24762 Chap.6 Critical Social Marketing and Competition
Critical Social Marketing and Competition
A critical definition
Critical social marketing, in Gordon’s 2018 definition, examines the impact of commercial marketing on society and critically analyses social marketing itself, to generate critique, conflict and change for social good.
Two kinds of competition
Internal competition is people’s own thoughts, feelings and habits; external competition is the products, lobbying, norms and environments that promote counter-behaviours.
The World Health Organization called the corporations selling alcohol, junk food and tobacco the Hazard Merchants.
Debates and a framework
The lecture lists critical debates within the field and a framework that rests on critical reflexivity, with decolonising, intersectional and trauma-informed lenses.
For your critique
The workshop asks you to consider the competition to your desired change, critique existing and previous efforts and take different perspectives, and to bring critically reflexive, decolonising and intersectional thinking into the engagement poster.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Gordon’s definition of critical social marketing
- 02
Critical thinking skills
- 03
Internal and external competition
- 04
Porter’s five forces applied
- 05
The Hazard Merchants
- 06
Critical debates within the field
- 07
Common mistakes in the case study video
Worked example · free
Map the competition to drinking water instead of soft drink
- 1Internal: taste and the sugar reward, and the habit of buying a drink with lunch.
- 1External: drink advertising aimed at young people, and vending machines near the canteen.
- 2Answer to internal: make water immediately appealing, with chilled refill stations and flavoured, branded bottles.
- 2Answer to external: ask the school and state to restrict sugary drink sales on school grounds.
Key terms
- Critical Social Marketing
- Examining the impact of commercial marketing on society and critically analysing social marketing itself to generate change for social good.
- Internal Competition
- People’s own thoughts, feelings and attitudes that act as barriers to change.
- External Competition
- People, environments, systems, norms or organisations that promote counter-behaviours.
- Intersectionality
- A framework, from Crenshaw, for how overlapping identities produce privilege and oppression through social structures.
Critical Social Marketing and Competition FAQ
What is the difference between internal and external competition?
Internal competition is inside the person: thoughts, feelings, habits and the short-term pleasure of the current behaviour. External competition comes from outside: harmful products and their marketing, lobbying, negative social norms and stressful environments that make the desired behaviour harder.
Why do fear campaigns often fail?
The lecture argues that people are complex and emotional rather than purely rational, so warnings about cancer or liver disease often do not produce change. Its alternative is to communicate positive benefits that arrive now, such as more energy or the respect of friends.
Who are the Hazard Merchants?
The World Health Organization’s 1998 name for corporations marketing alcohol, energy-dense high-fat food and tobacco. The lecture describes them as strategic marketers whose products push in the opposite direction to social marketing, with very large market values.
What made the strongest case study videos stand out?
The Week 9 general feedback says the best videos used theory to critique earlier campaigns and recommended policy or system changes rather than more education aimed at individuals. Some also brought in social justice and diversity by considering Aboriginal, culturally diverse or low-income groups.
How should social marketers respond to commercial competition?
The lecture suggests matching competitors on ubiquity, convenience and immediate emotional and functional value, using every relevant tool, warning people about the competition as the truth campaign does, and working inside the policy process as well as lobbying it.
What is critical reflexivity?
It is the foundation of the critical social marketing framework: accounting for your own values and biases, testing them, attending to power, and reflecting on how issues, theories and methods were chosen. Decolonising, intersectional and trauma-informed lenses sit on top of it.
What critical debates exist inside social marketing?
The lecture lists claims that the field is too positivist, too close to pro-marketing ideology, careless about gender and body-shape stigma, too reliant on fear, and short on cultural and ethnic diversity, community engagement and cultural safety.
Assessment move
For your Assessment 1 problem, write one paragraph on internal competition and one on external competition, each naming a specific competitor and a source. Then pick one critical debate from the lecture that applies to past campaigns on the issue, such as stigma or a lack of cultural diversity, and test your critique against the six common mistakes before you record.
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