Page 194 - The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

186 The Handbook of Persuasion and Social Marketing

the most resistant to change, and who are the most difficult and costly to
reach. For example, how much should Outward Bound, a nonprofit that
provides outdoor leadership training, spend targeting disadvantaged pop-
ulations (e.g., poor youth, drug addicts) versus advantaged populations
(e.g., affluent youth, executives)?
Market segmentation, particularly when combined with competitive
pressures and funding concerns, could prompt social marketers to neglect
or give short shrift to unattractive segments, such as poor people, minori-
ties, or those who are resistant. Companies are especially likely to see seg-
ments with the potential to become loyal customers as attractive targets for
their corporate social marketing efforts. Certainly it is infeasible to be “eve-
rything to everyone,” and some segmentation is essential to effective social
marketing, but social marketers must think carefully about which groups
are being omitted and why. Perhaps a concomitant ethical question in-
volves how much should be spent to reach resistant segments.
marketing is intrusive. Marketing’s potential for intrusiveness has typ-
ically taken two forms: invasion of personal privacy and spoiling of the
environment (Murphy & Bloom, 1990). As media and messages have pro-
liferated and become more personalized in recent years (e.g., email mar-
keting, telemarketing, Internet-based advertising, social media),
marketing’s potential to intrude has increased exponentially. Concerns
about invading consumers’ privacy have been exacerbated by technologi-
cal advancements that have enabled behavioral targeting, which allows
electronic publishers and advertisers to collect personal information about
consumers from their online activities. These data typically are sold to
advertisers, who use them in identifying target markets for their cam-
paigns. When the data are collected (i.e., “mined”) or sold without con-
sumers’ knowledge, it is considered an invasion of privacy. Data mining
and behavioral targeting can be particularly problematic for social market-
ers, because they often seek and have access to highly sensitive consumer
information (e.g., sexual history, donation history, membership in political
organizations).
Behavioral targeting has been a focus of FTC attention for some time.
Despite some industry attempts at self-regulation, FTC chairwoman Edith
Ramirez recently called for “an effective and meaningful” system “that
would let consumers signal with their browsers to websites, advertising
networks and data brokers that they do not want their online behavior
monitored for marketing purposes” (Guynn, 2013, para. 2). Because so
many consumers access the Internet through smartphones and tablets, the
FTC also has urged the mobile industry to include “do not track” features
in software and apps on smartphones and tablets (Wyatt, 2013). Note that