Applying Darwinian principles in designing effective intervention strategies: The case of sun tanning

Abstract

Abstract Public‐service announcements typically seek to educate consumers regarding a given unhealthy practice, the assumption being that individuals will cease the harmful behavior once they are fully informed. Many intervention strategies have failed in curbing the targeted behaviors because these are not due to incomplete information but instead may also have a Darwinian‐based etiology. Using sunbathing as a case analysis, it is shown how Darwinian theorizing (evolutionary psychology, life‐history theory, gene‐culture co‐evolution, and memetic theory) can augment social marketers' ability to develop efficacious intervention strategies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.