Marketing social norms - Wiley Online Library

Journal of Consumer Behaviour, J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) Published online 20 November 2012 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/cb.1395

Marketing social norms: Social marketing and the ‘social norm approach’ KEVIN BURCHELL*, RUTH RETTIE and KAVITA PATEL Kingston University, Business School, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 7LB, UK ABSTRACT This paper is inspired by the observation that the social norm approach (SNA) to socially desirable behaviour change – that is, telling people about what lots of other people do – retains something of a Cinderella role among social marketing practitioners and academics. Thus, the objective of this paper is to bring the social norm approach to the attention of a wider – and specifically, marketing and social marketing – audience, in the hope that the practice, study and critical analysis of the approach can be widened and deepened. We begin this task by tracing the background of the social norm approach to its origins in psychology and social psychology and by discussing a number of typical social norm campaigns. Thereafter, we review four key characteristics of successful social norm campaigns. In our discussion, we return to a more theoretical discussion of how the social norm approach works, and we pose a number of questions that emerge from the paper. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

BACKGROUND Although Andreasen (2002, 2003) traces the origins of social marketing to the 1950s, the term itself was coined by Kotler and Zaltman (1971) in the 1970s. The most frequently cited definition of social marketing is that proposed by Andreasen (1994: 108, 1995: 7, 2003: 296). Social marketing is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and evaluation of programmes designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of society. Andreasen (2002: 7) suggests that social marketing can be recognised by an emphasis on: understanding consumers and competing behaviours through research, segmentation to inform targeting, employment of the 4Ps of the marketing mix (not just the P for promotion) and recognition of the need for an exchange of benefits. Examination of the examples in social marketing texts books (Kotler and Lee, 2008; Donovan and Henley, 2010), reveals that social marketing campaigns tend to employ a range of creative techniques with informational and educational intent. Typically, they warn of the risks – sometimes short-term and sometimes long-term – of particular activities, and they advocate other ways of doing things that are less damaging. In support of such warnings, social marketing campaigns often include information about the processes that produce these dangers. Social marketing is the subject of considerable internal and external critique. In the context of sustainability, Peattie and Peattie (2009) discuss the tensions inherent in the employment of techniques that are designed to increase consumption. More broadly, Peattie and Peattie (2003, 2009) discuss the inappropriate nature of many commercial marketing techniques when applied to social objectives. For instance, they challenge the suitability of the 4Ps for social marketing and suggest that ‘proposition’ might replace *Correspondence to: Kevin Burchell, Kingston University, Business School, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 7LB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

‘product’, ‘accessibility’ might replace ‘place’, ‘cost of involvement’ might replace ‘price’ and ‘communication’ might replace ‘promotion’. Andreasen (2003: 300) draws attention to a lack of understanding of how ‘contemplation’ or ‘readiness-to-change’ is best converted into action, a challenge that is understood in behaviour change domains as the attitude-behaviour or value-action gap (Blake, 1999; Jackson, 2005; Young et al., 2010). Finally, Shove (2010) is critical of the assumptions of individualised, linear relationships between knowledge, attitudes and values, and behaviour that underpin most social marketing and behaviour change work. Despite these criticisms, in recent years in the UK, attention to the practise of social marketing and behaviour change among researchers and practitioners has been matched by action from policy makers across a range of policy domains (Government Social Research/Darnton, 2008; Centre for Government/ Cabinet Office, 2010; House of Lords, 2011; National Social Marketing Centre, 2012c). This contemporary policy interest can be attributed to a growing emphasis on individual behaviour change and the appeal of Thaler and Sunstein’s (2008) ‘nudge’ thesis. In particular, social marketing and behaviour change feature in UK government strategies for health (Department of Health (DoH) 2010), carbon emissions reduction (Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) 2009, 2010, 2012; HM Government, 2009, 2011; Cabinet Office, 2011; DECC/ Chatterton, 2011) and environmental or sustainability issues more broadly (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 2006, 2010). To these, Kotler and Lee (2008) add two further domains in which social marketing is widely employed: public safety issues, such as road safety, and social issues, such as voting, literacy or identity theft. The objective in this paper is to stimulate discussion of the social norm approach (SNA) within the context of social marketing. The SNA has its roots in psychological and social psychological theories of conformity, which suggest that our behaviour is often shaped by what we understand other people to do. Thus, in SNA campaigns, the objective is to shape behaviour by telling people about what other people do, usually in the form of what the majority of people do. In such campaigns, the majority is typically represented as a percentage or a proportion. For example,

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K. Burchell et al. I DON’T SMOKE. Just like 88% of ETHS students. Evanston Township High School (National Social Norms Institute, 2012a). In reality, most HWS students drink one to four drinks or do not drink at all when partying. Hobart and William Smith Colleges Alcohol Education Project (Perkins and Craig, 2002).

The SNA has been used most often within the context of alcohol and cigarette consumption among university students, although it is increasingly used in the sustainability domain and others. SNA messages are conveyed through traditional media, such as posters and advertisements, and more recent work uses information and communications technologies and social media. In some explanations, the SNA shapes behaviour by correcting apparent misperceptions about norms, whereas others hold that SNA campaigns shape behaviour because they render issues and norms more salient. Marketers will recognise this approach from commercial marketing, as reflected in the famous strap lines, ‘Eight out of 10 owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred it’ (Whiskers), ‘The world’s favourite airline’ (BA) or ‘Four out of five dentists recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum’ (Trident gum). However, we are inspired here by the observation that the SNA retains a Cinderella role in social marketing. To ascribe something, a Cinderella role implies that it is neglected and undervalued. We attribute a Cinderella role to the SNA because although examples can be identified in social marketing campaigns and text books, its employment is limited to relatively few specialists. In particular, although academic discussion of the SNA is common in the psychology and social psychology literatures, the approach is discussed in those domains as a form of behaviour change rather than social marketing. Further, outside of texts books, analysis of the SNA remains a lacuna in the marketing or social marketing literature. The objective of this paper, therefore, is to bring the SNA to the attention of a wider audience and to stimulate further research and critical analysis of the approach. To achieve this, we consolidate a range of theoretical and practical insights on the SNA. We do this, first, by tracing the background of the SNA to its origins in psychology and social psychology and by describing a variety of SNA campaigns. Thereafter, through a review of some successes and failures, we discuss four key guiding principles for successful SNA campaigns and studies. In our discussion, we return to a more theoretical review of two explanations of how the SNA works, and we pose a number of questions that emerge from the paper. NORMS, CONFORMITY AND THE SOCIAL NORM APPROACH Social norms or norms are important – if fluid and contested – concepts in both sociology and social psychology. In most sociological accounts, norms are explicit or implicit rules that guide, regulate, proscribe and prescribe social behaviour in particular contexts (see Hechter and Opp, 2001; Horne, 2001). Thus, in sociology, norms refer to normative social Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

influence with connotations of ‘ought’ or ‘should’. In social psychology, social norms also refer to patterns of group behaviour. Deutsch and Gerard (1955 p. 629) distinguish between normative social influence to ‘conform with the positive expectations of another’ and informational social influence that involves acceptance of ‘information obtained from another as evidence about reality’. Drawing on this distinction between what others approve/disapprove of and what others do, Cialdini et al. (1990) distinguish between two types of norm: injunctive and descriptive. Injunctive norms are ‘what people feel is right based on morals or beliefs’ (Berkowitz, 2004, p. 12) or what people ‘ought’ to do. In contrast, descriptive norms simply describe the behaviour of the majority (Cialdini et al., 1990). However, from a more sociological perspective, this distinction is blurred because describing what most other people do inevitably introduces injunction; that is, ‘most people do this’ becomes ‘people should do this’. The SNA rests upon the empirically confirmed principle of conformity that people tend to conform to what other people do. Cialdini and Goldstein (2004) provide a useful review of psychological and social psychological research that shows this over a period of 45 years, from the early work of Asch (1955) and Milgram (1974) to contemporary research. Cialdini (2009) also offers a range of examples from everyday life in which social conformity is evident, including people that find TV programmes featuring canned laughter funnier than those that do not (despite the fact that they also say that they do not like canned laughter); children who are afraid of dogs can be ‘cured’ by watching other children playing with dogs; cloakroom attendants encourage tips successfully by placing a few coins in their tips basket; and once the first person stops to help another in need many others also stop. The SNA exploits the tendency to conform, shaping behaviour by telling people about the behaviour or attitudes of the majority. As shown in this further example, SNA communications typically report the behaviour of the majority of people in the form of a percentage or a proportion: Did you know. . .most HOYAs [students at Georgetown University] have 0–4 drinks when they party. You Don’t Know Jack campaign, Georgetown University (National Social Norms Institute, 2012b).

THE TRADITIONAL SOCIAL NORM APPROACH What might be referred to as the traditional SNA approach emerged in the late 1980s, in the context of substance abuse (cigarettes, alcohol and drugs), particularly among university or college students (see the reviews of Bosari and Carey, 2003; Perkins, 2003; Berkowitz, 2004, 2005; McAlaney and McMahon, 2007; Neighbors et al., 2008; Moreira et al., 2009; also see the Most of Us website, 2012). This approach typically begins with survey research designed to gather data for citation in subsequent communications. In particular, employing the example of alcohol, such surveys generate data regarding each student respondents’ own alcohol consumption and attitude to the social acceptability of J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) DOI: 10.1002/cb

Marketing social norms excessive alcohol consumption. In addition, data is collected regarding each respondent’s perception of the consumption and attitude of other students in the university. In most cases, such surveys reveal that students tend to overestimate both the amount of alcohol that their peers consume and the extent to which their peers view excessive alcohol consumption as socially acceptable. Typically, the extent of this overestimation increases as social proximity decreases. For example, individuals will believe that their immediate friends consume more alcohol than they actually do. Further, individuals will perceive that other students in the institution consume more than their friends (Berkowitz, 2003). For many practitioners of this approach, such results are accepted as evidence of the misperception of social norms (though see our discussion of this in the closing section), and the communications’ task is to correct those misperceptions. Social norm messages are used within communications at the level of the institution, such as campus-based: posters, advertisements, radio spots, merchandising, websites and emails. Ideally, the effectiveness of such SNA campaigns is evaluated by a second survey repeating the original survey items. More recently, the traditional SNA has been employed within the context of sustainability issues, such as environmental theft (Cialdini, 2003) and hotel towel re-use (Goldstein et al., 2008), as well as violence prevention (Berkowitz, 2010), road safety (Most of Us, 2012), bullying (Perkins et al., 2009), risky sexual behaviour (Donovan and Vlais, 2005) and other emergent domains. At the same time, others have developed the SNA in ways that feature highly personalised social norm feedback.

THE PERSONALISED SOCIAL NORM APPROACH The personalised SNA has been developed in the context of alcohol consumption and a number of sustainability domains. Three key differences can be identified between the personalised approach and the traditional approach. First, in the personalised approach methodology, randomised control trials are often employed, allowing the comparison of different intervention groups, and control groups. For example, the Harries et al. (forthcoming 2013) energy study and the physical activity study of Rettie et al. (2010) each have three study groups: 1. A ‘social norm feedback group’, that receives information relating to their own behaviour, along with information about the average or majority behaviour, thus evoking a descriptive norm; 2. An ‘individual feedback only group’, that receives feedback about their own ‘performance’ only; and, 3. A control group which receives no feedback; although note that participation in a study can itself have an effect (Harries et al., forthcoming 2013). Here are two examples of information that a ‘social norm feedback group’ might receive (in this instance, accompanied by a graphical representation of the relative consumption figures). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Did you know: 50% of homes on Brook Close recycle their food waste. The average for the area is 40%. Oldham food waste trial (Nomura et al., 2011).

Your energy consumption was above the average in your neighbourhood. Home Energy Study (Harries et al., forthcoming 2013). Typically, the monitoring of behaviour takes place during pre-intervention, SNA intervention and post-intervention periods. Third, because personalised approach studies involve the recruitment of study participants, these can more easily be targeted with background information and tips. As in the traditional approach, the personalised approach to alcohol consumption has focused on college students (Collins et al., 2002; Lewis and Neighbors, 2006; Wild et al., 2006; Larimer et al., 2007; Lewis et al., 2007; Bewick et al., 2008, 2010; Lojewski et al., 2010). The personalised SNA on sustainability issues was developed in the context of recycling (Schultz, 1999; and see Nomura et al., 2011 on food waste) and has since been employed in the domains of energy consumption – in the form of academic studies (Cialdini and Schultz, 2004; Schultz et al., 2007; Nolan et al., 2008; Allcott, 2010; Harries et al., forthcoming 2013) and commercial activities by companies such as OPOWER in the USA (Allcott, 2010) – sustainable lifestyles (Rettie et al., 2010) and levels of physical activity (Rettie et al., 2010). The personalised feedback approach that has been employed in sustainability domains tends to differ from the work on alcohol (in both the traditional and the personalised approaches) because it relies upon actual (rather than reported) behavioural data. In earlier studies, data collection and feedback has been conducted more or less manually, relying on manual recycling audits (Schultz, 1999; Nomura et al., 2011) and electricity metre readings (Schultz et al., 2007; Nolan et al., 2008; Allcott, 2010) and feedback contained on door hangers (Schultz, 1999; Schultz et al., 2007; Nolan et al., 2008), postcards (Nomura et al., 2011) and leaflets (Allcott, 2010). However, in more recent studies, digital technologies, data management systems and communications technologies are being used in innovative ways to both collect data and provide personalised social norm feedback. For instance, in Harries et al.’s (forthcoming 2013) energy study, data is collected via a bespoke electricity monitor and the mobile phone network, and feedback is provided in emails and on the internet. This team is also gathering and feeding back physical activity level data via a mobile phone application, and (reported) sustainable lifestyles data in the context of a social networking application on Facebook (Rettie et al., 2010). The Unitcheck alcohol consumption website (Unitcheck, 2012), based upon the work on Bewick et al. (2008, 2010), offers personalised social norm feedback based upon reported data. Finally, within the context of a broader community action project design, Burchell and Rettie (2010) complement social norm feedback relating to electricity and gas consumption with social norm feedback relating to project members’ progress as they adopt new energy saving behaviours around the home. J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) DOI: 10.1002/cb

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K. Burchell et al. THE SMALL GROUP NORMS MODEL APPROACH

Returning to the domain of students and alcohol consumption, the small group norms model (SGNM, or small group normschallenging model) is a targeted approach that specifically focuses on students in high risk groups, such as those in fraternities, sororities or sport teams. The SGNM approach follows that of the traditional approach described earlier to the extent that it begins with survey research into student alcohol consumption behaviours and attitudes, from which social norm information is derived. However, in place of the traditional poster and other media campaigns, the SGNM approach then employs small group workshops of around one hour in which the social norms information is presented to and discussed with the students. This phase of the work is followed by follow-up surveys. The developers of this approach claim consistently significant changes in attitudes and behaviours and argue that the SGNM approach is effective because it is intensive and focussed in ways that significantly increase the credibility of the social norms at play (Far and Miller, 2003).

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES Some of the results from SNA campaigns are impressive. For instance, Perkins and Craig (2002) report a 21% decrease in drinking among first year college students, as well as a decrease in high-risk drinking from 56% to 46%. In the study of hotel towel re-use by Goldstein et al. (2008), the researchers observed a 44% increase in towel re-use among their social norm group, compared to their control group which received a message appealing to environmental sensibilities. Linkenbach and Perkins (2003) found a 41% difference in the number of young people who started smoking in their intervention groups compared with the control groups; a study of energy consumption reports a 10% reduction in energy consumption among the social norm feedback group compared with the control group which received only energy saving tips (Nolan et al., 2008 p.920). Finally, after a two-year social norm marketing campaign to reduce tobacco use in high schools, a ‘last 30 days’ measure of cigarette use fell from 25.6% in 1999 to 16.8% in 2001; a 34.4% reduction (Haines et al., 2003). However, the field is also characterised by claims of less impressive outcomes (and we return to some of the potential reasons for this in the next section). For example, in the study of a 4-year student alcohol consumption social norm campaign of Thombs et al. (2004 p.61), the follow-up survey revealed that although 66.5% of the students were aware of the campaign, no change was detected in perceived drinking norms or alcohol consumption. In addition, Thombs et al. (2007) also found no significant differences in alcohol consumption between a group of students that received morning after blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test results and a group that received the BAC results and a social norm intervention (also see the reviews of other failed campaigns in Thombs et al., 2004, 2007). In the next section, we offer some practical guidance for the implementation of the Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SNA, including elements that respond to these apparent failures. In particular, we identify four key characteristics of successful SNA campaigns.

FOUR KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOCIAL NORM APPROACH In their practical guide to the SNA, McAlaney et al. (2010, p.4) point out that the success of SNA campaigns depends upon ‘careful planning and an understanding of the principles involved’. This suggests that some of the failure of the campaigns identified earlier might be attributed to inadequate understanding, planning and/or implementation. Research on the SNA over the past 20 or so years suggests that effective social norm campaign have four key characteristics: they follow the basic principles of good marketing, and – more specifically to the SNA – they feature reference groups that are appropriate for the target group, they are credible and they avoid inadvertent encouragement of undesirable behaviours. Basic marketing principles Social norm approach campaigns are no different from other marketing and social marketing programmes in the extent to which they should follow the principles of good marketing. McAlaney et al. (2010) stress the importance of cyclical research, planning (including segmentation and targeting), implementation and evaluation phases. Perkins and Craig (2002, p.35) emphasise the use of integrated marketing communications; for instance, their Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) campaign discussed previously featured materials in print and electronic media, class projects and teacher training. Researchers also highlight the hard won nature of behaviour change and the corresponding importance of lengthy and ongoing SNA programmes; for instance, programmes of 4 years and more are considered appropriate (Perkins and Craig, 2002; Perkins, 2003). Finally, although eschewing scare or shock tactics (McAlaney et al. 2010), effective SNA campaigns are typically highly creative. Appropriate reference groups Social norm approach research consistently shows that the impact of SNA campaigns is maximised through the use in communications of the most appropriate reference group for a particular target group. In the context of the SNA, the most appropriate reference group is the group with which the target group most identifies or associates with (as opposed to aspires to or disassociates from); that is to say, people like themselves (Berkowitz, 2004; Lewis and Neighbors, 2004; McAlaney et al., 2010). For example, in their SNA studies of campus alcohol consumption, researchers have showed this with respect to gender (Lewis and Neighbors, 2004; Neighbors et al. (2010a, 2010b) and race (Neighbors et al., 2010a, 2010b). The main approach to maximising identification and association is illustrated in the folowing: In reality, most HWS students drink one to four drinks or do not drink at all when partying. J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) DOI: 10.1002/cb

Marketing social norms Hobart and William Smith Colleges Alcohol Education Project (Perkins and Craig, 2002). I DON’T SMOKE. Just like 88% of ETHS students. Evanston Township High School (National Social Norms Institute, 2012a). Your energy consumption was above the average in your neighbourhood. Home Energy Study (Harries et al., forthcoming 2013). In the HWS and Evanston Township High School (ETHS) examples, identification and association are maximised because the messages both refer to students at the same college as the target group. In the latter example, identification and association is maximised through the use of the term ‘your neighbourhood’. Identification and association by the target audience can also be heightened visually by the use of photographs of appropriate demographic groups (ideally real members of the target group who may even be recognised by others) and in ways that afford campaigns a powerful sense of locale. McAlaney et al. (2010) suggests that a sense of locale can be achieved, where it is possible and appropriate, through the use of the logos of the target institution, local institutional funders and supporters, and photographs of local landmarks. The credibility of the data The success of SNA programmes is also related to the credibility of the data. For example, in the context of a failed alcohol-related SNA intervention at a college in the USA, Granfield (2002) suggests that this may have been because of the fact that more than 45% of the participants did not believe the social norm data. Three key approaches to this potential problem can be readily suggested. First, through engagement with the target audience in the planning stage, the credibility of messages in different formats can be informed, tested and enhanced (McAlaney et al., 2010). Second, and this technique also deepens identification and association, is through comprehensive attribution of the data that is cited in the communications. For instance, the HWS and ETHS messages cited earlier are complemented by the following respective attributions: Data drawn from the Spring 2008 core Alcohol and Drugs Survey conducted on a random sample of HWS students with 481 respondents. 2002 Social Marketing Survey. N = 2341 ETHS students. Funded by the Chicago Community Trust, Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse and Tobacco Settlement Funds. Finally, it is suggested that highly visible, poster-based ‘headline’ messages and attributions, such as those cited earlier, should be backed-up with more detailed and comprehensive information in other formats. Such information might be provided, it is suggested, in the form of websites and in face-to-face workshops (for instance, see the SGNM approach discussed earlier). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Avoiding inadvertent increases in socially undesirable behaviours The final characteristic of effective SNA campaigns is that they avoid inadvertent increases in a socially undesirable behaviour, a phenomena that has become known as the ‘boomerang effect’ (Schultz et al., 2007 p.429). In their SNA study on energy consumption, Schultz and his colleagues provided social norm feedback in the form of the average consumption. The study noted that the energy consumption of those households that used less than the communicated average at the outset of the study actually increased their energy consumption during the intervention. Thus, the ‘boomerang effect’ refers to inadvertent movement towards the norm of people in the target audience whose behaviour is the ‘right’ side of the norm at the outset of the intervention. Clearly, this insight casts a shadow over the popular social marketing technique of issuing a warning by emphasising the extent of the socially undesirable behaviour. For instance, Cialdini et al. (2006 p.4) cite a US Federal Drug Administration Commission announcement that, ‘more than 3 million youths in the USA smoke and that 3000 become regular smokers each day’. Similarly, based upon a number of studies, since 2000, the US online media and blogosphere remains replete with the message that ‘65% of adults are overweight’ (USA Today, 2003; News Medical, 2004; Radio Iowa, 2010; Wellsphere, various dates). The boomerang effect suggests that the social norms messages embedded in these putative warnings may increase both the social acceptability and the prevalence of the undesirable behaviour – in these examples, smoking and being overweight – and should therefore be avoided. Within the context of the personalised feedback approach, researchers and programme managers have employed two methods to obviate the ‘boomerang effect’. First, following the success of Schultz et al. (2007), the introduction of rewarding or injunctive messages for those whose behaviour is already the ‘right’ side of the average (Allcott, 2010; Burchell and Rettie, 2010; Rettie et al., 2010). Typically, these take the form of encouraging and rewarding messages, accompanied by increasing numbers of smiley faces reflecting increasingly ‘good’ performance or behaviour. However, frowny face emoticons have been shown to upset people and should not be used (Cialdini pers. comm. 2010). Second, this approach is combined with the inclusion of a more ambitious norm in the form of the average performance of the ‘best’ 20% of the participants (Allcott, 2010; Burchell and Rettie, 2010; Rettie et al., 2010). DISCUSSION In this final section of our paper, we have three objectives. First, we explore two attempts to explain how the SNA works. Second, we identify a number of practical resources to support the implementation of SNA programmes and we endeavour to establish a novel agenda for SNA research. Finally, we summarise the key points in our paper. Although the SNA has been employed – often successfully – for some 30 years, the processes or dynamics through which it works are not well understood (McAlaney and McMahon, 2007). The SNA appears to shape behaviour by telling people about the majority or average behaviour, thus exploiting the fact that people tend to conform to what they understand to be J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) DOI: 10.1002/cb

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the norm. Two more extensive explanations are offered in the literature. Work within the traditional approach, especially that addressing alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption among college students, tends to follow the ‘misperceptions hypothesis’ of Perkins and Berkowitz, who emphasise students’ misconceptions of the prevailing social norms among their peers (Perkins and Berkowitz, 1986; Berkowitz, 2004, 2005; McAlaney and McMahon, 2007; Neighbors et al., 2008). This body of research focuses on college students’ tendency to overestimate the descriptive norms among their colleagues; for example, they overestimate the rates of alcohol consumption among their peers. Further, there is evidence of students’ tendency to underestimate injunctive norms relating to the social unacceptability of, for instance, excessive alcohol consumption (McAlaney and McMahon, 2007). In social norm interventions of this type, research is initially used to identify relevant misperceptions about peer group consumption and attitudes among the specific target population. Within this context, the SNA is thought to encourage socially desirable behaviour and attitudes through the communication of information about actual descriptive and injunctive social norms that corrects norm misperceptions. Advocates of the misperception hypothesis point out that, on the basis of pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys, the correction of norm misperception is correlated with improvements in behaviour in almost every successful SNA campaign. Nonetheless, because it is based upon survey data, it is worth revisiting the methodological challenges inherent here. First, this explanation assumes that study participants are aware of the behavioural and attitudinal norms of their peer group and that they are able to report these to researchers. Second, it is assumed that these perceptions are accurately and easily represented by survey participants as average or dominant patterns of behaviour and attitude. Third, there is a presumption that participants’ statements regarding their own consumption and attitudes are subject to neither misperception nor response bias. Finally, it is assumed that survey participants’ statements about others’ consumption and attitudes are the subject of misperception but not response bias. Although we note that McAlaney et al. (2010) refer to a review that stresses the minimal effect of such challenges, we consider that it is nonetheless important to discuss other factors that might also be at play in this context. For instance, SNA interventions on sustainability issues have tended to apply the Focus Theory of Normative Conduct (FTNC) (Cialdini et al., 1990), which emphasises the importance of the salience of the norm in explanation of how the SNA works. This approach holds that norms influence behaviour primarily when they are salient in consciousness or focal in attention. Therefore, people who are focused on a norm are more likely to act in normconsistent ways (Cialdini et al., 1990, 2006). This theory suggests that in the SNA, the communication of a norm draws attention to it, making both the issue and the norm more salient. Consequently, SNA campaigns will be more successful if normative messages, or associated stimuli, are present in relevant behavioural settings (Kallgren et al., 2000). From this perspective, social norm campaigns on alcohol and tobacco consumption are not successful – when they are – because they are correcting misperceptions, but rather because they are Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

simultaneously increasing the salience of the issue of over consumption and the norms associated with it (as might, incidentally, participating in the survey research that informed the campaign in the first place). We do not dismiss either of these mechanisms, nor do we restrict ourselves to the consideration of these mechanisms alone. Instead, we consider that these mechanisms and others are at best lenses for understanding how the SNA might work. Further, we consider it more plausible that a variety of lenses are in play at all times, and that the importance of each lens varies in complex ways from context to context, culture to culture and individual to individual. In conclusion, we consider that the SNA is worthy of greater study, practise and critical analysis by social marketing practitioners and academics. To support this, we close our paper by highlighting a number of practical resources for those wishing to implement an SNA campaign or programme and by asking a number of novel research questions that scholars may wish to investigate. In terms of practical resources, we would suggest John McAlaney, Bridgette M Bewick and Jennifer Bauerle’s excellent broad-based Social Norms Guidebook (McAlaney et al., 2010), Jeanne Far and John Miller’s more specific Social Groups Norms-Challenging Model manual (Far and Miller, 2003), the National Social Norms Institute website (NSNI, 2012c) and the Most of Us website (Most of Us, 2012). In terms of research questions, we ask first, what other explanations might complement the ‘misperception hypothesis’ and FTNC account of how the SNA works, and how might the interplay of explanations vary by context, culture and individual? In this context, we argue that the quantitative survey research methodology that is typical of the SNA should be complemented by qualitative research methodologies, such as in-depth interviews and focus groups. Such approaches, we suggest, would provide culturally specific accounts that are much more detailed and nuanced in terms of how and why change takes place, more sensitive to people’s use of language and metaphor, and more alive to the potential for tension, contradiction and dissonance in the ways that people feel about the attitudes and behaviours under question, and the SNA interventions themselves. This, we suggest, would allow powerful theoretical development of the SNA, with particular attention to cultural and contextual factors (e.g. Creswell, 2003). Second, we ask how might the digital technologies employed by Bewick et al. (2008, 2010), Rettie et al. (2010) and Harries et al. (forthcoming 2013), and the group and community techniques of Far and Miller (2003) and Burchell and Rettie (2010) be further developed into new domains of activity. Third, we call for more in-depth investigations of the dynamics of the boomerang effect, through which some people increase their negative behaviours towards the norm. Here, we advocate the studies that are specifically designed to examine this phenomena and again, the use of qualitative approaches to understand questions of how and why. Finally, we propose that SNA researchers engage with sociologically informed accounts of why people do what they do. In particular, we suggest that practice theory – with its novel emphasis on material objects and know-how – offers ways of thinking that could be of theoretical and practical value to the SNA (e.g. Shove and Pantzar, 2005). J. Consumer Behav. 12: 1–9 (2013) DOI: 10.1002/cb

Marketing social norms To summarise, the objective of this paper is to bring the SNA to the wider attention of those who study and practise marketing and social marketing, in the hope that the approach will receive more practical, theoretical and critical attention from a marketing perspective. In doing so, we have also drawn together a range of established and emergent, and similar yet contrasting, understandings and forms of the SNA for the first time. In particular, we have noted that the SNA draws upon the principle that people tend to conform to what other people do, and thus aims to shape behaviour by telling people about the behaviour of the majority. We have described the traditional SNA in detail, as well as the small groups approach and the emergent personal feedback approach. In addition, we have provided guidance on the features of SNA campaigns that are more likely to produce success. In addition, we have explored two prominent explanations of how the SNA works, referred to several practical resources and made a number of novel research agenda proposals (in particular, relating to the employment of qualitative research techniques and sociological theory). We have undertaken this task because we note that the SNA has something of a Cinderella role in marketing and social marketing; it is practised by a small group of dedicated practitioners and social psychology researchers, yet is perhaps overlooked more broadly, and certainly represents a lacuna in the academic marketing literature.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been undertaken in the context of the CHARM project (CHARM – Digital technology: shaping consumer behaviour by informing conceptions of ‘normal’ practise, funded through the EPSRC by the RCUK Digital Economy Programme, award number: EP/H006966/1) and the Smart Communities project (Smart Communities: shaping new low carbon community norms and practises, funded through the ESRC/EPSRC Energy and Communities stream of the RCUK Energy Programme, award number: RES-628-25-0024); the authors are very grateful for this support. We are also grateful for the extremely helpful comments and support from the editors and the referee and for comments at the UK Academy of Marketing conference in Coventry (June 2010) and from our colleagues, Tim Harries and Tom Roberts (July 2011).

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Kevin Burchell, is senior research fellow and deputy director of the Behaviour and Practice Research Group at Kingston University. With an interpretative social science training, he has research interests in the social dimensions of the shaping of behaviour and practice, particularly within the contexts of energy and sustainability, community action, and social and green marketing. Dr Burchell is co-investigator of Smart Communities (ESRC) and contributes to CHARM (ESPRC). Ruth Rettie, is a professor of Social Marketing and director of the Behaviour and Practice Research Group at Kingston University. Her background is interdisciplinary, combining philosophy (MA,


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BLitt, BPhil), an MBA, a PhD in sociology and 10 years as a brand manager. Professor Rettie’s work is published in many journals and in several disciplines. Her current research applies social marketing and sociological perspectives to the adoption of sustainable behaviours. Professor Rettie is a principal investigator of CHARM (EPSRC) and Smart Communities (ESRC). Kavita Patel, is a social scientist within the Behaviour and Practice Research Group at Kingston University. She is currently completing her PhD, a social norm study in the context of Facebook, as part of CHARM (EPSRC). Her background and training includes a BSc in Communication and Media Studies and an MSc in Social and Cultural Research Methods, completed at Brunel University. She has interests in behaviour change and practice theory, social norms, Internet research and social media.

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