ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that it is better to be specific about different behavior change strategies than to lump them all under a single new approach to behavior change called social marketing. After years of trying to understand and promote strategic social marketing, forget nostalgia for what was possible. The chapter considers a quick status report, some continuing problems in social marketing and a set of opportunities for the future. The acid test for social marketing is the demonstrated integration of product, place, price, and promotion decisions, which distinguishes social marketing from other forms of behavioral intervention. What customers care about is what people do to protect themselves and their environment from bad things. Social marketing rests on the assumptions that there are behaviors worth changing and that it is society's responsibility to help people make the right choices. Choices that make sense, and not a new ideology of behavior change, are necessary.
