The social marketing mailing list is a really helpful, peer-supportive, information-sharing network.

Recently, I posted a question to the list. Most people answered me directly, and quite a number asked me to post a summary of the responses I received.

This first item on this page is the summary email I sent out to the SOC-MKTG list. I will add responses I 've had since, and email responses I still hope to receive. I encourage anyone to jump in, edit, or add.

My initial question:
> > > I'm interested in whether there are / have been any successful
> > > social marketing campaigns - or even any campaigns! - that aimed
> > > to improve ethnic/racial harmony within a community. I may be
> > > involved in one such campaign at a local level, so am looking for
> > > other examples, and lessons learned.
> > >
> > > Separate question, I am also interested in whether anyone on this
> > > list may have been involved in this at an international level -
> > > creating and executing strategies aiming to convince disparate
> > > groups of the benefits of working together toward a common
> > > peacebuilding goal, from a social marketing perspective. What
> > > strategies were / were not effective, and what resources were
> > > particularly useful?
> > >
> > > My work is related to communications and media (17 yrs). My
> > > volunteering has mostly been related to cross-cultural education,
> > > & new refugees. Currently, I'm also completing a Masters program
> > > in Communication for Development.
> > >
> > > Thanks for your time,
> > > Lisa Mighton

From Australia, Rob Donovan (Curtin University) wrote that he and Rodney Vlais are currently reviewing campaigns in this area for VicHealth. The first draft of the report is with VicHealth at the moment and will be available in the next month or so. They will post access to the report on the list. They found very few campaigns that were well researched or evaluated. One of the few is Donovan, Leivers ‘Using paid advtg to modify racial stereotype beliefs’. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1993, 57, 205-218 (only AAPOR members can access)* One problem they found is that some campaigns can be counterproductive.

From Costa Rica (INCAE Costa Rica, La Garita, Alajuela), Michael Metzger found that the question very much related to a study on acculturation they are doing at an international business school in Latin America. They are internationalizing the school there, studying student acculturation strategies, and would like to ultimately promote multiculturalism among graduates. However, the concept is very culture bound, i.e. societies tend to have very different beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding multiculturalism. An understanding of the specific context in which multiculturalism is promoted is essential. Their area of research focus is multiculturalism in a Latin American context. They’ve also looked at the academic models behind acculturation (i.e. the strategies minority groups use to acculturate to majority cultures as well as the strategies majority groups use toward minority groups),

He points out that an understanding of the dynamics behind acculturation of minority groups and building a multicultural society is really important to inform a social marketing campaign. He sent along some academic articles that deal with specific models for understanding acculturation*.

He also refers to a campaign by the American Ad Council that was a response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the twin towers and Pentagon. It highlights America's diversity and how the nation draws its strength from that diversity. From the link, follow
‘Historic Campaigns’, ‘I Am An American’.

From Ohio, Maria Leonora Comello suggests looking at the Community Readiness Model, which is a tool designed to assess a community's willingness to take action on a particular issue and to encourage community-wide action. She says it has been tested mainly in the prevention field but has been used with success in other areas as well.
The general approach is to tailor interventions to specific levels of community readiness with an end goal of creating broad-based and sustainable community support for an issue. It's really good at bringing a community together around an issue. You can find more information about the model at the Tri-Ethnic Center website: http://triethniccenter.colostate.edu/. Also, she and her colleagues wrote an article demonstrating how it's congruent with a social marketing framework and can be used with other more traditional approaches (http://mtq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/3/4/411).

From Spain, Mercedes Galan – Ladero (Universidad de Extremadura)
recommended this website: http://www.cruzroja.es/crj/docs/diversidad/menu.html
It is a Red Cross campaign, in Spain. The title is "La diversidad, nuestra mejor opción" (in English, the translation would be: 'Diversity, our best option').
[Mercedes wasn’t aware if any research may have been undertaken on the project (any measured results). I wonder if any Spanish-fluent readers here might be willing to write to the Red Cross in Spain, and to forward results to the list and post them here on the wiki, if any are received? Unfortunately I do not speak Spanish.]

From American University in Washington DC, Sonya Grier (American University, Kogod School of Business) recalled that the Bahai community had a campaign focused on these issues.
Added September 8th 2006:
The following response was received, from my email request for info:

Thank you for your recent inquiry. Over the years, Baha'is have
launched a number of efforts to promote interracial/intercultural
harmony, in line with the faith's teachings on the oneness of humanity.
In the United States, Baha'is have focused on promoting race unity as
one of the fundamental spiritual challenges facing our nation. As far
back as 1957, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States (the community's elected governing body) created Race
Unity Day, a commemorative day observed the second Sunday in June (see
http://www.bahai.us/node/43).

In 1991, the National Assembly issued a statement "The Vision of Race
Unity: America's Most Challenging Issue,"
(http://www.bahai.us/racism-in-america) The statement was presented by
Baha'i communities around the country to governors, mayors, human
relations commissions, interfaith groups and other organizations as a
way of prompting dialogue and action on this issue.

In 1998, a publicity campaign was launched with the release of the
30-minute documentary "The Power of Race Unity," which was broadcast on
numerous national cable networks. The campaign also included TV spots
on the theme "What if children were born without prejudice?"

There have been some comparable efforts by Baha'is at the international
level. I would be glad to discuss these initiatives further and answer
any questions you may have.

Warm regards,

Glen Fullmer
Director, Office of Communications
Baha'i National Center
1233 Central Street
Evanston, IL 60201

Added September 6th 2006, follow-up lead emailed from Sonya Grier: (American University, Washington DC):

You might also find the attached teaching case interesting. The aim of the project is to increase the diversity of business school faculty. The overall project is not social marketing, but the attached case focuses on this issue of the marketing of faculty diversity. They provide information, promote the merits of an academic career, and increase access to key decisonmakers, via an annual conference (which people apply to attend, and meet deans, professors, phd students), networking groups, social support and some research funding. I believe the Phd project has been evaluating their efforts based on outcomes of the number of underrepresented minorities who take academic positons in business schools. The project is based on a collaboration of non-profits (GMAC, bschools) and corporations. You can find more info on their website. www.phdproject.org/

For the attachments, try Sonya (or Lisa) directly.


John Davies (Doctor of Public Health, Senior Specialist in International Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS & Nutrition, www.johndavies.com) passed on this tip: The prize-winning Media Awareness website might have something you can use. You can access it by clicking on the following URL: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english

From California, Debra Nakatomi (Nakatomi & Associates, www.nakatomipr.com) mentions a program run by the Institute for Community Peace in Washington DC. Though I wasn’t able to find relevant on their info, again I’ve emailed and hope for a response, and can forward it on to anyone interested.

From Washington DC, Nil S. Navaie wrote, suggesting two resources. For an international level campaign, the Red Campaign (focused on HIV/AIDS) that launched this past Spring: http://www.joinred.com/ Also, http://www.art4development.net/Arts%20and%20Development%20Campaigns.html connects to other campaigns that fight poverty, promote cultural diversity/ multiculturalism.

Also from Washington DC, Dave Ehrlich pointed to www.marketingpublicprograms.org, which features a free searchable database of 1,000 marketing campaigns conducted by non-profit and government agencies. He also refers to a new two day course he offers monthly, to do with marketing public programs and social marketing.

Finally, Jay Kassrer wrote from Ottawa, Canada, and this connects back to the beginning. He’d like to know about a successful program with measured results, so he can do a case study of it for the Tools of Change website (www.toolsofchange.com).

As Rob Donovan of Australia noticed in his own research, there seems to be a real absence of impact evaluation of these types of (multiculturalism promotion / diversity acceptance / social harmony) campaigns.

* For legal reasons I'm likely unable to post the attachments I received. If you wish to receive any of this specific information I mention, you can directly contact me or the source mentioned.

As any of you come across campaigns or information that relates to these issues, please do forward them on to the list and post them here. A lot of us seem to be interested in following this kind of research and these kinds of campaigns.