National Social Marketing Centre

I, like many of my fellow social marketers I’m sure, have often struggled with (and sometimes dread) the frequently asked question by friends and family - “What is social marketing?” closely followed by, “So, what is it that social marketers actually do?”

Although I have been employed by The NSMC since September 2010, I have not spent much time working in their new office at Fleetbank House. For the past year, I have been embarking on placements in Public Health at the NHS and within a commercial social marketing agency.

I had a call last week from someone concerned that our involvement in behaviour change at The NSMC was somehow directed toward something a bit more nefarious; along the lines of mind control over vulnerable target groups. I suppose that we were implicated in what you might call the 'dark side of nudging' due to the mention of psychological techniques being mentioned in the mainstream press in recent articles on behavioural nudges.

Obviously, we at The NSMC are fascinated with all things behavioural. So, it's been interesting to see an alternative viewpoint to the government's nudging policies evaluated from a scientific rather than a knee-jerk libertarian perspective.

Published yesterday in the British Medical Journal, Judging nudging: can nudging improve population health? (available for free, though you'll need to register!), discusses the possible pitfalls of nudging as opposed to using legislation and whole population approaches.

A British company, Hu2 Design has produced a range of simple stickers designed to remind people about the ecological cost of their electricity usage:

They can be applied around light switches and plug sockets to give a little visual reminder to switch off.

You can see the full range of 'Eco Reminders' here.

The government is already being accused of 'bottling it' on a minimum price for alcohol. Instead of banning the sale of bargain booze, it is said that shops and bars will be prevented from selling drinks for less than the tax they pay on them.

Public health campaigners have been quick to condemn what they see as toothless legislation – and undoubtedly wielding the stick of regulation has proven a successful vector of behaviour change in other areas.

After reading Aditya Chakrabortty's article in today's Guardian, I stumbled across this fascinating illustration (literally) of what really motivates people. It's based on a talk given by workplace behaviour expert Daniel Pink for the RSA last year: