Do You Know What You’re Drinking?

In today’s world, social marketing is very crucial tool, especially when it comes marketing certain products or ideas. Not all products use the same approach when it comes to getting people to buy their stuff, and not every product has the same target audience. Thorough research and analysis has to be done based on what the company is trying to sell and what are their target audience’s needs.

Social marketing campaign that focuses on health and or nutrition is an example of a campaign that has to have thorough research on its topic, because this could potentially change an individual’s life,

“RETHINK YOUR DRINK” is a social marketing campaign and website that is designed for parents, caregivers, or others who care for young children. Their main goal is to provide information and tools that we can use to help kids make healthy drinking choices and reduce sugar drinks in their diets. The material on this website was funded by USDA/s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP provides nutrition assistance to people with low income.

There is a “Did You Know” section on the homepage of the website that provide facts that not many people are aware about, including me. For example, did you know that many kids consumes up to 7-10 teaspoons of sugar a day just from sugary drinks? And did you know that fruit- flavored drinks are just sugar in disguise? I knew that it contains sugars as well, but I thought that there would be more fruit content in it.

There is also a section located at the bottom of the page which educates parents, caregivers, or others that are taking care of kids on what sugary drinks are, why they should limit sugary drinks and steps and how we could make a difference to remove sugary drinks from their kid’s life.

There are many benefits to social marketing. For instance, information would be able to spread more quickly through social media marketing. Social media platforms are a very important component when it comes to spreading information through social marketing. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can help spread information much faster in this day and age. Besides that, social marketing also helps to raise awareness and educate the public (depending on what the issue and campaign is about). Other than that, the target audience would also be expanded, because other populations will also be reached unintentionally through social marketing.

However, there are also a few cons of social marketing. For instance, false and insufficient information would be spread to the audience if not enough research has been done for that particular topic. This would be dangerous if the social marketing topic is about health, just like in the “RETHINK YOUR DRINK” campaign. If inaccurate or incomplete information is conveyed and the audiences do follow it, then the consumers would not have full knowledge about whatever is being advertised. Also, depending on what kind of social marketing strategy is used, the cost of it would be expensive.

Link to “RETHINK YOUR DRINK WEBSITE”