On Defining and Differentiating
… 7
1999; Glanz & Rimer, 1995; Wallack, Dorfman, Jernigan, & Themba, 1993). News coverage can
be influenced by the distribution of information packets informing reporters of relevant facts.
Press conferences can be held in relation to notable events. Public service announcements can be
produced and distributed to broadcast outlets (Holder & Treno, 1997).
There is enough evidence of this approach’s effectiveness that participation is now being
explored as a useful component of most kinds of social change efforts. For example, social
marketing and entertainment-education programs are commonly seen as inheritors of
modernization theory’s diffusion practices. However, researchers and program designers
employing these techniques have taken some pains to enhance participatory perspectives within
these frameworks.
Social marketing was proposed during the early 1970s by Kotler & Zaltman (Kotler &
Zaltman, 1971). Its simple idea is that positive program outcomes are more likely when
program designers understand their target population’s needs and interests (Novelli, 1990). To
this end it employs formative research, market segmentation and other research techniques to
inform message design. Employed initially in the development context to diffuse products,
social marketing is now used to spread new ideas and encourage behavior change. Recently,
efforts have been made to seek participatory dimensions in social marketing. In this view, social
marketing projects are participatory because they include target populations in formative
research. The voluntary nature of behavior change is highlighted. Here, social marketing
involves “… the adaptation of commercial marketing technologies to programs designed to
influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their personal welfare and that of
the society of which they are a part” (Andreasen, 1994, p. 110).
Convention