Rethinking the Idea of Social Marketing: A Case for Upstream Social Marketing

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to review the idea of social marketing in light of latest development. This paper will contribute towards the debate of upstream social marketing and why it is vital for success of social marketing. The people working for a social marketing campaign can hail from many different fields such as public health, politics, environmental issues, social justice and other social sciences, including marketing. This paper uses literature review a research method for analyzing and synthesizing pervious researches to build an argument. The study uses both integrative and narrative reviews to discuss the pertinent issues in social marketing. The paper further presents an argument for why we need to rethink the concept of social marketing and upstream social marketing. This study concludes that for effectiveness of social marketing campaigns we need shift our focus from individual level to the context that influences behaviours.