Executive Summary
The government of Australia has embarked on Massive campaigns against tobacco consumption. It undertakes these functions through a number of government controlled organisations and civil society. The aim of the government is to influence and facilitate the change of behaviour in its citizens to one that condemn taking of tobacco products.
Changing people’s behaviour is a psychological approach which must be undertaken like consumer persuasion mechanisms used in business environments. To reduce the use of tobacco takes two angles; change of people behaviour and selling of anti tobacco products.
The government has recognised the need for change of behaviour as well as sell its products and is using a social marketing approach to attain its targets. This paper looks into how marketers and government can apply consumer behavioural theories to reduce tobacco use in Australia. The focus will be on Social marketing.
What is social marketing?
There are a number of dangers brought about by tobacco consumption. Despite campaigns and efforts put by the government to control tobacco use the use has been on the rise. Campaigns against its use have taken a drastic change to accommodate marketing methodologies which can be referred to as de-marketing policies.
In this approach anti-tobacco campaigns are on a higher level that the traditional mass campaigns where people were persuaded to change their behaviour but actions were not following the adverts.
In modern social marketing for tobacco products, the focus is on 4marketing mix strategy. This is an approach from marketing of business oriented products but it has been seen that it is applicable in these campaigns. 4Ps means Product, price, promotion and place.
The following are the objectives of a social campaigning approach;
- Smoking prevention
- Guiding smokers how to quit the vice
- Protecting secondary smokers and
- Where practicable, to reduce smoking associated harm.
It aims to attain this strategy by
- Enlightening users on the dangers that they are posing to their bodies when they use tobacco
- Encourage users to quit using these products.
- developed a quitting process and increase understanding of the quitting process, and
- Enhance treatments and services to those who are already using the products.
For a number of years World Health Organization and the International Union Against Cancer (URIC) has been concerned on the use of Tobacco among the people, it pointed out the dangers that consumption of the same have on the users and on partial smokers. The two international organizations are of the opinion that if appropriate measures are put in place, then tobacco consumption can be reduced (World Health Organization, 2003)
Government regulations and consumer behaviour
Marketing demography
The government of Australia has put in place different measures aimed at reducing the use of tobacco products. The approach is on creating awareness to the public on danger posed by tobacco consumption. It engages in campaigns that are focused on changing the behaviour of users and protecting secondary users.
Such policies include abolishing smoking in public places, increasing taxes on tobacco product and engaging the public (mostly parents) in the fight against tobacco.
In the context of social marketing it has divided the market according to 4Ps. Measures aimed at increasing price and controlling place of distribution is target to cure young people behaviour. Those of promotion emphasis on behaviour change and product affect a cross section of the population (Gray & Daube, 1980).
Level of consumption
Tobacco consumption in Australia is at different levels. It can be classified in terms of age and gender. Men have the highest consumption and at the age below 40 years consumption is at the peak. The use of tobacco has been on the rise.
The above chart shows the rate of consumption by age it is clear that the rate of consumption is high at the ages between 18-24 years. Those under the age of eighteen are not left behind but also have a share in the blame. Statistics collected by National Drug Strategy Household Survey in 2004 showed that men on average start smoking at the age of 15.2% and women smokers start it at 16.2% Consumers (Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, 2010).
In anti-tobacco campaigns, the target customer is the users of tobacco and passive user. The user is targeted to ensure that he changes his behaviour and if addicted can come out of the addiction. The focus is on both the young and the old.
Products must be available for the target customer to consume. Australia has a composition of both indigenous and indigenous people; they are also targeted differently as their rate of consumption is different;
From the chart above it is clear that indigenous people are more smokers than non indigenous people at all ages.
Cognitive Learning Theories
This theory tries to explain human behaviour by the use of interpolations of human minds and psychological effects. It focuses on changing human behaviour by focusing on his psychological needs. When someone becomes addicted to tobacco, nicotine gets into his system where his psychological balance is affected to a point that he cannot work without it.
In social marketing approach will be on changing the behaviour of an individual after focusing on his psychological need. Nicotine in the system may be reduced or alternative source looked. Conditioning the mind to recover from an addiction is another approach. Understanding the behaviours of tobacco consumers is important when developing an efficient campaign policy (Donovan & Henley 2003).
Motivational
Motivation is the drive an individual has; it makes him persevere to attain set goals either in life or in an organization (Novelli, 1996). In the context of behaviour change, people should be motivated to adopt positive behavioural change. The approach should be on understanding of how tobacco affects a person’s life and thus he gets motivated to stop taking them.
People have different personalities and so are they motivated by different things. Ones motivator is not static but changes with among others age, economic status, and social status. A motivation system/process is a combination of variable with the expected end result as an increased enthusiasm and morale in ones behaviour change, on the part of employees and campaigners they should be motivated to conduct their work effectively. There is different theories o motivation.
Expectancy theory
In this theory behaviour change can be facilitated by rewarding a positive change. It is of the opinion that if human beings are compensated for what they do, then they tend to be motivated and do it further. In the context of behavioural change, programs which recognise those people who have taken the bold decision to stop smoking should be put in place.
Expectancy theory was developed in 1964 by Victor Vroom (of Yale School of Management). It tries to relate the ways that human resources can be motivated in their day to day duties (Perese, Bellringer & Abbott, 2005). Expectancy theory is of the opinion that employees perform better when they realize that their efforts will be rewarded and recognized. This paper discusses expectancy theory; it does so using a hypothetical case study.
Components and relationships in the expectancy theory of motivation
The theory of expectancy is based on three main components and relationships they are;
Effort-performance relationship. This is where a person need to be recognized when they have done something good; for example if a rehabilitated person may be motivated either monetary or non monetary. This will make him go out and encourage others to stop their behaviour (Price, 2001).
Performance-reward relationship. This gives a connection between a reward and performance (performance in our case refers to change of behaviour), people who have been effectively been rehabilitated should be given favours in the society like jobs among others (Ibrahim & Glantz, 2007).
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), developed a motivational theory called Hierarchy of Needs. Robbins and Coulter (1998), generalised the hierarchy of need as brought about by Maslow’s theory into five levels;
- Psychological needs; these are the basic needs that a person should have they are food, shelter, health and clothing. In social marketing a tobacco user need to feel appreciated in the society. This will be the initial point in a changing process.
- Safety need; after one has been satisfied of his psychological needs, he feels insecure with life. He realizes that he needs protection.
- Social/Belonging; this is the sense of belonging, a person need to feel as a man of the people and recognised with a certain group.
- Esteem; after the above has been attained, the next stage self love. This is called self esteem.
- Actualisation this is the point that one is more concerned about how the outside world is seeing him, he is more contented with what he has attained in life. This is hypothetical since the nature of human being is the more one gets, the more he deserves (Woodward, 2003).
Application of Maslow’s theory
When applying this concept in social marketing against the use of tobacco, the start point is to realize that tobacco users are part of the society and they need love and appreciation. When they feel part of the society, then devising successful measures to rehabilitate them is higher.
The next step will be training them on the need to have a high self esteem and establish their positions in society. This assists after rehabilitation because a rehabilitated person with high self esteem is less likely to engage in tobacco use again. At actualisation, an individual is seen to have attained a certain self actualisation when he has successfully stopped taking tobacco products (Australian National Tobacco Strategy, 2004–2009).
Drive theory
According to the theory, human beings are made with certain psychological need that they aim to satisfy. When these factors have been satisfied, then human beings relax. Using the same philosophy, social marketers against the use of tobacco can apply this theory.
There is psychological need that an addict feels he needs to satisfy with tobacco products. If these needs are satisfied with other less addictive methods then the use of tobacco can be reduced (Egger, Fitzgerald, Frape, Monaem, Rubinstein, Tyler & Mackay, 1983).
Value (Core value/ value system)
Core values and value systems emphasis that human beings should conduct their affairs in a socially accepted manner. In this context, they are supposed to mind their own welfare and the welfare of other people. By smoking in the public they are endangering their lives and life’s of others and thus this approach aims at emphasising ethical conducts in people.
Human beings develop a character that reflects how they have been brought up. If they have been brought up by parents who consume tobacco chances that they will in the future become consumers of tobacco are high.
What is required is that parents should become responsible of their children and ensure that they teach them behaviour that is consistent with ethically accepted behaviour. Dangers caused by tobacco should be communicated to these children at a tender age to ensure that they are sensitized (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 1999)
In social marketing advertisers should be responsive of the effect that a message that promotes the use of tobacco has on the population and devise other better ways of advertising. Parents are also given the responsibility of guiding their children.
Lifestyle
The lifestyle that people have adopted has affected the kind of life that they are living. In slums, there is increased cigarette consumption where the poor people find it as a source of leisure. The decrease lifestyle hinders campaigns against tobacco consumption.
Low class people live in close ranges and thus when one is smoking the effect are widespread to all other people surrounding him or her. The effects and dangers are massive (Schar, Gutierrez, Murphy-Hoefer & Nelson, 2006).
Individualism
Some people do things in their own way and hate to be corrected. These are the people who may opt to consume tobacco and feel that when they are advised they are misled. Personality is thus the individuals’ distinctive aspects. It is also used to refer to a long lasting pattern of behaviour that an individual portrays.
Ones personality is the one that answers the following question or explain the following situations; why are some people terrified too talk in the public when other enjoy it?, why do some people involve in dangerous activities when others do not?
Why do people react differently when faced by one condition or situation? The answer to all the above questions is the character that someone has that is different from the others (Cancer Council Victoria, 2005).
Group Identity
Human beings are social beings; they live in groups that fit their needs. For a long period and in a large group of population, peer pressure has been quoted as the major cause of tobacco use among the youth. As young people want to be accepted in a certain group, and the group is consuming tobacco then chances that the individual will be tempted to use the substance is high (Scollo, 1994).
Product Assimilation
Advertising companies use persuasive language to catch their target market, the language used makes customers feel the need to buy and have a test on these products
Behavioural Targeting
The attitude and believe that I hold today was instilled in me right from the time I was born. In most cases it is not as a result of deliberate actions but I found myself the way I am, it is through socialization, inherited aspect/ biological aspects.
They may not be in line with other peoples believe and thus after I undergo a conflict of belief (as I interacts with others), there is the possibility of deliberate decisions to change my behaviour so as to fit in the group. The change can be to a more socially acceptable behaviour or it may change to a behaviour that is acceptable to the group but socially unacceptable.
For example, if a child has been brought up in a family that does not allow sharing of what one has, the child may develop a behaviour of being selfish; if he goes to other children that believe in sharing, the child is more likely to change the perception towards giving.
In the case of an adult, if one has been working in an organization that the organizational culture generally works against the top management, if he goes to another company that beliefs and adheres to free interaction between the top management and the staff, he will feel guilty of the attitude that he has come in with and is more likely to change the behaviour (Holman, Donovan, Corti, Jalleh, Frizzell & Carroll, 1997).
Attitudes
Our beliefs, attitude and experiences define who we are and the decisions and attitude that we hold. Since in this world no one is an island, we are faced with contradicting issues from others and our own actions this causes cognitive dissonance. It moulds us and leads to change of some aspects about our lives (Smith, 1998).
Ones personality defines the attitude that they have on various aspects in life. The way they perceive things is moulded by the past experiences that they have had about a similar situations. They sometimes get to interact with people who have had different experience on the same issue and, thus, they make decisions in line with their past feeling and experiences. When someone is in such a group, they will be more persuaded to change attitude toward the said issue (Holman, Donovan & Corti, 1994).
Attitude change
This is the feeling that a person get when he or she is confronted by two opposing ideas at the same time. It happens when one is persuaded to do something that is contrary to his or her belief. It can be explained as embarrassment, guilt or the uncomfortable feeling.
The strength of the feeling is increased with the increase in the importance of the conflicting matter and the inability to make a rational decision on the best way of doing something. As individuals, there is what we believe that we are, if I do something that is contrary to ones believe, then I will be faced with the dissonance feeling.
For example if I believe that I am wise enough to make informed decision, but mislead somebody who had come for an advice and leads to injury on the other person, I feel guilty of the action. This also happens when we are looking in the life’s of others and find them doing the opposite of what we believe is the right thing. We are faced with dissonance. To relieve our self from the guilty feeling, there are things that we do that in turn affect who we are or the action that we undertake in life (Smith, 1997).
Group influence and opinion leadership
Groups affect the character and behaviour of human being, if a person is in a group that is consuming tobacco chances that he is likely to consume the product are high. Groups in most cases have an opinion leader who tends to have control over the affairs of the group (Pierce, Macaskill & Hill, 1999).
Reference group
These are groups created in the society with the aim of assisting their peers in making a decision to stop taking tobacco products. In a social marketing setting they are not necessarily experts but they should be peers and colleague of these people.
They should be interacting at close range to ensure that they understand what tobacco users are going through and can advise them to change. People who have recovered from tobacco use are also good campaigners against the habit.
Conformity
This is the tendency that human beings have to align their behaviours with the group that they are recognized with. This is where a person is persuaded to do some things that he may not be willing to do but does to fit in a certain group.
Opinion leadership
These are people who have an influence over other people in their group. They influence the decision that a certain group is going to undertake given the prevailing condition. If the opinion leader is of the opinion that there is need for one to take tobacco products then the entire group is likely to take the same product. On the other hand, if he is of the opinion that taking tobacco is harmful then he is going to influence them to stop consuming products (Fishbein & Middlestadt, 1997).
Steps in decision making process
Defining the problem
The first step in making a good decision is defining the challenge that calls for a decision to be made. There are problems that require either a “no” or a “yes”, others require an urgent solution and others can wait for a certain period of time for alternative solution to be arrived.
Generally to have a job well-done, it is of great importance that people involved start from the beginning. Decision making is not an exemption. In this stage, a good context of the problem is grasped. It is only after getting the correct understanding of the problem that he/she can make a good decision (Macaskill, Pierce, Simpson & Lyle, 1992)
Gathering data
In this stage the manager should gather all relevant data and facts. It is from the facts and data that he develops various alternatives of choices that can be used to solve the problem at hand. The statistics will also be the ones that will support the final decision.
There are various methods of collecting data; they include researching, brainstorming, and experimentation. It is the manager’s duty to choose the right method to adopt because different problems call for different methods.
Depending on the problem, the people to be consulted differ. However, an effective manager should ensure that he/she consults those who matter and those who know. Consultation assists in making a more informed decision and assists in generating more alternatives of choice.
Their opinions and viewpoints should be considered in the final decision making, but the manager should always keep in mind that it is his/her responsibility to come up with the right decision (Walsh, Rudd, Moeykens, & Moloney, 1993).
Choosing the Best Alternative
After taking time and pondering over the issues; time taken depends on the urgency of the decision, he/she chooses and implements the best alternative. At the initial stage a lot of support of the decision is required to ensure that the whole organization or the departments concerned have adopted it effectively.
It is not always that a decision made bring the expected results; thus feedback from the people on the ground and the general performance of the business should be sorted, so as areas that need improvement are recognized. In-case an area that needs improvement has been recognized, it should be addressed appropriately (Pierce, 1990).
Problem recognition
There has been an increased tobacco use in Australia a move that have led to increased social costs by the government. Recognizing this problem, the government of Australia has deployed social marketing skills.
Information search
There are different ways of collecting data; this ranges from information received from hospitals as victims suffering from tobacco related diseases are treated. On the other hand, the rate of production and growth of tobacco industry is another area that can offer information regarding the extent of tobacco use in the country.
Alternative evaluation
Data can be collected by interviewing people who use and those who don’t use tobacco. They have information that can help a researcher develop a data base for analysis. On the other hand, deductive thinking can be adopted whereby the known number of tobacco in kilograms is produced in the country against the expected usage by members. With this, the rate of consumption can be calculated.
Decision
Decision is the driving force of the government. People on the other hand should be encouraged to make sound decision on their own life. After recognizing the dangers caused by consuming tobacco whether on the consumer and those people around the consumer, individuals should be encouraged to make a decision to stop using tobacco.
Implementation
When implementing the process, all parties affected should be contacted. They include the people who are consuming the tobacco and those who are being affected indirectly.
In social marketing, the focus is using individual approach which then comes to a group and finally the entire society is affected. When the need for a change has been explained and initiated on one person, then the next step is to empower that person to recruit some more people to change (Weininger, 2003).
Review
Tobacco has a number of negative effects in the life of users and those who inhale gasses from smokers. It is important for the entire society to collaborate and fight the consumption of these products.
Recommendations
There is need to develop measures aimed at reducing consumption of tobacco products. It will take the actions of the government, civil society, and peer individuals to persuade their members to stop the behaviour. Social marketing is a new marketing tool that can be used for this effect. When applying the approach, it may take the same fundamental policies of customer satisfaction but its approach is different.
In social marketing place applies in the context that tobacco products should be controlled in terms of places they are sold. In Australia smoking starts at a tender age when someone is in school or college. If these products are kept away from such institutions then chances that the trend will be changed are higher.
Promotion refers to a controlled marketing and advertising approach by tobacco manufacturing companies. They should be regulated in terms of place that they advertise and time of placing their adverts. Laws and regulations should be put in place to compel tobacco companies to include an advisory note for example “smoking is harmful to your health”.
When referring to products, the approach aims at developing products that can be used as an alternative to smoking. The reasons why people end up smoking should be interpolated and methods devised to reduce their effect. For example, in Australia a great number of smokers are jobless people who rely on casual labourers, they are also less learned. The government has embarked on job creation and education policies.
Finally the price of a product, through direct controls and taxation, the government can control the price of cigarettes and tobacco products.
It can formulate regulations that ensures that selling of these products is on bulk, which are not freely affordable/ the approach is different form business product approach but similar in that anti-tobacco products should be made affordable to all smokers. Other measures include a call line where smokers can get advice that can assist them change their behaviour.
It should be incorporated when advertising anti tobacco products. Social networks (both using computers and using word of mouth) should be adopted since a number of people are easily persuaded if advised by their peers in place of mass advertisings.
Conclusion
In Australia the National Tobacco Campaign has embarked on campaigning against the use of drug more specifically tobacco using social marketing tools and mediums. The move is affected by the increased number of social network users. In the recent increase in technology, many people are finding themselves as members of one social network or the other.
Some include face book, twitter, Yahoo chart, Gmail chat among others. Marketing is a process where a target population is recognized for a certain purpose say good or service either from the government or from an organization where measures are developed to meet the need of such population. In social marketing, there is the use of one on one interaction either via texts or calling as ones sells his goods.
The National Tobacco Campaign has embarked on campaigning against the use of drug more specifically tobacco using social marketing tools and mediums. The government of Australia through the branch that deals with abuse of drug is utilizing this chance for the good of the society (McDermott, Stead, Hastings, 2005).
In Australia the use of mass marketing for campaigning against the use of tobacco was started when there was Sponge advertisement in the original ‘Quit. For life’, this was in 1970’s. The results were not much favourable and researchers came up with the idea of social campaigns against the use of drugs.
The approach was aimed at behaviour change where participants were asked to network with their peers in the fight for the vice (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, 2010). National Tobacco Strategy 2004–2009 (NTS 2004–2009), has the mandate to ensure that there are campaigns that are aimed at reducing the consumption of tobacco in the society.
Reference List
Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing 2010. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Web.
Australian National Tobacco Strategy, 2004–2009. Meeting the challenges of the next five years – 2. Increasing promotion of Quit and Smoke free messages: Ideas and resources. Web.
Cancer Council Victoria. 2005. Celebrating 20 years of better health: Quit Victoria 1985–2005. Melbourne: The Cancer Council Victoria.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 1999. Best practices for comprehensive tobacco control programs. Atlanta Georgia: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.
Donovan, R., Henley N., 2003. Social Marketing: Principles and practice. Melbourne: IP Communications.
Egger G., Fitzgerald W., Frape G., Monaem A., Rubinstein P., Tyler C., Mackay B., 1983. Results of a large scale media anti-smoking campaign in Australia: The North Coast Healthy Lifestyle Program. British Medical Journal; 287:1125–8.
Fishbein E. M. & Middlestadt S. E., 1997. Social marketing: theoretical and practical perspectives. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gray N., J., Daube M., 1980. Guidelines for smoking control. 2nd ed. UICC Technical Report Series. Vol. 52. Geneva: UICC.
Holman C. D., Donovan R. J., Corti B., Jalleh G., Frizzell S. K., Carroll A. M., 1997. Banning tobacco sponsorship: replacing tobacco with health messages and creating health promoting environments. Tobacco Control; 6:115–21.
Holman C. D. J., Donovan R. J., Corti, B., 1994. Report of the Evaluation of the Western Australian Health promotion Foundation. Department of Public Health and Graduate School of Management. Perth: The University of Western Australia.
Ibrahim J. K., Glantz S. A., 2007. The rise and fall of tobacco control media campaigns, 1967–2006. American Journal of Public Health 2007; 97:1383–96.
Macaskill P., Pierce J. P., Simpson J. M., Lyle D. M., 1992. Mass media-led anti-smoking campaign can remove the education gap in quitting behaviour. American Journal of Public Health 82: 96–8.
McDermott, L., Stead, M., Hastings, G., 2005. What Is and What Is not Social Marketing: The Challenge of Reviewing the Evidence. Journal of Marketing Management, 21: 545-553.
Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy. 2010. National Tobacco Strategy, 2004–2009: The strategy. Web.
Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy 2004, National Tobacco Strategy, 2004–2009, Commonwealth of Australia.
Novelli, W., 1996. SMQ centrepiece: An interview with William D. Novelli. Social Marketing, QIII: 27-50.
Perese, L. Bellringer, M. & Abbott, M., 2005. Literature review to inform social marketing objectives and approaches and behaviour change indicators, to prevent and minimise gambling harm. Health Sponsorship Council, Wellington, NZ.
Pierce J. P., Macaskill P., Hill D., 1999. Long-term effectiveness of mass media-led anti-smoking campaigns in Australia. American Journal of Public Health 80: 565–9.
Pierce, J., 1990. Time to ban cigarette advertising and continue the ‘Quit. For Life’ campaigns [Editorial]. Medical Journal of Australia 152: 113–14.
Price, N., 2001. The performance of social marketing in reaching poor and vulnerable in AIDS control programmes. Health Policy and Planning, 16, 3: 231-239.
Schar E., Gutierrez K., Murphy-Hoefer R., Nelson D. E., 2006. Tobacco use prevention media campaigns: lessons learned from youth in nine countries. Atlanta: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health
Scollo, M., 1994. Expenditure on anti-smoking education in various Australian states. Unpublished report. Melbourne: Victorian Smoking and Health Program
Smith, B., 1998. Forget messages…think about structural change first. Social Marketing Quarterly, 5 (3), 74-75.
Smith, W. A., 1997. Social marketing: Beyond the nostalgia. In M. E. Goldberg,
Walsh, D. C., Rudd, R. E., Moeykens, B. A., & Moloney, T. W., 1993. Social marketing for public health. Health Affairs, 12 (2), 104-119.
Weininger, M. A., 2003. The challenge of social marketing: Can public health promotional efforts compete in the market. Texas: University of Texas, School of Public Health.
Woodward, A., 2003. Insights from Australia’s National Tobacco Campaign Tobacco Control; 12 (Suppl 2).
World Health Organization. 2010. Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Web.