Selling ideas can be a very challenging process for a marketer to carry out, particularly when the ideas are centred on modifying someone’s particular beliefs and lifestyle choices. Social marketing is a concept that is used to market this selling of ideas and in this report we shall examine the concept of social marketing in relation to alcohol abuse in Scotland. We shall look to devise a direct marketing campaign to provide a solution to the problems behind alcohol abuse in Scotland. We shall examine particular target markets and analyse what impact, if any, a direct marketing campaign will have in reducing alcohol consumption in Scotland. The rationale for examining alcohol abuse is ...view middle of the document...
Its main objective is to attain social good (as opposed to financial gain in product marketing), with precisely specified habitual goals.
2. It is a methodical system employed to tackle short, medium and long-term problems.
3. It employs a wide variety of marketing practices (e.g. a marketing mix). In the context of the social problem that this report will be tackling, alcohol abuse, the social good can be illustrated by the attainment of clear, realistic and controllable habitual goals for overall improved health and reduction in alcohol consumption. (www.nsmccentre.org.uk/what-is-social-marketing.html)
Nature of the social issue and resistance behaviours associated with it?
Before we go on to produce our social marketing campaign, it is important to highlight some of the statistics related to alcohol consumption problems. Scotland is currently 7th in the world for alcohol consumption per capita and Scots also drank 25% more alcohol per capita than their English and Welsh counterparts (bbcnews.co.uk: Scots Rank High on Drink Levels (2009)). Just over 40% of men and 34% of women in Scotland regularly exceed recommended daily limits and approximately 1 million people in Scotland are drinking to hazardous or harmful levels. In terms of a financial perspective alcohol abuse costs Scotland almost £3.56 billion per year, which calculates at around £900 for every tax payer. The alcohol related death statistics also make for sobering reading, with 1282 confirmed alcohol related deaths in 2009, with 837 males and 445 females. The worrying fact about this statistic is that the number does not accommodate all deaths that could be thought of as being alcohol related, for example; road accidents, suicides, violence and falls involving people who had been under the influence of alcohol. Also figures recently brought out by the SNP indicate that of the 73 Scottish Parliament constituencies, 64 have alcohol related deaths above the UK average. Which prompted Joe Fitzpatrick, Dundee West MSP, to say; “These figures expose for all to see the dramatic impact alcohol has on health in Scotland. There can be no doubt that we must take action on alcohol now before more lives are lost.’’ (www.glasgowsnp.org: Shocking death toll from alcohol revealed - Scottish death rates up to six times UK average). With regards to the health service, alcohol abuse places a very heavy burden on hospitals across Scotland, with 1 in 10 accident and emergency admissions being directly attributed to alcohol abuse. Additionally there were 42,430 alcohol-related hospital discharges in 2007-08 and with a further 111,200 GP and practice nurse consultations relating to alcohol misuse in 2006-07(www.alcohol-focus-scotland.org.uk: Facts and Figures). Alcohol related illnesses also greatly fluctuate with age. For instance, in under 18s, 60% of all diagnoses in 2004-05 were connected to acute intoxification, meanwhile the corresponding figure in those 45 and over was 14%. ...
