The power and influence of social marketing in the evolution of the environmental citizen

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Anxiety among scientists has been growing over the past decade regarding the negative impact of environmental pollution on the planet. These concerns ultimately could have a bearing on the survival of mankind itself and include a warming climate, threats to the earth's ozone layer, an accumulation of greenhouse gases and the expansion of deserts at the expense of agricultural land. Scientific evidence is assembled daily confirming that the ongoing deterioration of the environment is beginning to have a negative effect on the earth's habitat. Increased public awareness of these issues is leading to growing pressure on policy makers, especially national governments to bring forward solutions but this is proving difficult due to the number of contributing factors involved. This thesis examines one aspect of human behaviour that is widely acknowledged to be a significant source of pollution: use of the private motor car. The car is now perceived as an everyday necessity for many people and this has brought with it ever-increasing levels of pollution. While this behaviour can be tackled in a number of ways, this research scrutinises the capacity for a voluntary change in behaviour among private transport users. As part of this process the role and influence of social marketing is examined at work in the transportation sector. Based upon a qualitative study of a number of households the empirical research specifically explores social marketing campaigns whose prime purpose was to induce voluntary behavioural changes among transport users. The study is specifically directed towards a major topic within the transport debate, the role of public and private transport. While weaknesses are identified in the campaigns the research concludes that social marketing in itself cannot persuade people to make significant changes to their behaviour. Its value instead may lie as an effective channel of communication that can be utilised between private transport users and designated authorities