Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This chapter explores a number of key aspects of social marketing starting with the
relationships with behaviour change within the context of more policy driven agendas, before
going on to explore its application to aspects of tourism. In this latter context we examine the
growing applications of social marketing to behaviour change within a tourism context using a
case study example based on holiday travel and conclude by considering future research
opportunities that this aspect of marketing presents.
Social marketing, behaviour change and the emergence of the
concept of 'nudge'
Whilst many of the early developments were in America with an emphasis on health and issues of
increasing lifestyle choices (CDC 2005), there has in recent years been a widening of the social
marketing agenda. Part of this unfolding research agenda has seen social marketing as a policy led
tool for state campaigns on health, such as lowering alcohol consumption and stopping smoking
(Gordon
et al
. 2006; Hastings 2007; National Social Marketing Centre 2006). In this context
government policy has very often tended to use social marketing in terms of what Thaler and
Sunstein (2008) describe as value-neutral approaches. Their infl uence has been signifi cant on both
the US and the UK governments according to Corner and Randall (2011) with the value-neutral
approach of social marketing, where the 'characteristics of the audience and the social context
determine' the most effective approach, being taken up by UK government policy (2011: 1010).
This was most evident in the establishment of the 'Behavioural Insight Team' or what became
known as the so-called nudge unit in 2010. The notion of nudge behaviour was central to the
ideas at the heart of Thaler and Sunstein's thesis. The basis of the ideas and their attractiveness to
the UK government is in large part summed up by the following description, 'A nudge, as we
will use the term, is any aspect of choice architecture that alters people's behaviour in a predictable
way without forbidding any options or signifi cantly changing their economic incentives. To
count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid' (Thaler and Sunstein
2008: 6). The key aspects of this approach are fi rst it is value-neutral as previously mentioned and
second it assumes interventions can be made easy. Both of which are politically attractive to
central government.
Whilst their approach has moved social marketing into a different way of approaching
behaviour change its basis in behavioural economics has been seen by some as being rather too
simplifi ed. This view is supported by Hauseman and Welch (2010) who argued for a defi nition
of nudge that recognised the fl aws in individual decision-making, thereby calling for nudges as
'ways of infl uencing choice without limiting the choice set on making alternatives more costly
in terms of time, trouble [and] social solutions' (2010: 126). However, at a wider level the use of
the nudge approach has also been questioned by other UK policy makers in the form of the
Science and Technology Committee (2011). This in part called for more research and a greater
understanding as well as criticizing the application of nudge tactics in isolation. Eagle
et al
. (2012)
have widened this debate to call for a more critical evaluation of social marketing and the use of
behaviour change theories, following critiques from a range of academics.
These have not dismissed the concept of nudge but rather sought to draw attention to some
potential limitations. For example, Avineri and Goodwin (2010) argue that nudge is best applied
to unintentional or automatic behaviours but tends not to work as effectively on knowledge and
attitudes and as a consequence is less sustainable over the longer term. Similarly, Sugden (2009)
and Marteau
et al
. (2009) contest the notion of nudge since what may be a nudge to some policy
makers may be seen by the individual recipients as a distinct 'shove'. Within the context of food
policy and consumption patterns relating to healthy eating, there are mixed messages on the idea
