Social marketing for public health
Walsh, D.C.; Rudd, R.E.; Moeykens, B.A.; Moloney, T.W.
Health Affairs 12(2): 104-119
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0278-2715 PMID: 8375806 DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.12.2.104Document Number: 339639
While the administration of US President Bill Clinton is trying to reform the US health care system, less attention is being given to changing behavior. The problems caused by excessive alcohol drinking, poor diets, and the use of tobacco products and other harmful substances often tend to be more related to a country's health status than are acute, short-lived illnesses. Private sector-derived marketing techniques and tools are increasingly being used to create and disseminate effective social change strategies. The authors describe how social marketing can be used to improve public health. They draw from information obtained from major textbooks, conference proceedings, telephone interviews with more than 30 practitioners and scholars in the field, and data on the application of social marketing in maternal and child health and nutrition in developing countries, family planning in developing countries, the anti-smoking campaign in the US, cardiovascular disease risk reduction, and substance abuse prevention among adolescents. Sections consider the historical convergence of marketing and health promotion; the essential elements of a social marketing approach to health; lessons learned from applications of social marketing to health; and limitations, caveats, and issues for the future.