moves along a much more winding road.

The Maneje Seguro! (Drive Safely!) program, initiated in 1994, illustrates the winding evolution and development of one social marketing effort in California. This program was initiated with aspirations of becoming a social marketing program that would use good market analysis along with attention to the 4 P's. The three-year history of this program began with a narrowly focused outreach effort (Phase I), followed by a community education program (Phase II) and most recently has led to the current but nascent social marketing form (Phase III). Its evolution illustrates the roles research played in the transformation, along with the importance of participation and partnerships.

This paper details the role of this participation and partnerships, as well as the standard 4 P's and the market research that have facilitated the three phases of development of this social marketing intervention, which is targeted at Spanish-speaking farm workers and their driving practices.

As the program developed, on-going market research efforts drove the transformations from one phase to the next. In each phase, a transformation of product, price, place and promotion occurred. The other P's — participation and partnerships — also proved critical in the evolution of the Maneje Seguro! program. Community participation and partnerships were critical to the market, audience, and product development research. Similarly, participation and partnerships contributed to the development of price, place, and promotion activities. Without them, the Maneje Seguro! social marketing program could not have been developed. Partnerships were crucial to the implementation and success of various promotion activities, most importantly in two mass media campaigns. Moreover, partnerships and participation permitted a more rapid transformation from a community education program to a social marketing program.