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Qualitative impact evaluation of a social marketing campaign for conservation

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Abstract and Figures

Social marketing campaigns use marketing techniques to influence human behavior for the greater social good. In the conservation sector, social marketing campaigns have been used to influence behavior for the benefit of biodiversity as well as society. However, there are few evaluations of their effectiveness. We devised an approach for evaluating the influences of social marketing campaigns on human behavior and conservation outcomes. We used general elimination methodology, a theory‐driven qualitative evaluation method, to assess the long‐term impacts of a 1998 Rare Pride campaign on the island of Bonaire that was designed to increase the population of the Lora (Amazona barbadensis), a threatened parrot. We interviewed stakeholder groups to determine their perceptions of the drivers of the changes in the Lora population over time. We used these data to develop an overall theory of change to explain changes in the Lora population by looking at the overlap in hypotheses within and between stakeholder groups. We then triangulated that theory of change with evidence from government reports, peer‐reviewed literature, and newspapers. The increase in the Lora population was largely attributed to a decrease in illegal poaching of Loras and an associated decrease in local demand for pet Loras. Decreases in poaching and demand were likely driven by a combination of law enforcement, social marketing (including the Rare campaign), and environmental education in schools. General elimination methodology helped show how multiple interventions influenced a conservation outcome over time. There is a need for evidence‐based evaluations of social marketing interventions to ensure that limited resources are spent wisely.
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Contributed Paper
Qualitative impact evaluation of a social marketing
campaign for conservation
Gabby Salazar ,1Morena Mills ,1,2 and Diogo Ver´
ıssimo 3,4
1Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Buckhurst Road, Ascot SL5 7QN, U.K.
2Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia
3Department of Zoology and Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, U.K.
4Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92037, U.S.A.
Abstract: Social marketing campaigns use marketing techniques to influence human behavior for the greater
social good. In the conservation sector, social marketing campaigns have been used to influence behavior
for the benefit of biodiversity as well as society. However, there are few evaluations of their effectiveness. We
devised an approach for evaluating the influences of social marketing campaigns on human behavior and
conservation outcomes. We used general elimination methodology, a theory-driven qualitative evaluation
method, to assess the long-term impacts of a 1998 Rare Pride campaign on the island of Bonaire that was
designed to increase the population of the Lora (Amazona barbadensis), a threatened parrot. We interviewed
stakeholder groups to determine their perceptions of the drivers of the changes in the Lora population over
time. We used these data to develop an overall theory of change to explain changes in the Lora population by
looking at the overlap in hypotheses within and between stakeholder groups. We then triangulated that theory
of change with evidence from government reports, peer-reviewed literature, and newspapers. The increase in
the Lora population was largely attributed to a decrease in illegal poaching of Loras and an associated decrease
in local demand for pet Loras. Decreases in poaching and demand were likely driven by a combination of
law enforcement, social marketing (including the Rare campaign), and environmental education in schools.
General elimination methodology helped show how multiple interventions influenced a conservation outcome
over time. There is a need for evidence-based evaluations of social marketing interventions to ensure that
limited resources are spent wisely.
Keywords: Bonaire, general elimination methodology, parrot conservation, Rare Pride, theory-driven evalua-
tion
Evaluaci´
on del Impacto Cualitativo de una Campa˜
na de Mercadotecnia Social para la Conservaci´
on
Resumen: Las campa˜
nas de mercadotecnia social usan t´
ecnicas de mercadotecnia para influenciar al
comportamiento humano para el mayor beneficio social. En el sector de conservaci´
on, las campa˜
nas sociales
se han usado para influenciar al comportamiento para el beneficio de la biodiversidad y de la sociedad.
Sin embargo, existen pocas evaluaciones sobre su efectividad. Dise˜
namos una estrategia para evaluar la
influencia de las campa ˜
nas de mercadotecnia social sobre el comportamiento humano y los resultados de
conservaci´
on. Usamos la metodolog´
ıa de eliminaci´
on general, un m´
etodo de evaluaci´
on cualitativa llevada
por la teor´
ıa, para evaluar los impactos a largo plazo de una campa˜
na de Rare Pride de 1998 en la isla de
Bonaire, la cual fue dise˜
nada para incrementar la poblaci´
on de la lora (Amazona barbadensis), un psit´
acido
amenazado. Entrevistamos a grupos de accionistas para determinar sus percepciones de los causantes del
cambio en la poblaci´
on de loras con el tiempo. Usamos estos datos para desarrollar una teor´
ıa general de
cambio para explicar los cambios en la poblaci´
on de loras al observar el traslape en las hip´
otesis dentro
y entre los grupos de accionistas. Despu´
es triangulamos esa teor´
ıa de cambio con evidencia tomada de los
reportes gubernamentales, la literatura revisada por pares, y los peri´
odicos. El incremento poblacional de
email gabby.r.salazar@gmail.com
Article impact statement: General elimination method reveals how social marketing has influenced human behavior and conservation efforts
related to parrots.
Paper submitted March 25, 2018; revised manuscript accepted August 31, 2018.
634
Conservation Biology, Volume 33, No. 3, 634–644
C
2018 Society for Conservation Biology
DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13218
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