Lessons from Research on Social Marketing for Mobilizing Adults for Positive Youth Development

Abstract

There is an urgent need to move from a theoretical understanding of youth development to practical strategies and procedures. The present chapter introduces readers to one of the social change tools, social marketing, and attempts to move "the developmental needle" of the field in the forward direction. Because of their emphasis on customer orientation, social marketing principles could be applied to understand and satisfy the needs of inactive adults and, by offering them attractive opportunities and lowered barriers, promote their involvement in youth development activities. This chapter discusses the conceptual foundations of social marketing as well as practical applications that can be used to mobilize adult involvement in youth development initiatives. To illustrate these social marketing concepts, we present a case study of the Kansas Initiative, two mini-case studies in the text (the Green Ribbon Kid Friendly Award and the Big Brothers Big Sisters and Footstar Athletic Alliance), and numerous other examples. We hope this chapter will serve as an idea-generating device for future social marketing efforts to mobilize adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)