Social Marketing to Adolescent and Minority Populations

A group convened by the Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in conjunction with the Board on Children and Families of the Commission on Behavioral Social Sciences and Education and the IOM, met to assess the state of the art and science regarding social marketing concepts and strategies in adolescent and minority populations. In summary, the group recognized the importance of promoting healthful behaviors in these populations, but the effectiveness of implementing social marketing approaches to facilitate and sustain behavioral change specific to these two populations remains disappointingly unproven. Despite two decades of empirical research in this area, there remains no firm foundation of scientific theory and empirical research to understand and validate the efficacy of various social marketing programs for these populations. Several research questions emerged from the review of the papers on social marketing in adolescent and minority populations. The Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention suggests that these research issues be addressed in future social marketing studies.