Macro‐social marketing and social engineering: a systems approach

TLDR

Social marketers must recognize their role within the system and that removing enabling factors creates an environment conducive to sustained behavior change. This paper demonstrates how macro‑social marketing can be integrated with social engineering, using the Canadian anti‑smoking campaign to illustrate a government‑led, positive social engineering strategy and to guide marketers in applying this approach. The authors present a conceptual case study of the Canadian anti‑smoking campaign, showing macro‑social marketing as part of a broader systems approach to social engineering. Macro‑social marketing is most effective when combined with regulations, taxation, community mobilization, research, funding and education; a systems approach yields positive social engineering, while social marketers must foster motivation, flexibility, imagery, attitudes, skills, and focus on structural factors and implementers to achieve macro‑level change.

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how macro‐social marketing and social engineering can be integrated and to illustrate their use by governments as part of a positive social engineering intervention with examples from the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that uses the case of the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign to show that macro‐social marketing, as part of a wider systems approach, is a positive social engineering intervention. Findings The use of macro‐social marketing by governments is most effective when it is coupled with other interventions such as regulations, legislation, taxation, community mobilization, research, funding and education. When a government takes a systems approach to societal change, such as with the Canadian anti‐smoking campaign, this is positive use of social engineering. Research limitations/implications The social marketer can understand their role within the system and appreciate that they are potentially part of precipitating circumstances that make society susceptible to change. Social marketers further have a role in creating societal motivation to change, as well as promoting social flexibility, creating desirable images of change, attitudinal change and developing individual's skills, which contribute to macro‐level change. Practical implications Social marketers need to understand the structural and environmental factors contributing to the problem behavior and focus on the implementers and controllers of society‐wide strategic interventions. Social implications Eliminating all factors which enable problem behaviors creates an environmental context where it is easy for consumers to change behavior and maintain that change. Originality/value The value of this paper is in extending the literature on macro‐social marketing by governments and identifying the broader strategy they may be undertaking using positive social engineering. It is also in showing how marketers may use this information.