Social Norms Marketing Aimed at Gender Based Violence: A Literature Review and Critical Assessment

This 57-page review, published by the International Rescue Committee, focuses on programmes that employ social norms marketing as a means of reducing gender-based violence (GBV) around the world, but particularly in conflict-affected areas. According to the authors, social norms marketing refers to traditional marketing techniques, including mass media and face-to-face campaigns, which are designed to alter individuals' social norms - perceptions about which attitudes and behaviours are typical or desirable in their community. The report suggests that using social norms marketing can be a cost-effective tool for behaviour change, particularly in settings where legal, market-based, or other enforcement or incentive techniques are unavailable.

The review provides an overview of social norms theory with special attention to its application in the GBV context. It explains that social norms interventions attempt to change group members' perception of the social norm using several different media for the transmission of messages. A central feature of social norms marketing campaigns is the promotion of messages using mass media including print, radio, and television, the internet, and cellular texting campaigns. Many successful social norms marketing campaigns strategically use entertainment to target norms.

According to the review, social norms campaigns can be effective where they recommend specific actions to take, and where they channel individuals into easily available opportunities to act on the new norm - for example, through a domestic violence hotline strategically advertised at a market attended by women unaccompanied by their husbands or fathers. As stated in the review, key components of a successful social norms marketing campaign for GBV include the use of a background study and contextual knowledge to identify target social norms and audiences, test messages, identify channel factors and establish a baseline; use of specific behavioural recommendations and channel factors to facilitate action on new norms; and attention to the potentially perverse effects of social norms marketing in general and to discussion groups in particular.

The review provides a number of questions to think about when considering and developing social norms marketing campaigns. These questions include:

• what are the exact behaviours you wish to change;
• what are the predominant privately held attitudes within the community, and among subgroups;
• how prevalent do group members believe this behaviour to be;
• what are the potential messages of the campaign;
• what behaviours can you recommend in place of those you are seeking to change;
• how can you channel audiences into new behaviours;
• and what kinds of popular programmes exist already.

In addition, the report provides recommendations for monitoring campaigns including measuring both social norms, personal attitudes, and where possible, actual behaviour; finding ways to measure exposure that do not rely on simple self-reporting; and maintaining adaptability.

The review presents three case studies of major social norms marketing programmes that focused on GBV: Soul City in South Africa, Somos Diferentes, Somos iguales (We are Different, We are Equal) in Nicaragua, and Programme H in Brazil, Mexico, and India. All three of these programmes have been operational for more than three years, utilise multimedia social norms marketing techniques, and focus to a significant degree on reducing gender-based violence. All three also include a focus on decreasing HIV/STI transmission, and each intervention has been evaluated both by the sponsoring organisation and external consultants. These case studies provide useful practical insights on what strategies can be effective.

Looking more closely at one case study, the report explains that Soul City is notable for its specific behavioural recommendations for how to respond to GBV, and for its use of channel factors to guide people into services to address the effects of GBV. The report also explains that Soul City typically targets injunctive norms, for example, by portraying neighbours who disapprove of a man who beats his wife, thereby communicating the message "People in this community think that there should not be domestic abuse." Soul City also seeks to replace an old norm with a new one by modelling desirable community responses to domestic violence. For example, Series 4 of the Soul City drama series portrays neighbours speaking out against domestic violence in the community by banging pots and pans in protest of a neighbour beating his wife. Series 4 also sought to channel individuals into opportunities to act on the new norm, particularly by supporting and advertising a national GBV hotline. The report indicates that behavioural evidence of the programme's effect was that traffic to the violence against women hotline was dramatically higher on Thursdays, the day the show aired, than on other days.

The review suggests that there are important lessons to be learned from Soul City. For one, the show was a popular success, which shows that messages about serious social problems can be packaged into appealing marketing programmes. Second, the surveys show that it is possible to measure social norms about gender-based violence by asking people what they believe to be typical and acceptable in their community. It is comparatively more difficult to ask about personal experiences with violence; people do seem to be willing to report on perceptions of community behaviours and attitudes regarding GBV, which may in the end have more of an influence on their personal behaviours.

The review concludes with a set of questions to ask prior to launching a social norms marketing campaign and throughout a baseline and or pilot study designed to shape the messages of the campaign. It states that without a detailed study of the local context, culture, and media, it is not possible to offer specific recommendations in response to the questions, but hope that the review provides some insight into the essential considerations that are likely to determine the success of social norms marketing campaigns in changing social norms around violence and gender equality more generally, with the ultimate goal of reducing GBV.