So The Lancet believes behaviour change programmes should be abandoned by the Government and replaced by what in their view ‘works’ – a tax and ban approach. Not exactly radical thinking. This, in spite of clear evidences (for example here and here) that tools like choice architecture and social marketing also work.
For an august publication to call for such a retrograde step is an alarming development, and one I’d put down to a lack of appreciation of the true facts… had it not been for other alarm bells that recently clanged at a conference on responsible drinking.
After all, those of us of a certain age will recall that this was a view dominant in the mid noughties. Although academic behaviour change theory was taught to health promotion workers, social marketing as a tool was greeted with scepticism by all but a few pioneers. There were good case studies available even then, but the prevailing view of the public health fraternity usually contained the words: “lack of evidence”, “statistically insignificant” and “not epidemiologically sound”.
I always recall a heated debate in the pub with a former head of health promotion colleague from my days as a Primary Care Trust Head of Comms that “health promotion has nothing to do with marketing, it’s about changing behaviour not selling crisps”. And yet health promotion activity was rarely co-created with the target community. It was too often poorly funded. Qualitative insight was viewed with suspicion. Quantitative research regarded as an expensive luxury. Design agencies might be called upon for posters and leaflets (where there was no in-house capacity), but the capacity and capability of independent practitioner support was not considered. And the programmes rarely had the sustained impact that was desired.
Fortunately, things changed. As an increasing number of practitioners began demonstrating success, the evidence base grew. The National Social Marketing Centre was established by Prof Jeff French – a Non-Executive Director at ICE – and the Department of Health began to fund training, awareness raising and pilot programmes.
Fast forward to 2012, and the international social marketing community has a growing network sharing best practice, and across Europe practitioners regard the UK as a leading example of behaviour change programmes being applied consistently and well. And in spite of recent upheavals in the NHS structure, there remain many, many people in public health committed to delivering improved health outcomes for their local communities, and who advocate all sorts of approaches to changing behaviour – whether a nudge, a hug, a smack or a shove. Fantastic developments, not just for us in the industry but for the clients and ultimately the communities we serve.
Austerity may force us to deliver challenging outcomes for less. But as an industry, we must guard against a return to the scepticism and disillusionment of the past.
Richard Forshaw, Director of Sales & Marketing – richard.forshaw@icecreates.com
