Communities across the country are engaged in providing a full range of substance abuse services from primary prevention through addiction treatment. What is often missing, however, is an environmental approach to prevention and intervention, specifically effective social marketing and social norms strategies. Because many targeted substance abuse prevention efforts often miss young people who most need to be reached, social norms marketing can be the missing piece of the puzzle. This presentation will describe two theories of environmental prevention and detail one rural Massachusetts county’s use of these frameworks. This session will: define and distinguish social marketing and social norms marketing; provide an overview of four community-based social norms marketing campaigns (including campaigns aimed at community member beliefs about adolescent alcohol and other drug use, parenting behaviors, college student binge drinking, alcohol and other drug use among high school students; a description of the conference one county used to create full community (schools, parents, peer groups, community coalitions, law enforcement, town government, media, human services, and the business community) buy-in and support of its social marketing campaigns. This overview is based on the experiences of a substance abuse prevention specialist from the Greater Western Massachusetts Prevention Center who provides technical assistance to eighty-one communities of western Massachusetts.
Learning Objectives: Describe and differentiate social marketing and social norms marketing. Describe the steps to creating a social norms or social marketing strategy
Keywords: Adolescents, Substance Abuse
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Massachusetts Prevention Center System
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment