Government-led Macro-social Marketing Programs in Vietnam

Abstract

Although social marketing is regarded as an effective consumer-oriented approach to promoting behavioral change and improved well-being for individuals and communities, its potential for generating societal change is still under-researched. This article examines government-led macro-social marketing in Vietnam, a country where the national government is interested in using social marketing to engender societal change. Using a search strategy, we identify four macro-social marketing programs that target smoking cessation, helmet use, drunk driving prevention, and nutrition. These programs have achieved meaningful outcomes but are facing some critical challenges. We argue that policy change can become an important component of social marketing intervention but that it may not be sufficient to create societal change in Vietnam. Measures are required so that policies are implemented. Furthermore, social marketers need to consider the social and cultural environment that enables societal change to occur.

From Social Marketing to Societal Perversion: History of Hometown Tax in Japan

“…This research offers insights on social marketing by the governments (Kennedy 2016;Truong 2016) and the collective-conflictual value cocreation (Laamanen and Skålén 2015) between the ideal intention of the government, and competition among municipalities in practice, through the history of hometown tax of the Japanese government to solve social problems in rural municipalities.…”

“…The interventions by the government are regarded as important contributors of social change (Domegan 2008;Donovan 2011); after all, there is a limit to realizing individual behavior change by individuals alone due to the limited information or limited information processing ability (Hoek and Jones 2011;Truong 2016;Wymer 2010).…”

“…The focus of macro-social marketing is social change through interventions by the government (Dholakia 1984;Domegan 2008;Donovan 2011;Kennedy and Persons 2012;Truong 2016;Wymer 2010). Kennedy and Parsons (2012) consider the case of the Canadian government's interventions in smoking cessation and indicate that it is an important research issue in macro-social marketing research to understand the linkage between intervention by governments and downstream activities.…”

“…Kennedy and Parsons (2012) make an important contribution by developing the theoretical foundation of macro-social marketing. Based on Kennedy and Parsons (2012), Kennedy (2016) and Truong (2016) present theoretical frameworks of macro-social marketing with reference to systems theory and institutional theory.…”

“…Applying the social marketing benchmark criteria that have been used in the downstream contexts, Truong (2016) considers the programs that are regarded as social marketing interventions by the government, and presents the government-led macro-social marketing model. Interventions by the governments often lead to conflicts and failures.…”