National Social Marketing Centre

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.

Following on from John Bromley's piece yesterday on Michael Porter and 'shared value', our guest blogger is Bill Smith, one of the world's leading specialists in social marketing and social change. In this article, Bill gives his view. 

Porter makes some interesting points in his recent article and BBC interview. Question: Will his vision of shared value − "companies solving social problems and making a buck too" − put social marketing out of business? Well, let's hope so, but don't plan on it.

Porter's idea raises an interesting perspective for us as social marketers. Isn't social marketing functionally a mechanism to fix a fundamental flaw in the commercial marketing system, namely in how the poor are served? Social marketing provides products and services to people who cannot afford to pay for them; or put another way, the commercial guys have not found a way to provide products and services cheap enough for a segment of the population to pay for. Therefore, condoms are subsidised; advice on cancer screening is given away free; and immunisation campaigns overcome people fears of vaccines (or at least when they work, they do).

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.

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:

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.

As many of us return to work this year facing further economic woe, we may find solace in the Centre for Mental Health’s (CMH) Impact on Depression programme. This innovative training scheme builds knowledge, skills and confidence among managers and staff to recognise and give help to colleagues with depression and anxiety.