What is social marketing?
Social marketing uses the same marketing principles to sell ideas, attitudes and behaviors that are used to sell products.
Social marketing has evolved from a simple public service announcement such as “Seatbelts save lives” or “Just say No to drugs” to a more sophisticated, multi-strategy approach.
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How does social marketing work?
Social marketing seeks to influence social behaviors in order to benefit a target audience. Research and evaluation are the cornerstones of the social marketing process.
MCYAF uses social marketing to:
- Educate parents and the community about the risks and harm of underage drinking and to communicate those risks to youth.
- Educate parents about their role as believable sources of information for their children and to talk about their values, beliefs and expectations with them.
- Educate parents about their role in the enforcement of guidelines/rules and consequences about alcohol and other drug use with their children.
Social marketing campaigns are designed to encourage favorable, voluntary changes in individual behavior among members of a specific audience in order to improve personal and public welfare.
MCYAF works to change parent behaviors around underage drinking in order to create a healthier community for our youth. For change to occur (replace old behavior with new), parents must perceive that the benefits of adopting the new behavior outweighs the cost of changing.
Specifically, our goals are to:
Increase the number of parents with children ages 13-18 (middle school to high school) who communicate family rules and consequences about alcohol use to their children.
Increase adult awareness and understanding of the dangers of underage drinking.
