Is there a difference between “social norms” and “social marketing”?
Yes. Social norms are the perceived standards of acceptable attitudes and behaviors prevalent among the members of a community. As defined by Alan Andreason, social marketing “is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society.” (Andreason, Marketing Social Change, 1995) What is frequently referred to as social norms marketing is the use of the methods of social marketing to correct a target population’s misperception of the norm, thereby positively influencing its behavior.
