Page 10 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

Introduction 3

2010). These are very helpful resources but they often lack a comprehen-
sive treatment of relevant theories. There are also numerous collections of
case studies and applications (Basil & Wymer, 2007) that focus on specific
domains such as public health (French, Blair-Stevens, McVey & Merritt,
2009); environmental sustainability (Tyson & Hurd, 2009; McKenzie-
Mohr, Lee, Schultz & Kotler, 2011); corporate social responsibility (Crane,
Matten & Spence, 2013); and poverty (Kotler & Lee, 2009), among oth-
ers. These books are outstanding resources but they tend to have a narrow
focus. There are also some very strong conceptual treatments of social
marketing (Andreasen, 2005; Lefebvre, 2013), which are very useful dis-
cussions, but they tend to promote their authors’ particular point of view.
This set is intended to provide a broad and varied treatment of social
marketing. It is intended to represent a wide-ranging set of perspectives:
philosophical, conceptual, and theoretical. The set also provides examples
of applications of social marketing that vary substantially in focus, scope,
and approach. A key theme of the set is that marketing is in the business of
persuasion; that is, it is about changing the minds and behavior of people.
The form of persuasion may vary widely, ranging from simply providing
information, to framing that information to “nudge” an individual in a par-
ticular direction, to strong forms of social control. Some readers may object
to such a broad definition of social marketing, but social marketing has
clearly become a big tent within which there are many different perspec-
tives and approaches. The breadth of the set, the topics addressed by the
individual chapters, and the issues raised are intended to spark dialogue.
The set is also unabashedly conceptual in its focus and draws heavily on
theory. It is the intent of the set to place social marketing squarely within
a theoretical context and to make the philosophical differences in theories
and approaches clear. There are three objectives in doing so. First, it is
important that the deep theoretical roots of social marketing be clear.
Social marketing need not be ad hoc or atheoretical as some critics and
even advocates have suggested (Andreasen, 1997). Second, the very defi-
nition of social marketing is dependent on the discipline’s theoretical foun-
dations, and the relevance of particular theories is dependent on the
definition of social marketing. Finally, there are deep philosophical differ-
ences between various theories that may be applied in a social marketing
context. These differences are related to the focus of behavior change, the
cooperation of the person or social entity that is the target of change, and
the appropriateness of various approaches to change. Such differences
carry quite significant ethical implications.
It is not the purpose of this set to resolve the definition of social market-
ing or identify the theory or theories that should guide thinking about and