Rethinking social marketing: towards a sociality of consumption

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how members of an online alcohol reduction community learn, construct and engage in alcohol reduction consumption consistencies.

Design/methodology/approach

Blog data from 15 individuals participating in the online community of Hello Sunday Morning were collected and analysed. Informants also participated in a series of in-depth interviews to gain a self-reflective perspective of alcohol reduction action, activities and interactions.

Findings

The findings indicate learning of new alcohol reduction consumption consistencies occurs through three modes or learning infrastructures: engagement, imagination and alignment, enabling a collective sense of connection in the creation of new alcohol-related rituals and traditions, competency of practices and transmission of values and norms beyond the community.

Research limitations/implications

The results underscore the need for social marketers to recognise learning of alcohol reduction behaviour is continually negotiated and dynamically engendered through socially reproduced conditions, responses and relationships.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the transformational potential of social marketing situating behaviour change as a social interaction between actors within a dynamic market system.

Citation

Fry, M.-L. (2014), "Rethinking social marketing: towards a sociality of consumption", Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 210-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-02-2014-0011