Incorporating Social Marketing into an Introductory Marketing Course Curriculum: An Interdisciplinary Case Study

Today there is general agreement that social marketing aims to benefit society by changing the behavior of individuals through the application of traditional marketing principles (Kotler & Lee, 2008; Andreasen, 2002). Social marketing attempts to improve society by focusing on behaviors that protect i) the health and safety of individuals (e.g., smoking cessation), ii) the environment (e.g., water conservation), or iii) community well-being (e.g., literacy). Social marketing encompasses all of the activities central to commercial marketing, for example, market segmentation, consideration of environmental forces, and strategies centered on the 4Ps (Andreasen, 2002). It differs from commercial marketing, however, by focusing on social rather than financial gain, and on behavior change rather than goods and services. In social marketing, competition arises from competing behaviors rather than from providers of similar goods and services. Social marketing also requires different skill sets. Because social marketing often attempts to promote behavior that individuals do not want to perform (e.g., reducing water use), long-term effort and special levels of commitment are required to achieve social marketing goals. These important differences suggest that marketing students need to understand social marketing to appreciate the full scope of marketing. Incorporating social marketing into core marketing curricula provides students with a more complete understanding of the breadth of marketing. It also affords students a unique opportunity to wed interests in business with concerns for society.