NB: due to the time constraints imposed by the publisher, no deadline extensions will be granted.

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Call for papers
Special Issue RAM 2015
Topic: Social Marketing

The guest editors for this special issue are:

Adilson Borges and Jean-Charles Chebat

Marketing is often criticized for encouraging excessive consumption which may result in harmful consequences for society. Such a view of marketing is also strongly rooted in large sections of society and in the media. However, marketing is also the source of significant advances in social welfare, and the success of campaigns to reduce cigarette consumption in the United States is a good example of the usefulness of social marketing. Since the introduction of the concept of social marketing (Kotler et Zaltman, 1971), the use of marketing techniques to encourage behavior that generates greater individual and collective well-being have grown continuously. In France, some examples of papers published in RAM in recent years confirm that this is a dynamic research area (Borges, 2011; Derbaix, Poncin, Droulers et Roullet, 2012; Gallopel-Morvan, 2006; Werle, Boesen-Mariani, Gavard-Perret et Berthaud, 2012).

In addition, society has never been in greater need of social marketing. Indeed, health costs are soaring in industrialized countries (World Health Organization, 2010). Obesity has become a major public health problem not only in the United States, where one in three children is overweight or obese, but also in a large number of industrialized countries (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh et Merchant, 2005). The number of young smokers in Europe is rising again, and in France daily tobacco use is increasing among boys aged between 15 and 19 (from 23.3% in 2005 to 26.6% in 2010), despite voluntary taxation policies and information about the health dangers of cigarettes (Beck, Guignard, Richard, Wilquin et Peretti-Watel, 2011). In France, more than thirteen thousand adolescents have resorted to the voluntary termination of pregnancy (an increase of 15%) and the use of condoms among adolescents to avoid sexually transmitted diseases is not yet widespread (Aubin et Menninger, 2009). Gambling is a source of growing public health concern for several countries in the world, with potentially serious implications for compulsive players (e.g. problems of debt, family breakdown, etc.) (Munoz, Chebat et Borges, forthcoming). All these issues call for new approaches in marketing to help change behaviors so as to improve quality of life for individuals and society (Gomez, Borges et Pechmann, forthcoming).

This special issue aims to highlight theoretical and managerial contributions that enhance understanding of social marketing tools and techniques. Key questions that might be addressed include:

• How can marketing contribute to a reduction of expenditure in the field of public health?
• How can the young be prevented from starting to smoke tobacco and/or other dangerous substances? How can smokers be helped to quit?
• How can consumers be helped to better manage their finances so as to avoid problems such as unpaid or excessive debt?
• How can more effective road safety campaigns be developed?
• How can we fight against obesity effectively, particularly among vulnerable and less well-informed consumers?
• How can alcohol consumption be reduced, particularly excess drinking (e.g. binge drinking, spirits, etc.)?
• How can the addiction to gambling be avoided? How effective are warnings in this context?
• How can young people be encouraged to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases (e.g. AIDS) and unwanted pregnancies?
• How can the self-esteem and mental health of young people be protected in relation to advertising that promotes a single model of beauty?
• How can people be encouraged to adopt pro-environment behaviors (e.g. recycling, reducing water consumption, etc.)?
• How can the effectiveness of messages encouraging consumers to engage in screening for serious diseases be improved (e.g. prostate cancer screening)?

This list is not exhaustive. Researchers who wish may send an initial summary of their idea (less than one page) to begin a dialogue with the editors of this special issue.

Manuscripts should be submitted to the normal RAM evaluation process and must respect this journal’s rules for presentation. Proposed papers must be sent in electronic format before February 1, 2014 to the following address:

Marcia Herter
Research Assistant specialeditionram@gmail.com

All submissions will be confirmed by email within 24 hours. If you do not receive this confirmation, please contact Marcia Herter directly (marcia_herter@yahoo.com.br) for confirmation of your submission.

NB: due to the time constraints imposed by the publisher, no deadline extensions will be granted.

References

Aubin, Claire et Menninger, Danièle Jourdain (2009), "Evaluation des politiques de prévention des grossesses non désirées et de prise en charge des interruptions volontaires de grossesse suite à la loi du 4 juillet 2001." Paris France: Inspection générale des affaires sociales.

Beck, François, Guignard, Romain, Richard, Jean-Baptiste, Wilquin, Jean-Louis et Peretti-Watel, Patrick (2011), Une augmentation du tabagisme confirmée en France, La Santé de L’Homme, 441, 9-10.

Borges, Adilson (2011), The Effects of Digitally Enhanced Photos on Product Evaluation and Young Girls Self Esteem, Recherche et applications en marketing, 26, 4, 5-22.

Dehghan, Mahshid, Akhtar-Danesh, Noori et Merchant, Anwar (2005), Childhood obesity, prevalence and prevention, Nutrition Journal, 4, 1, 24.

Derbaix, Christian, Poncin, Ingrid, Droulers, Olivier et Roullet, Bernard (2012), Mesures des réactions affectives induites par des campagnes pour des causes sociales : complémentarité et convergence de mesures iconiques et verbales. (French), Recherche et applications en marketing, 27, 2, 71-90.

Gallopel-Morvan, Karine (2006), L’utilisation de la peur dans un contexte de marketing social : état de l’art, limites et voies de recherche, Recherche et applications en marketing, 21, 4, 41-60.

Gomez, Pierrick, Borges, Adilson et Pechmann, Cornelia (forthcoming), Avoiding poor health or approaching good health: Does it matter? The conceptualization, measurement, and consequences of health regulatory focus, Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Kotler, Philip et Zaltman, Gerald (1971), Social marketing: An approach to planned social change, Journal of Marketing, 35, 3, 3-12.

Munoz, Yaromir, Chebat, Jean-Charles et Borges, Adilson (forthcoming), Graphic Gambling Warnings: How they Affect Emotions, Cognitive Responses and Attitude Change, Journal of Gambling Studies, 1-18.

Werle, Carolina Obino Corrêa, Boesen-Mariani, Sabine, Gavard-Perret, Marie-Laure et Berthaud, Stéphanie (2012), Prévention de l’obésité auprès des adolescents: l’efficacité de l’argument « risque social » sur les intentions et comportements alimentaires, Recherche et applications en marketing, 27, 3, 3-29.

World Health Organization (2010), "The World Health Report," (accessed 2/17/13, 2013), [available at http://www.who.int/whr/2010/10_summary_en.pdf].

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