Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Advertising's Response to the AIDS Crisis: The Role of Social Marketing
AIDS & Public Policy Journal 4, no. 4 (1989): 193-205 David C. Wyld and David E. Hallock
The role of social marketing is to promote safe behavior and to minimize risky behavior. This is accomplished by encouraging behaviors that minimize or eliminate the chance of transmitting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), while concomitantly aiming to reduce or eliminate behavior that increases the likelihood of this occurrence. The dichotomy of risky/safe behaviors was most notably framed in 1988, under the direction of Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, in perhaps the largest AIDS-related social marketing effort thus far attempted by the federal government. This analysis is an attempt to show both the actual and potential role of advertising in combating the spread of AIDS by encouraging behaviors that will reduce the risk of HIV transmission. First, we will examine the social context of both AIDS and disease in general, to gain insight into the importance of the social construction of illness. Social marketing--the theoretical basis for advertising's role in retarding the spread of the disease--will be discussed in depth as to its origins, its potential, and its applicability to the AIDS crisis. Next, we will examine the efforts of governmental units, along with those of nonprofit and for-profit organizations, to utilize social advertising and marketing methods to curb the growth of the epidemic. Specifically, efforts to encourage safe sex practices will be examined. Finally, we will provide a perspective on what appears to be a necessary and growing partnership--that between agencies skilled in social advertising and the organizations attempting to arrest the spread of AIDS--along with a research agenda for investigating the effectiveness of AIDS-related advertising messages in various groups.
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APPJ894402
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
