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PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has once again brought to our attention one of the three main pillars of sustainability–the environment. It has also brought into sharp relief the fragility of the live music festival sector, whose success hinges fundamentally on the capacity for both travel and mass gatherings to occur. Considering this intersection of environmental sustainability and the live music festival sector, this paper–which reports on events occurring long before the global pandemic took hold–examines the ways in which eight Australian folk and world music festivals successfully engage in eco-friendly and pro-environmental practices and educational activities at their events. Findings from this research will assist industry practitioners in being able to engage in similar practices at their events, as well as further academic understandings of the relationship between the environment and the live music sector, and the role of environmental communication practices within this.Design/methodology/approachThis study engaged an exploratory research design using interviews to gain an insight into the perceptions of eight live music festival promoters regarding their patrons' on-site eco-friendly behaviours and engagement with the eco-friendly initiatives at their events.FindingsSocial support within the on-site festival community (applied here through the notion of a sense of communitas), coupled with the provision of eco-friendly initiatives and effective environmental communication approaches, were key pivot drivers to support patrons' pro-environmental behaviours. Engagement with environmental authorities and experts during the festivals was found to validate their eco-friendly approaches.Originality/valueThis paper provides details of, as well as insights into, the success of the eco-friendly and pro-environmental education practices engaged at select world and folk music festivals in Australia. It broadens and builds upon existing understandings of environmental communication practices.

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The study of on-site environmentally responsible behaviours at outdoor events is important because of the negative environmental degradation that may be caused when hosting these events. Studying these behaviours is especially important at music festivals that are held in protected areas, and/or for festival managers who have an interest in controlling the events' negative environmental impacts. Despite recent interest by event managers in developing strategies to encourage attendees' environmentally responsible behaviours, this task is still a challenge because attendees may be disinterested in behaving pro-environmentally in the music festival context. Given this, event managers need to find novel ways to encourage attendees to participate more in on-site environmentally responsible behaviours.To contribute toward finding alternative ways to encourage more participation, this research investigated the major psychographic factors that influence attendees' engagement in on-site environmentally responsible behaviours at music festivals. To identify these factors, the following research activities were carried out: phone interviews with music festival managers (10 participants); two online questionnaires (pre-visit and post-visit to festivals) across multiple music festivals (1,313 and 420 participants, respectively); and on-site interviews with attendees at a three-day music festival located near an Australian national park (81 participants).The findings of this study reveal that event managers consider it important to build a proenvironmental culture into their event communities in order to capitalise on attendees' sense of community that may support environmentally responsible behaviours. The analysis also provides evidence of discrepancies between attendees' intentions to behave in an environmentally responsible way at the music festivals and their actual behaviours.Psychographic factors such as pro-environmental predisposition, self-identity as eco-friendly, festival attachment, place attachment, on-site management strategies, perceived benefits and barriers are all important contributors to attendees' on-site behaviours. Further, the study finds that some attendees exceed their intentions to behave responsibly towards the environment and that this is linked with their perceptions of the music festival's green status.Attendees also consider it important to behave in an environmentally responsible way on-site because of the benefits they perceive for the well-being of both the festival community and the environment. In terms of barriers to engaging in on-site environmentally responsible behaviours, the findings reveal that the main obstacle for attendees is the belief that their actions will not make a difference.These results are of great significance to event management settings and can contribute to the design of management strategies to encourage attendees' on-site eco-friendly behaviours.

Background Although research about the trajectory of social marketing in the Global South has recently emerged, there is still limited scientific evidence exploring the past and current state of social marketing in Latin America. Understanding how social marketing has been used broadly in Latin America can help identify areas to prioritize and further advance social marketing research in the region. Focus of the Article This article provides evidence of the evolution of social marketing in Latin America from the 1960s. It offers a better understanding of the application of social marketing in this region, and focuses on identifying challenges and applications illustrative of its evolution. Importance to the Social Marketing Field This study provides a historical overview of the evolution of social marketing in Latin America. It explores how social marketing has been applied across time to drive positive social change in this region. Relevant studies identified during this study serve as valuable information for researchers and practitioners interested in studying and applying social marketing in Latin America and similar contexts. Methods This exploratory study presents a broad overview of the body of literature with a focus on illustrative examples that depict the trajectory of social marketing in Latin America across time. Evidence in English, Spanish, and Portuguese languages were collected through diverse sources including search engines, academic databases, social marketing journals, and consultation with researchers and practitioners from the region. This search was complemented with evidence from a selection of classic social marketing books. Results The evidence collected shows that social marketing has been used in Latin America for four decades but still has not achieved its full potential. Findings show a predominant use of downstream social marketing approaches as opposed to midstream or upstream approaches. Results also show that international funding was a key element for grounding the use of social marketing in Latin America between the 1970s and 1990s but it appears to be less predominant after these decades. Recommendations for Research or Practice Further research is required to provide a more nuanced understanding of the Latin American social marketing landscape. Scholars and practitioners are invited to share experiences and further investigate conceptualizations of social marketing from their unique contexts, realities, and native languages. Limitations This study was delimited to provide a historical overview of the use of social marketing in Latin America based on a synthesis of the existing literature. A systematic approach to evidence synthesis is recommended for future studies on this topic.