Minimizing alcohol harm: A systematic social marketing review (2000–2014)

Abstract

HighlightsThis study provides a review of evidence behind social marketing effectiveness in the area of problem behaviours associated with alcohol drinking. This paper presents a review of interventions and their evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000-2014 to identify the role and use of the key elements of social marketing interventions aiming to minimize harm from alcohol consumption. Social marketing interventions reviewed in this study were found to be largely effective in creating positive effects through changing behaviours and policies to effect short term or immediate changes, and also attaining longer term change via attitude, behavioural intention, and/or raising awareness. 3 Abstract This study sought to review social marketing interventions and their evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000-2014 to identify the role and use of the key elements of social marketing interventions: behavioural objective, audience segmentation, formative research, exchange, marketing mix and competition. A systematic literature search was undertaken examining nine databases and 23 social marketing interventions were identified. None of the social marketing interventions seeking to minimise harm from alcohol employed all six of the aforementioned benchmark criteria. Social marketing interventions reviewed inthis study were found to be largely effective in creating positive effects through changing behaviours and policies to effect short term or immediate changes, and also attaining longer term change via attitude, behavioural intention, and/or raising awareness. However, the absence of complete benchmark criteria was also identified and this may be limiting effectiveness indicating further potential for social marketing's reputation as an effective change agent to be enhanced via more comprehensive application of social marketing benchmark criteria.

Midstream social marketing intervention to influence retailers’ compliance with the minimum legal drinking age law

“…Alcohol-related interventions that employ social marketing principles are shown to achieve good results in tackling alcohol-related harm: they have been found to create some immediate but also longer-term changes via attitude, behavioral intention, and/or raising awareness; some also achieved positive behavioral outcomes (Stead et al, 2007;Kubacki et al, 2015). The majority of evaluated alcohol-related social marketing interventions published to date were oriented downstream (the target population was primarily young people and the problem addressed was either alcohol consumption or drink driving); only a few interventions were oriented midstream (e.g., targeting medical and health professionals) (Stead et al, 2007;Kubacki et al, 2015).…”

“…The majority of evaluated alcohol-related social marketing interventions published to date were oriented downstream (the target population was primarily young people and the problem addressed was either alcohol consumption or drink driving); only a few interventions were oriented midstream (e.g., targeting medical and health professionals) (Stead et al, 2007;Kubacki et al, 2015). However, to solve such stubborn problems as alcohol-related problems, we need to employ additional strategies and approaches; focusing on young people is insufficient.…”

“…In the field of social marketing, the complexity of behavioral determinants is being increasingly recognized (Gordon, 2013;Spotswood and Tapp, 2013;Kamin and Anker, 2014), but social marketing interventions to prevent alcohol-related problems still focus on individuals with risky behaviors, who are, in most cases, young people (Stead et al, 2007;Kubacki et al, 2015). Besides investing huge resources into managing alcohol-related harm and encouraging young people to stop high-risk drinking, additional approaches should be taken to prevent young people from consuming alcohol to begin with; attention to the contextual dimensions of the risky behaviors and "drinking cultures" is needed (Spoth et al, 2008;Jones, 2011;Jones, 2014).…”

Combining Social Norms and Social Marketing to Address Underage Drinking: Development and Process Evaluation of a Whole-of-Community Intervention

“…A 2007 review noted several studies showed significant short-term effects and two showed some effect over two years [15]. A more recent review of 23 social marketing interventions targeting alcohol related harm reported that 13 of the 16 that reported on behavioral outcomes identified at least one positive outcome [16]. In both reviews, the successful interventions tended to be those that incorporated all or most of the elements of social marketing rather than uni-dimensional ‘education’ or ‘communication’ campaigns.…”

Alcohol regulation, communication strategies and underage alcohol consumption in Spain

“…First, social marketing is recognized to be an effective way of changing people's behavior in order to improve their personal welfare and that of society (Andreasen, 1994;Dibb and Carrigan, 2013). Thus, social marketing campaigns have been widely used to reduce adverse behavior in young people in public health areas such as smoking, alcohol and drug consumption (for a systematic review see Kubacki et al, 2015). Second, social marketing is also interested in analyzing the possible negative outcomes of marketing activities on individual or social behavior (Hastings and Saren, 2003).…”