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COVID-19: Lessons from South Korean pandemic communications strategy
Abstract
There is a pressing need for evidence on effective COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts. The impact of the pandemic has been far-reaching, making management of the outbreak a daunting task for many countries. As the whole world continues to fight against the pandemic, a close examination of best practices of pandemic management is ever timely. Based on social marketing concepts, this paper reviews the system-level communication strategies used in South Korea in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea has received growing recognition for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provides a noteworthy example of positive and effective pandemic communication. Applying a social marketing mix framework, the paper examines South Korean pandemic communication strategies and identified a high degree of transparency and coherence two major success factors. This paper contributes to the current and future healthcare management literature and practice by delineating factors underscoring successful public health crisis management.
... A key element of any pandemic control strategy concerns public health communication (Antwi-Boasiako and Nyarkoh, 2020), intended to improve awareness of the disease and protective measures and enable coordinated action to manage the spread of infections and impacts of the epidemic (Henry, 2018; Ataguba and Ataguba, 2020). Since a pandemic can only be won with the cooperation of all people (Choi and Powers, 2020), for a public health communication strategy to be successful there must be a change in behaviour; namely, people acting in line with the recommended/prescribed protective measures (Nan and Thompson, 2021). ...
... The public is not a homogeneous mass of people that can be addressed with a simple 'one-size-fits-all' measure and message. Instead, specific populations might either be more at risk and/or difficult to reach, which requires tailoring strategies to disseminate accurate information via diverse distribution channels of relevance to selected populations (Choi and Powers, 2020;Guttman and Lev, 2021;Ihm and Lee, 2021), with special attention paid to marginalised social groups (Semino, 2021). One social group that has been overlooked during the Covid-19 pandemic is those who live alone, despite their numbers growing (Chandler et al., 2004;Roseneil, 2006;Klinenberg, 2012;Demey et al., 2013;Jamieson and Simpson, 2013). ...
During a pandemic, it is essential that most people respect the measures in place so as to keep the health crisis at bay. Still, a consensus must exist in society that the measures imposed by government are truly needed, just and legitimate, with several factors affecting whether this is achieved. In the article, we present the results of qualitative research (23 in-depth interviews) conducted in Slovenia at the peak of the first lockdown, focusing on how the study participants (women who were living alone during the first lockdown) perceived communication from the government and the public health authorities that comprised the official crisis communication group for managing the pandemic in Slovenia. The results present critical mistakes in communication that shaped trust in the official communicators and failed to motivate and encourage respondents to comply with the recommended and prescribed protective measures.
... Because a health risk like a pandemic is an emergency, it also moves the communication from not only risk communications, but also a more acute form of crisis communication. Crisis communications can be closely tied to communication of health risks through emergency discourse or mitigation strategies (e.g., Carrieri et al., 2021;Choi & Powers, 2021;Huang et al., 2021;Powell, 2021;Villanova, 2022;Wong et al., 2021). Crisis response is a type of risk communication in response to some type of calamity or perception of calamity, and according to Lundgren and McMakin (2013), it is a transmission "in the face of extreme, sudden danger -an accident at an industrial plant, the impending break in an earthen dam, or the outbreak of a deadly disease" (p. ...
COVID-19 contributed to what we know about pandemic communications, typically framed through risk and crisis. Risk and crisis as frameworks are limited, however, and this article argues that there are differences between primary and secondary pandemic communications, illustrated in this study by the typically change-adverse law enforcement community (LEC) that during COVID-19 not only had to control risk but also had to change their course on other nonrisk and crisis communications practices.
... Another proof of the importance of a strategic data analysis to operate mitigation and diffusion control strategies is represented by the remarkable system adopted in South Korea. [3,4] All the successfully employed strategies have in common a constant analysis of the pandemic diffusion making critical the use of rapid, large scale feasible, and reliable COVID-19 tests. However, the commercially available tests for COVID-19 fail in the coupling of cost-effective spread analyses with strong reliability. ...
The recent SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for novel point‐of‐care devices to be promptly used for a rapid and reliable large screening analysis of several biomarkers like genetic sequences and antibodies. Currently, one of the main limitations of rapid tests is the high percentage of false negatives in the presence of variants and, in particular for the Omicron one. We demonstrate in this work the detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the Omicron variant with a cost‐effective silicon nanosensor enabling high sensitivity, selectivity, and fast response. We have shown that a silicon (Si) nanowires (NW) platform detects both Sars‐CoV‐2 and its Omicron variant with a limit of detection (LoD) of four effective copies (cps), without any amplification of the genome, and with high selectivity. This ultrasensitive detection of 4 cps allows to obtain an extremely early diagnosis paving the way for efficient and widespread tracking. The sensor is made with industrially compatible techniques, which in perspective may allow easy and cost‐effective industrialization. Synthetic SARS‐CoV‐2 and Omicron variant detection with a cost‐effective silicon nanowire sensor has been demonstrated with high sensitivity, selectivity, and a fast response. The sensor reaches a 4 cps limit of detection (LoD), even for the Omicron variant, without any genome amplification, and with strong selectivity. The platform is made with industrially compatible techniques, which in perspective may allow a widespread diffusion.
... For populations with lower literacy levels in their preferred language, videos and other visual resources such as pictorial infographics can be particularly effective messaging tools [37]. The mixture of delivery formats and channels helps ensure vertical and horizontal communication integration where messages are disseminated not only through a centralized government response but also through public and community entities [38]. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to a longstanding problem: the US health system is not well-equipped to accommodate the country's large limited English proficient (LEP) population in times of national emergency. We examined the landscape of Spanish-language COVID-19 website information compared to information in English provided by health departments of the top 10 cities by population in the USA. For each city, coders evaluated three score measures (amount of information, presentation quality, and ease of navigation) for six content types (general information, symptoms, testing, prevention, vaccines, and live statistics) across six delivery modes (print resources, website text, videos, external links, data visualization, and media toolkits). We then calculated a grand average, combining all cities' values per score measure for each content type-delivery mode combination, to understand the landscape of Spanish-language information across the country. Overall, we found that, for all cities combined, nearly all content types and delivery modes in Spanish were inferior or non-existent compared to English resources. Our findings also showed much variability and spread concerning content type and delivery mode of information. Finally, our findings uncovered three main clusters of content type and delivery mode combinations for Spanish-language information, ranging from similar to worse, compared to information in English. Our findings suggest that COVID-19 information was not equivalently provided in Spanish, despite federal guidance regarding language access during times of national emergency. These results can inform ongoing and future emergency communication plans for Spanish-preferring LEP and other LEP populations in the USA.
... 2020), and it also enhances value creation and stimulates an innovation of tourism enterprises (Della Corte and Sciarelli, 2012) by the positive effect on the tourism area life cycle (Das and Teng, 2001), as well as the resource sharing and costsaving mechanism (Chim-Miki and Batista-Canino, 2017a). The researches focusing on how to change one aspect of the marketing mix using coopetition strategies have emerged rapidly after the outbreak of COVID-19, including the product innovation strategy (Burström et al., 2022), transparency and coherency communications improvement in place strategy (Choi and Powers, 2021), comarketing through resources sharing , and the promotion of local culture in low season (Dewa Rucika et al., 2021). ...
Unprecedentedly impacted by COVID-19, tourism enterprises are pushed to adopt new strategic management to cope with the changes in tourists' consumer perception for sustainable development, such as corporate and compete simultaneously with their competitors. Our study aims to investigate the intermediate role of coopetition, including the three dimensions of resource similarity, market commonality, and willingness to cooperate in the marketing and performance relationships. Primary data on 360 observers were collected via questionnaire distribution to theme park managers in China with 85.3% accuracy in response rate. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to verify the intermediate effect of coopetition on marketing performance in tourism enterprises. The results of SEM indicate (1) the intermediate role of tourism coopetition, including the three dimensions existing in the relationship between tourism marketing and performance, (2) more significant positive impact on non-financial performance than that on financial performance, and (3) the mechanism of implementing coopetition. This study gives supportive evidence for tourism enterprises to implement coopetition and highlights the implications for appropriately developing coopetition strategies and tactics to achieve the synergy effect for the individual enterprises and the spillover effect for the destination regarding policy-making, mindset, and partner selection.
... Several studies have provided evidence of the effectiveness of marketing actions and programs in contributing to the alleviation of social problems. For example, well-designed marketing activities can reduce household food waste behavior (Kim et al., 2020), increase proenvironmental and sustainable behaviors (Nguyen and Johnson, 2020), promote safe driving behaviors (Cismaru and Nimegeers, 2017), promote healthy eating habits (Nicolini and Cassia, 2021) and increase the adoption of specific hygiene measures (Choi and Powers, 2021). ...
Purpose
This study aims to examine the different effects that the fear and humor appeals in anti-smoking advertisements for children have on their affective reactions to the advertisements, on their beliefs about smoking and on their behavioral intentions to smoke.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research study conducted in Italy with children aged from 8 to 11 years.
Findings
The results indicated that the humor appeal is a useful method for conveying a social theme in a pleasant way and creating a likable character that becomes an example for children to imitate; however, it is necessary to employ the fear appeal to make children reflect carefully about the negative consequences of smoking.
Research limitations/implications
This study examined only children's behavioral intentions derived from anti-smoking advertisements, but future research should also examine their real behaviors after a period following repeated viewing of public service announcements about smoking prevention or other social issues.
Practical implications
Understanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.
Social implications
Understanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined the impact of social advertisements on children, and particularly little is known about the effectiveness of fear appeals on this group.
Purpose
This article seeks to discuss trust within the context of public health crises using an autopoietic systems perspective that positions communication as one of its core concepts. This article will explore trust studies conducted during public health crises in this Millennium (from SARS to COVID-19 pandemics), including their problems; briefly summarize Luhmann's concept of Vertrauen; and use this concept to analyze trust issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This article will explore trust studies conducted during public health crises from SARS to COVID-19 pandemics, including their problems. The perspective used is an explication of Niklas Luhmann's theory regarding Vertrauen which was derived as a framework for reading empirical facts on trust issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research design and exploration stages were inspired by the theory of autopoiesis systems by Niklas Luhmann.
Findings
From a systems perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the extraordinary complexity of the linkages between social systems. Trust will continue to evolve dynamically as new variants emerge in society. Consequently, the pandemic has provided the momentum necessary for maximally exploring the concept of trust. Indonesia thus experienced significant obstacles when making and implementing disaster mitigation policies. Owing to the lack of a trust system, greater emphasis was given to control and power. There has been little preparedness to create and reinforce public trust, and this in turn has stifled efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Originality/value
This study of trust, communication and public health crises has provided space to reflect on the development of trust within the social system. This study shows that trust can prove to be a very important factor in resolving a crisis. However, the complexity of the interrelationships of the social system can affect the quality of trust. The context of Indonesia's social system which is very complex due to population density and the dynamics of the development of its social system which is very diverse as an archipelagic country has contributed to the originality of the study of trust in times of crisis in a growing contemporary society.
COVID-19 is a highly contagious disease first identified in December 2019 and has caused a pandemic of respiratory illness. During a global public health crisis like this one, health communication serves an instrumental role in controlling the spread of the virus. This entry provides a brief overview of the public health communication practices in the midst of the pandemic. Specifically, we focus on public health messaging in relation to the nature of the disease and mitigation measures in North America, Asia, and Europe. We identify several communication challenges during the pandemic and offer recommendations for future communication.
This paper contains an original approach consisting of conducting empirical exploratory research, through mixed research methods of qualitative and quantitative nature, carried out sequentially, in order to design a model of communication in relationship marketing with applicability to public institutions. The design of the work took place during the acute global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had an impact on the empirical research carried out and led to an exploration of the theme at a time when the role of public institutions grew in importance, in the context of the crisis management. The communication model provides a multi-stage process where awareness of the communication framework and the use of appropriate levers are essential. The creation of value occurs by working towards a common goal, but also by adapting and reframing the meaning, in case of difficult communication. The model confirms the importance of trust, commitment and image for effective communication in relationship marketing. Practical applications for use of the model include proposing measures to manage disinformation and introduce new subjects into school and university curricula. Particular attention is paid to the Z generation and the way in which relationship marketing with public institutions can make use of the aspirations, competences and identity traits of this generation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored that systems medicine depends on health systems and services that can respond to planetary health threats in scale and with speed. After 2 years of the pandemic, there are lessons learned in South Korea, from governance to risk communication for planetary health. The learning is timely because COVID-19 likely signals future ecological crises and emerging pathogens amid the climate emergency in the 21st century. By the end of March 2022, South Korea, with a population of 51.6 million, administered more COVID-19 vaccine doses per 100 people than other developed countries, including United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Israel, Germany, and United States. In South Korea, 233.47 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered per 100 people, while Italy (229.48), China (229.39), Australia (217.44), the United Kingdom (211.39), Israel (194.82), and the United States (170.59) fell behind in vaccine rollout. Korea's whole-of-government approach to robust COVID-19 vaccination rollout prompted broad interest in planetary health. Notwithstanding that vaccine rollout is a complex multifactorial outcome, six salient, and often interdependent, factors are identified in this study of South Korea: (1) governance system; (2) logistic capability; (3) delivery strategy and accessibility; (4) established public health infrastructure; (5) risk communication; and (6) public cooperation and engagement. Integration of these factors can create multisectoral synergy to achieve better outcomes in vaccine rollout. The lessons from South Korea can help cultivate planetary health action in other parts of the world during the current COVID-19 pandemic, and in ecological crises in the future.
Objectives:
In this study, we investigated the changes in smoking behavior during the COVID-19 outbreak in Korea in 2020. We also examined the influence of general characteristics and mental health problems due to COVID-19 on changes in smoking behavior.
Methods:
We collected data from August to October 2020 from adults aged 19 years and older from the Korea Community Health Survey (N=229,269).
Results:
Among current smokers (N=39,534), 11.0% reported an increase in smoking, and 12.8% reported a decrease in smoking. Overall, 33.3% reported perceived stress and 3.7% reported depression. Participants reported COVID-related anxiety about infecting family (83.0%), economic damage (76.3%), blame or harm from others (66.5%), infection (60.6%), and death (31.3%). Lower education level, living alone, and poor subjective health status were associated with increased smoking. Being a woman and being of older age were associated with decreased smoking. Stress, depression, and anxiety about economic damage due to COVID-19 were more likely to result in increased smoking. Anxiety related to death due to COVID-19 was more likely to result in decreased smoking.
Conclusion:
These findings provide insight into the changes in smoking behavior caused by COVID-19.
Purpose
COVID-19 presents a serious and unprecedented challenge around the globe. Street vendors are the most vulnerable group during this pandemic regarding livelihood loss and contagion risk. This research aims to examine the roles of risk communication work in enhancing COVID-19 risk perceptions and adoption of COVID-19 preventive behaviors among street vendors.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from the street vendors in urban Vietnam. A binary probit model was used for analyzing the relationships among exposure to risk communication, risk perception and adoption of preventive behaviors.
Findings
The analysis reveals the outreach of risk communication work to the street vendors. A rather large proportion of the respondents perceive high risks associated with COVID-19. All respondents adopt COVID-19 preventive behaviors; however, the proportion of regular adoption is moderate and even very low for most behaviors. Their frequent exposure to risk communication significantly raises their risk perceptions and encourages their regular adoption of preventive behaviors, particularly regarding the measures that are affordable and less detrimental to their livelihood.
Originality/value
This research is among the first attempts to examine exposure to risk communication to the vulnerable group, how they perceive risks and the extent to which they adopt preventive behaviors during a public health crisis. This research draws some implications for risk communication and social welfare policies to obtain sustainable development goals.
Overall, the EU's response to the COVID crisis can be said to have been one of the most ineffective in the world, overshadowed only by the catastrophic response of the US and Brazil (at least on a per capita basis). Although, one can argue more about the effectiveness or morality of the measures, I would nevertheless, like to take a step back from these discussions and consider what the non-pharmacological interventions the EU has imposed reveal about our values. The main question is: What was the axiological framework on which the EU interventions were based? To provide an answer, I will compare the EU approach with South Korea’s approach in dealing with the pandemic. The former’s approach is a traditional approach, which mostly avoids the use of advanced data analysis and predictive analysis, focusing mainly on restricting free movement through social distancing and quarantine. This is complemented by tests, which are primarily diagnostic. The latter makes full use of the most modern methods, attempting to parallel the minimisation of the use of traditional methods of restricting movement with the minimisation of deaths caused by the virus. After a more detailed presentation of the methodologies of the two sides, I will consider what these modern methods entail and what would have to be sacrificed to use them. This will reveal that giving up confidentiality is the main cost that the European community should have offered in exchange for following the South Korean path. The analysis of the data will show how privacy and other values, such as economic prosperity, education, equality, freedom, mental health and ultimately life itself, were affected by the two strategies. Based on the evidence from the analysis I will conclude that privacy is more important to the average European than any of the other proposed values, including life itself.
Since the first case of coronavirus disease19 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China, as of March 2, 2020, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 was 89,069 cases in 67 countries and regions. As of 0 AM, March 2, 2020, the Republic of Korea had the second-largest number of confirmed cases (n = 4,212) after China (n = 80,026). This report summarizes the epidemiologic features and the snapshots of the outbreak in the Republic of Korea from January 19 and March 2, 2020.
Background
A range of public health measures have been implemented to suppress local transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong. We examined the effect of these interventions and behavioural changes of the public on the incidence of COVID-19, as well as on influenza virus infections, which might share some aspects of transmission dynamics with COVID-19.
Methods
We analysed data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, influenza surveillance data in outpatients of all ages, and influenza hospitalisations in children. We estimated the daily effective reproduction number (Rt) for COVID-19 and influenza A H1N1 to estimate changes in transmissibility over time. Attitudes towards COVID-19 and changes in population behaviours were reviewed through three telephone surveys done on Jan 20–23, Feb 11–14, and March 10–13, 2020.
Findings
COVID-19 transmissibility measured by Rt has remained at approximately 1 for 8 weeks in Hong Kong. Influenza transmission declined substantially after the implementation of social distancing measures and changes in population behaviours in late January, with a 44% (95% CI 34–53%) reduction in transmissibility in the community, from an estimated Rt of 1·28 (95% CI 1·26–1·30) before the start of the school closures to 0·72 (0·70–0·74) during the closure weeks. Similarly, a 33% (24–43%) reduction in transmissibility was seen based on paediatric hospitalisation rates, from an Rt of 1·10 (1·06–1·12) before the start of the school closures to 0·73 (0·68–0·77) after school closures. Among respondents to the surveys, 74·5%, 97·5%, and 98·8% reported wearing masks when going out, and 61·3%, 90·2%, and 85·1% reported avoiding crowded places in surveys 1 (n=1008), 2 (n=1000), and 3 (n=1005), respectively.
Interpretation
Our study shows that non-pharmaceutical interventions (including border restrictions, quarantine and isolation, distancing, and changes in population behaviour) were associated with reduced transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, and are also likely to have substantially reduced influenza transmission in early February, 2020.
Funding
Health and Medical Research Fund, Hong Kong.
Obesity, climate change and poverty are some of the most serious health, environmental and social issues of the 21st century. Current initiatives to address these wicked issues typically focus on the individual and community, with social marketing being a common tool. However, the effectiveness of social marketing in helping to combat these wicked issues has been mixed at best. We use the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP) to further our understanding of how macro-social marketing might be used to address the wicked problem of obesity. In doing so, we further conceptualize how formal and informal institutions might contribute to the emerging field of macro-social marketing. Please visit my personal website for more details and access. https://drjkemper.weebly.com
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the view of integrated marketing communications (IMC) by social marketing practitioners. Specifically, the paper furthers the discussion how a symbiotic relationship between IMC and social marketing can lead to both practical improvements of health-related social marketing campaigns, as well as theoretical advancement of the IMC construct.
Design/methodology/approach
– Based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with practitioners, the authors provide exploratory evidence for support for IMC within the social marketing community and highlight potential differences and similarities when transferring IMC from a commercial to a social context.
Findings
– Three main differences emerged when transferring IMC from a commercial to a social context. These include differences of customer-centric approaches between commercial and social marketing, the need to weigh out the application of IMC to the charity brand or the use of IMC at a behavioural level and, finally, different complexity levels of desired behaviour as a mediating factor.
Research limitations/implications
– As with all qualitative data, the findings may not be generalisable beyond the interview participants and organisations studied.
Practical implications
– Many practitioners expressed that they liked IMC as a concept, but they lacked guidance as to the application with a social marketing context. This paper contributes to providing this guidance and establishing a body of knowledge how IMC can be applied in a non-commercial setting.
Originality/value
– The paper contributes to the practical development of guidance how the largely commercially applied IMC construct can be modified to be used in a social marketing context, while correspondingly highlighting how IMC needs to evolve to grow beyond purely commercial application.
Purpose
– This paper aims to explain how the principles of marketing can be applied to the planning and implementation of a social marketing campaign.
Design/methodology/approach
– A wealth of secondary sources are reviewed and discussed, including academic literature, market research and campaign data.
Findings
– The planning and implementation of social marketing campaigns is complex and requires a wide range of tasks. For one, the case study illustrates that identifying the right themes is crucial in order to reach the desired target audiences to create attitudinal and behavioural change. Further, a coherent implementation of the marketing mix is necessary in order to ensure campaign effectiveness over time. As social marketing campaigns often need to reach a wide range of audiences, the task of managing marketing initiatives in these contexts is more complex and requires constant evaluation in order to identify levels of effectiveness and areas for improvement over long periods of time.
Originality/value
– Applies marketing theory to an interesting real‐life social marketing campaign and highlights the complexity of the tasks involved.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that integrated marketing communications (IMC) must be used in social marketing, like it is in commercial marketing, by illustrating that IMC principles are effective in social marketing contexts within an education setting. Specifically, the paper provides evidence of IMC being successfully used in the communication of school‐based health promotion activities within health promoting schools (HPS).
Design/methodology/approach
Depth interviews with principals and teachers at three case schools were conducted to investigate the communication of health promotion programmes within HPS. In total, 19 people participated in this study.
Findings
A key finding was that IMC principles are evident in the HPS philosophy of health promotion. That is, the extent to which health concepts are customer focused and integrated into school life; and, communication which is synergistic and based on stakeholder needs, has a significant impact upon achieving desired health promotion outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
This research explored communication within the specific context of HPS. To further explore the application of IMC in social marketing, the authors recommend that other social marketing contexts or cases be investigated.
Practical implications
The fact that IMC principles are relevant and effective when facilitating school‐based health promotion programmes implies that IMC would offer value to other social marketing contexts too.
Originality/value
The paper is unique in that we provide evidence of IMC used in a school‐based social marketing context. The context of an education setting for this research broadens existing understanding of how IMC can and should be used in social marketing. The research offers insights for social marketing practitioners seeking to improve their communications efforts.
The food industry uses market segmentation to target products toward specific groups of consumers with similar attitudinal, demographic, or lifestyle characteristics. Our aims were to identify distinguishable segments within the US overweight population to be targeted with messages and media aimed at moving Americans toward more healthy weights.
Cluster analysis was used to identify segments of consumers based on both food and lifestyle behaviors related to unhealthy weights. Drawing from Social Learning Theory, the Health Belief Model, and existing market segmentation literature, the study identified five distinct, recognizable market segments based on knowledge and behavioral and environmental factors. Implications for social marketing campaigns designed to move Americans toward more healthy weights were explored.
The five clusters identified were: Highest Risk (19%); At Risk (22%); Right Behavior/Wrong Results (33%); Getting Best Results (13%); and Doing OK (12%). Ninety-nine percent of those in the Highest Risk cluster were overweight; members watched the most television and exercised the least. Fifty-five percent of those in the At Risk cluster were overweight; members logged the most computer time and almost half rarely or never read food labels. Sixty-six percent of those in the Right Behavior/Wrong Results cluster were overweight; however, 95% of them were familiar with the food pyramid. Members reported eating a low percentage of fast food meals (8%) compared to other groups but a higher percentage of other restaurant meals (15%). Less than six percent of those in the Getting Best Results cluster were overweight; every member read food labels and 75% of members' meals were "made from scratch." Eighteen percent of those in the Doing OK cluster were overweight; members watched the least television and reported eating 78% of their meals "made from scratch."
This study demonstrated that five distinct market segments can be identified for social marketing efforts aimed at addressing the obesity epidemic. Through the identification of these five segments, social marketing campaigns can utilize selected channels and messages that communicate the most relevant and important information. The results of this study offer insight into how segmentation strategies and social marketing messages may improve public health.
Obesity prevention interventions through dietary and physical activity change have generally not been effective. Limitations on possible program effectiveness are herein identified at every step in the mediating variable model, a generic conceptual framework for understanding how interventions may promote behavior change. To minimize these problems, and thereby enhance likely intervention effectiveness, four sequential types of formative studies are proposed: targeted behavior validation, targeted mediator validation, intervention procedure validation, and pilot feasibility intervention. Implementing these studies would establish the relationships at each step in the mediating variable model, thereby maximizing the likelihood that an intervention would work and its effects would be detected. Building consensus among researchers, funding agencies, and journal editors on distinct intervention development studies should avoid identified limitations and move the field forward.
Social marketing, the use of marketing to design and implement programs to promote socially beneficial behavior change, has grown in popularity and usage within the public health community. Despite this growth, many public health professionals have an incomplete understanding of the field. To advance current knowledge, we provide a practical definition and discuss the conceptual underpinnings of social marketing. We then describe several case studies to illustrate social marketing's application in public health and discuss challenges that inhibit the effective and efficient use of social marketing in public health. Finally, we reflect on future developments in the field. Our aim is practical: to enhance public health professionals' knowledge of the key elements of social marketing and how social marketing may be used to plan public health interventions.
Mass media campaigns have long been a tool for promoting public health. How effective are such campaigns in changing health-related attitudes and behaviors, however, and how has the literature in this area progressed over the past decade? The purpose of the current article is threefold. First, I discuss the importance of health mass media campaigns and raise the question of whether they are capable of effectively impacting public health. Second, I review the literature and discuss what we have learned about the effectiveness of campaigns over the past 10 years. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of possible avenues for the health campaign literature over the next 10 years. The overriding conclusion is the following: The literature is beginning to amass evidence that targeted, well-executed health mass media campaigns can have small-to-moderate effects not only on health knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, but on behaviors as well, which can translate into major public health impact given the wide reach of mass media. Such impact can only be achieved, however, if principles of effective campaign design are carefully followed.
When faced with uncertainty and unpredictability, early and transparent communication during a pandemic is critical to build trust and to ensure the credibility of public health advice. The responsibility for communicating with Canadians during a pandemic is shared by federal, provincial, territorial and local governments. A common plan is needed to ensure consistent, coordinated and appropriate communication. Canada's diversity in terms of its size, geography, languages and culture also requires a multifaceted approach so that the right message is delivered at the right time to the right person in the right format. The Communications and Stakeholder Liaison Annex is a recently updated communication strategy in the Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness: Planning Guidance for the Health Sector (CPIP). The Annex emphasizes the importance of communicating with both the public and key stakeholders (e.g., health care providers, professional organizations and policymakers) before, during and after a pandemic. This strategy is grounded in several communications guiding principles: putting the health of Canadians first; providing timely and sound information; communicating in a coordinated fashion from across all levels of government; protecting confidentiality; and monitoring and adapting to the public's perception of risk. The Annex outlines a risk communications approach, proposes triggers for action based on pandemics of varying impact, and includes a Communication Protocol that will be used countrywide in the event of a pandemic.
Macro-social marketing is the use of social marketing – up, mid and downstream – to affect holistic systemic change (Kennedy 2016). Presently, fragmented views within macro-social marketing threaten to divide the field. Much of this fragmentation is due to a confusion between systems thinking and systems theory, the basis for macro-social marketing. This article presents an explanation of the key facets of systems literature, a macro-social marketing philosophy and a macro-social marketing methodology to show the benefits of combining systems thinking and systems theory, thus alleviating conflict within the field.
This article provides the theoretical underpinnings for the concept of macro-social marketing. Macro-social marketing seeks to use social marketing techniques in a holistic way to effect systemic change, as opposed to individual level change. The article provides the conceptual roots of the concept derived from systems theory and institutional theory. It starts by explaining what types of macromarketing issues – dubbed here wicked problems – can be approached using macro-social marketing. Systems theory is then used to explain the interconnectedness of wicked problems throughout the social and cultural systems, as well as the material environment and marketing system (Dixon 1984). Subsequent sections apply institutional theory to explain how systemic change can be brought about through the use of macro-social marketing, and discuss change at a broader conceptual level, as well as how this process then trickles down to individual organizations within the marketing system.
Introduction: Governments have many “whys” and “hows” to address obesity. While there are similarities, the “why,” “how,” “what,” and “who” behind action are strongly influenced by context, the importance of which is critical for international policy understanding of governmental obesity regulation. Context for Government to Address Obesity & Regulating through Law: Context, e.g., health system and political structure, affects government authority and motivation to address obesity. This snapshot highlights key contextual features to ground law's role in addressing obesity. Comparison of Common Government Approaches to Obesity: Two leading approaches — information and economic incentives — are featured, and major developments shared. Trends and themes emerge, notably the prominence of economic incentives (but divergent uses and targets), and the necessity of incremental strategies. Conclusion and Policy Implications: Contextual complexity cautions against drawing the wrong conclusions: what works in one place may not simply transfer and work in another. And yet, comparative analysis can strengthen the search for transnational measures of policy effectiveness (e.g., equity) and inform discussion of next steps to confront obesity in a diverse but interconnected global society.
Encouraging healthy living involves a complex set of factors that interact with each other. Effective social communication strategies and conceptual models are needed in order to plan and maintain a desired level of societal change. More understanding is needed as to how different levels of society are affected by social communication messages. This paper examines how a social marketing strategy should be targeted in order to maximize societal change. In this paper the Multi-levelled/Multimedia Model of Social Change is presented. This amalgamates integrated marketing communication principles and the Behavioural Ecological Model. It provides a basis for understanding how consistent messages and methods of communication affect long-term behavioural or attitudinal change at the individual and societal levels.
This paper is concerned with methods and theory recently used in cross-cultural research. It begins by looking at why we need cross-cultural measures and why we need more of them. A discussion of the translation styles, and the issues underpinning their design is central to this discussion. Through a description of the World Health Organisation Quality of Life Assessment instruments and their development, the paper demonstrates how some of the earlier theoretical and methodological challenges have been addressed, together with a critique of its limitations.
Communication in the media regarding a potential avian influenza epidemic can serve to accurately and effectively inform the public OR misinform and contribute to unnecessary public panic and subsequent undesirable responses. Governments have time to develop communication strategies and specific messages that can effectively convey desired information at different stages of the anticipated pandemic. Effective social marketing incorporates the concepts of formative research, audience segmentation, and consumer focus. Based on the findings from earlier research on public awareness and understanding of bird flu, the collaborators of the project developed evidence-based advertising messages for two primary time-points in pandemic preparation and tested in a series of focus groups; modified them based on the findings; and then re-tested the final campaign. These findings provide important recommendations for the development of future social marketing campaigns in the event of pandemics or other public health crises.
Effective communication between public health agencies and their external stakeholders is vital to the agencies, as well as to those they serve. Agency leaders must obtain information from stakeholders and provide information to them. A process is described whereby agencies can systematically obtain necessary information from external stakeholders, and three of the most important forms of communications are described through which an agency provides information to stakeholders: promotion of the agency, advocacy, and social marketing. Barriers to effective communication of the interpersonal, personality, organizational, operational, skill/knowledge, attitude, and nature-of-information types are described, and guidelines are provided for minimizing the impact of these barriers.
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