Reflections Writing

Running head: FIRST REFLECTION 1

FIRST REFLECTION 4

MADS 6645: Marketing Social Change

Assignment 1: First Reflection

Prof. Rajesh Kumar

FDU

(Harmandeep Kaur Dhanda)

(1882590)

Objective

For this reflective writing I have chosen to address the quote “social marketing is about influencing behaviors”; “similar to commercial sector marketers who sell goods and services, social marketers are selling behaviors.” As they elaborated, social marketers typically try to influence their target audience toward four behavioral changes: accepting a new behavior, reject a potential undesirable behavior, modify a current behavior or abandon an old undesirable behavior (Kotler & Lee, 2008). In other words, this quote simply means that social marketing is similar to commercial marketing i.e. selling of toothpaste or policies with the only difference that in social marketing we sell behaviors instead of goods and services.

Reflective

I found it very interesting because it was something new for me. I had never thought of marketing in such a way before. Earlier marketing for me was only promoting goods and services in order to increase the sales. But now it is much more. The fact that a behavior of an individual is influenced which is the core of social marketing is the most fascinating part for me. I still remember the lecture in which I learnt that ‘behavior change is hallmark of social marketing’ was the time when my perspective towards marketing changed. The picture about the social campaigns became more clear.

Interpretive

It has changed the way I look at marketing and its techniques. My knowledge about this topic has broadened far and wide. I am able to visualize the bigger picture now. I would like to discuss a example of advertisement I saw many years ago. It was an advertisement regarding anti- smoking. I had seen it multiple times like a usual commercial advertisement. But never noticed that it was much more because it carried a strong message of changing a behavior particularly abonding the undesirable behavior of smoking (Kapoor, 2015).

Another example of one of the most successful campaign to eradicate Polio from India is also focused on the change of the behavior which is accepting a new behavior of drinking 2 drops of Polio vaccine by children under five years of age (John & Vashistha, 2013). Similarly, as a part of anti- TB campaign in India the important message of getting oneself checked by a doctor if a person observes cough for more than 14 days is conveyed through media which is also a kind of social marketing (Sandhu, 2011).

One of the present day example of modifying a current behavior which is at its peak nowadays because of worldwide outbreak of pandemic Covid-19 is the habit of washing hands for 20 seconds quite often and keeping the surroundings clean as a measure to control the spread of the virus.

Decisional

All that I have learnt till now about social marketing and behavior change, I will be using it in my upcoming projects keeping the special attention to the fact that whatever social marketing project I do behavior change needs to be the main focus point. In addition, I have also decided to share this knowledge with my family, friends and colleagues about social marketing. I am sure they would also be surprised and happy to know something novel like me. In addition, I am also going to identify the behavior changes in the past as well as the ongoing campaigns making the efficient use of all the knowledge I have gained about social marketing.

References

Kapoor, V. (2015). Anti-tobacco campaign: Together we can…Indian Journal of Dentistry, 6(2), 59-70.

Kotler, P. & Lee, N.(2008). Social Marketing: Influencing Behaviors for Good:Sage.

John, T.J. and Vashistha, V.M. (2013).Eradicating poliomyelitis:India’s journey from hyperendemic to polio-free status. Indian Journal Of Medicinal Research, 137(5), 881-894.

Sandhu, G.K. (2011). Tuberculosis: Current Situation, Challenges and Overview of its Control Programs in India. Journal of Global Infectious Diseases, 3(2), 143-150.