Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

Referring to Table II, data also revealed geographical variation in female condom usage. FSWs in the statewith low incidence of HIV/AIDS, i.e., West Bengal, reported the highest usage of FCs among the FSWs,while the other four states, with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, showed substantially lower usage. Webelieve the variation by state is a reflection of two factors. First, and probably the most important factor,could be the effort by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee to unionize Kolkata-based Sonagachisex workers. As part of the unionization process, FSWs forced male clients to wear condoms (Bhaumik,2005). This factor could have played a role in the increased usage of female condoms as well. All fourstates of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka have witnessed extensive HIV/AIDsprevention and condom promotion efforts by NACO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, alongwith many state and local level community-based organizations. While these efforts have increasedawareness of male condoms, FSWs face barriers. The unionization of FSWs remains low in these fourstates.------------------------Table II about here------------------------Degree of mobility may also have influenced the variation in female condom use. Our datarevealed that FSWs moved to at least three different locations, at least one or two locations outside beingthe district in which they were interviewed. FSWs move to maximize trade opportunities but greatermobility makes them vulnerable to poor ability to negotiate, resulting in lower accessibility to and usageof condoms.Discussion and managerial implicationsReferring to the McKenzie-Mohr (2011) study, we urge social change managers to devise strategies thatpromote benefits (cell 3) from the desired behaviour in addition to highlighting the negative consequencesof the current behaviour (cell 2). Thus, there is a need for a paradigm shift to switch focus from a cell 2 toa combination of cell 2 and 3 change strategy. Additionally, when the benefits from the desired behaviourfail to excite the target group, it is necessary to target a more responsive audience and improve the chancesof behaviour adoption by introducing a substitute social product, thereby reducing the barriers to thedesired behaviour (cell 4). We explored both of these issues by understanding the benefits obtained fromfemale condoms and incremental benefits from the use of female rather than male condoms by FSWs.In our study, FSWs reported that their colleagues offered better support to female over male condoms, thatthe marketing strategy was superior, and that the male clients had a positive attitude to the femalecondoms. All these factors had a positive influence on the frequency of female condom usage. Theattractiveness of the marketing strategy and the client attitude were the strongest influencers, confirmingthe understanding that a good social marketing strategy can play a pivotal role in enhancing theeffectiveness of the campaign. While promoting a newer version of a social product, it is helpful tohighlight its superiority over the existing version, something neglected in the past. This may be necessaryto reduce perceived barriers (raised by the current social product), enhance environmental support,improve customer attitude, increase product use, and increase the effectiveness of the social marketingcampaign. The female condom promotion campaign among FSWs in India should also be tailored to ageand level of mobility.The study findings could be generalized to other social contexts in which a social product already existsbut in which the campaigns have been less successful in promoting desired behaviours. In those instances,it would be useful to think of new social products that will be perceived as superior to the existing ones.These include the promotion of a healthy diet that is tasty, conveniently available, and reasonably pricedover the existing bland, expensive, and inconveniently available healthy diet, scientifically-based weightmanagement strategies that are more effective and less harmful, more effective techniques of smokingcessation (patch and pills) over cold turkey, and so on.ReferencesBhaumik, S. (17 September 2005), "Indian sex workers demand rights", BBC News, available at: