Many professionals and advocates who work to reduce health risks often seem to believe that once they tackle the communications issue (or Promotion 'P'), either through interventions or policy initiatives, that their job is done. However, the crafty marketers realize that there are still plenty of opportunities to influence behaviors (HBNS: Cigarette Promotions Successfully Target Certain Groups, Study Finds).
Promotional offers from cigarette makers are used by more than one-third of smokers, a new study finds, and are most likely to be used by young adults and African-Americans.
“Our results provide strong evidence that tobacco industry promotional offers are particularly appealing to certain market segments,” say researchers led by Elizabeth A. Gilpin, M.S., of the cancer center at University of San California-San Diego.
Menthol and Camel cigarette smokers, in particular, were “highly likely to say they took advantage of promotional offers every time they saw one,” according to the study in the March issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. [Link to Abstract]
What distinguishes the marketer from the communicator, advertiser or PR professional is not a consumer orientation, a behavioral objective, or even conducting focus groups. What the social marketers pay attention to - just like their commercial counterparts - are all four elements of the marketing mix. And the 'price' element of the mix is an important one that is sometimes, but not always, neglected in the tobacco control arena - as well as many others. Yes, we know that policy interventions to increase the economic costs of smoking (a price intervention as well) are important when there is the time, resources and political will to make them happen. How about the easier ways to use a pricing strategy for health improvement?
In an effort to motivate smokers across New York State to stop smoking, tobacco control programs across the state held 'Quit and Win' incentive-based stop-smoking contests. These contests encouraged smokers to make a quit attempt by offering a chance to win cash prize (usually 1,000 dollars) for successfully stopping smoking for at least 1 month...This study shows that for a relatively modest investment of resources, thousands of smokers can be recruited to make a serious quit attempt, with many remaining smoke-free months later. [Link]
Technorati Tags: Cigarette Promotions, Health Communications, Social Marketing, Tobacco Control
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