Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Chapter 28
marketing, there is often no monetary cost, or very
little, but there is usually a substantial non - monetary
cost involved in adopting a recommended behavior.
In the context of childhood obesity, we are usually
asking the target audience (children) to give up the
instant gratification of desired foods and soft drinks
or to engage in effortful activities. We may be asking
parents to deny their children desired foods and also
to engage in effortful activities with their children.
Persuading children and parents to adopt a physical
activity routine may involve some monetary costs
such as purchasing shoes, clothing or equipment.
However, the major costs may relate to time, effort,
physical discomfort and possibly guilt.
The key consideration when designing a pricing
strategy is the concept of exchange: the target audience
will weigh up the costs and benefits based on
what we present to them and their previous experience.
When they do this cost – benefit analysis, we need
them to clearly see: “ What ’ s in it for me? ” (known in
marketing as “ the WIIFM ” ). There are three ways to
help people identify the WIIFM:
1 . Minimize the costs of taking up recommended
behaviors. For example, in a physical activity campaign
this could mean showing how easy it is to fit
30 minutes of activity into your daily schedule; this
has been the main pricing strategy in recent years
of Western Australia ’s “Find Thirty ” campaign.
2 . Maximize the costs of not taking up recommended
behaviors. This is the threat appeal strategy
used in many social marketing campaigns
where the consequences of not adopting the recommended
behavior may be shown. This approach
has not been used much in the nutrition and physical
activity arena, to our knowledge, despite strong
evidence in the research that fear does motivate
people to avoid problems and can be used effectively
when efficacy levels are high, that is, when
people believe they are capable of performing
the behavior ( “ self efficacy ” ); and when they
believe that the behavior will have a beneficial
effect ( “ response efficacy ” ). 20 However, this threat
appeal strategy has perhaps been overused in
health promotion 6,21 and is not recommended here
as an appropriate strategy to address childhood
obesity.
3 . Maximize the benefits of taking up recommended
behaviors. In a physical activity campaign, this
Box 28.7 Reducing the “ cost ” and
maximizing the benefits
EPODE ’ s pricing strategy has been to stress the benefits
of a healthier lifestyle, including the family value
of preparing and eating healthy food together and
doing physical activities together; at the same time,
the program finds ways to make healthy products less
expensive by working with supermarkets, school canteens,
and so on. EPODE has rejected the strategy of
maximizing the consequences of not following the
recommended behaviors, believing that people are
much more likely to respond to positive messages
highlighting pleasurable taste sensations and enjoyable
family life experiences rather than negative messages
producing feelings of guilt and shame.
could involve focusing on the fun, fitness and social
benefits as well specific health benefits, including
mental health, concentration, sleep patterns, and
so on (Box 28.7 ). A Western Australia study found
that people were unable to name many specific
health benefits although those who could were significantly
more likely to be physically active. 22
Maximizing health benefits could enhance uptake
of recommendations in the obesity context.
Promotion
Promotion is the range of activities that create awareness
of the product (or reminder that the product
exists) and its attributes, and persuades the buyer to
make the purchase. 23 Decisions relating to a promotion
strategy should be based on three criteria: the
purpose of the communication; what the target audience
would prefer; and how much it will “ cost ” . 23
Promotional tools include advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion and publicity. Advertising
(for example, via mass media, billboards, direct mail,
telemarketing, point of purchase, internet, blogs,
SMS)
23
is the most visible element of the marketing
mix and is often thought of as synonymous with marketing
but it is only one of four elements in the range
of activities relating to Promotion, which itself is only
one of the four elements of the marketing mix.
Commercial marketers usually have much larger
budgets to spend on advertising their product than
social marketers, but social marketing products often
attract publicity more easily than commercial products;
for example, new campaign strategies are often
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