Social marketing in diversity: Developing a behavioural ecological toolkit

Using a series of case studies, this paper illustrates that most social marketing interventions in Southeast Asia have employed a downstream approach towards changing individual behaviour. The paper contends that it is timely for social marketing in the region to incorporate upstream initiatives to address social marketing problems that are embedded within a larger social context. Using Hovell, Wahlgren and Gehrman (2002)'s Behavioural Ecological Model (BEM) as a framework, the paper suggests that most social marketing programs in Southeast Asia have been targeted mostly at the two middle layers of the pyramid - the local (schools/neighbourhoods/worksites) and community (governance and policy/legal infrastructure/media) levels. There is space for upstream social marketing targeting the socio-cultural level, creating sustainable change in social mores, culture, traditions, social artefacts such as signs and symbols, which can be passed on from generation to generation. Aiming for change on a societal level in this region requires a deep understanding of multiple factors, the least of which are the mentality and deeply-rooted norms in each of these countries geographically bound together. This paper provides an overview of social marketing practice in the region, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Vietnam, to provide a relatively representative picture of social marketing in Southeast Asia.