The Pinkie Campaign (No Speeding)
Speeding in highways has become one of the most common vices in the society today. It has caused the death of a lot of people most of them being you people. According to a survey that was conducted between 2002 and 2006, more than 34% of the total accidents were caused by drivers who were aged between 17 years and 24 years (Tay 2002). Out of the total, it was found that only 17% of them had legal license holders. This prompted the government to come up with a campaign that was dubbed ‘The Pinkie Campaign’. The main aim of this campaign is to sensitize the drivers of the need to maintain a moderate speed when driving as this will save a lot of lives (Tay 2002). According to the government, the campaign is mainly targeted at all drivers who have the habit of speeding when driving, most importantly the young drivers. This report will analyse the behavioural change models that have been used in the campaign in a bid to increasing on its effectiveness. In addition, this report will employ six tips out of the total sixteen that will increase the success of the social marketing campaign.
Background Information
The Pinkie Campaign was officially launched in 2007 and since then it has spread from Australia to other countries across the globe. The government through the Roads and Maritime Services launched the campaign in a bid to challenging the attitudes and behaviours that are held by the speeding drivers, most of whom were young people. According to the report that was released by the government, over 40% of the deaths that occur on the roads every year are as a result of speeding (Brennan & Binney 2010). In addition, the report continued to say that 874 speeding related accidents were reported between 2004 and 2008 where 15% of the total number was caused by female speeding drivers while 85% was caused by male speeding drivers. Speeding accidents cause the government a loss of over $780 million where more than 4200 are injured every year from the speeding related accidents.
This prompted the government to launch the Pinkie Campaign that was mainly targeted at young drivers, most of whom did not hold the necessary licenses. The campaign, which was mainly conducted through television stations, cinemas, outdoor campaigns, print media, and advertisement that were placed online, was used to spread the message that speeding is not considered cool through its slogan that said, ‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you.’ This slogan was branded on vehicles, and other advertisement centres in a bid to reaching out and challenging the speeding drivers to change their attitude, and behaviour.
Since its launch, the Pinkie Campaign has had a major impact on the speeding drivers. This is according to a recent survey that was released by the RTA’s Road Safety Marketing team that showed that showed that over 56% of the total population interviewed were of the view that they would comment on speeding drivers, which is as a result of the Pinkie Campaign (Strecher & Becker 2008). In addition, the survey showed that the Pinkie Campaign has been able to increase the awareness of the community where more and more people have become aware of the effects of speedy driving and have understood the anti-speed message that is promoted by the campaign. On the other hand, the pinkie campaign has been able to gain recognition through advertisement awards that have been handed to it. Very good examples of advertisement awards handed to the Pinkie Campaign is the Gold Effie, Most Original Thinking, Australian Effie Awards 2009 and the Gold Effie, Best State Campaign, Australian Effie Awards 2009.
The Health Belief Model
The first behavioural change model that may be used to increase the success of the Pinkie Campaign is, the health belief model. This health belief model was developed by Irwin M. Rosenstock in 1966, which makes it one of the first and probably one of the remaining social cognition models. This model has been constructed based on four major perceptions, which are perceived seriousness, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers. By using these perceptions individually or in combination, one will be able to explain the health behaviour of a patient (Janz & Becker 2004).
In perceived seriousness, the individual in question will be able to understand fully the seriousness of the condition. It is mostly based on the medical information presented, which would affect the general life of the individual. In this case, if the speedy drivers were to understand the seriousness of their speedy driving, this would go a long way in helping them change their behaviour of having to speed while driving. In perceived susceptibility, the individual is able to understand fully the risks that are involved in the activities they perform. According to research analysts, an individual is likely to reduce the risk of the activity once the risks that are involved in the activity are fully understood. In this case, the drivers must be able to understand fully the risks that are involved in their speedy driving. Some of the risks that are involved include loss of lives, injuries that may be life-changing or cause death, and destruction of property, which translates to losses (Rosenstock 2006).
In perceived benefits, the individual is able to understand the benefits that are involved in reducing the risks in the activities they perform. If an individual understands fully the benefits of reducing certain risks, he / she will be able to help in the reduction of the risks. In this case, the speedy drivers must be able to understand the benefits of driving at moderate speed. Some of the benefits of driving at moderate speedy include the safety of lives where no lives will be lost or injuries sustained due to speedy driving and protection of property in that no property losses will be occur as a result of speedy driving. In perceived barriers, the individual must be able to believe in the benefits of the new behaviours to be adopted. Perceived barriers are the most significant in the determination of the behavioural change. In this case, the drivers must be able believe the benefits that are involved in driving at moderate speeds to be able to change (Strecher & Becker 2008).
Trans-theoretical model
The second model to be used to increase the success of the Pinkie Campaign is the trans-theoretical model. The main aim of this model is to assess the readiness of any given individual toward a new and healthier behaviour. This model has been divided into five major stages, which are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance.
In pre-contemplation, the individual is not aware of the need to change to a new behaviour and after learning about the new behaviour, the individual is asked to go and think about it before making a decision to change to the new behaviour. In this stage, the individual is not ready to change into the new behaviour for the next six months (Bandura & Driskell 2007). This is the most important stage of the trans-theoretical model as the individual is able to understand the pros and cons that are involved with the new behaviour. The next stage is contemplation where the individual is willing to change into the new behaviour within the next six months. The individual is taken through the pros and cons that are involved in the new behaviour in a bid to helping them understand fully that the importance of changing into the new behaviour and the benefits that are involved (Johnson & Zwick 2006).
The third stage is preparation where the individual is ready to begin changing into the new behaviour within the next thirty days to come. In this stage, the individual will take a few measures that will be in a bid to helping them in the transition into the new behaviour. A good example of a measure to be taken by the individual is informing the family members of the intention to change to the new behaviour and to ask for their support towards making the change. The next stage is action where the individual is able to shift to the new behaviour. Most individuals in this stage have been able to improve and change on their behaviour for six months and beyond. The last stage is maintenance where the individual is to maintain on the new behaviour for the next six-month and focus on improving without having to slip back to the old behaviour (Prochaska & Velicer 2001).
The Pinkie Campaign has been able to use this model to help the speedy drivers to understand the importance of changing to a new behaviour where they have to drive at moderate speeds so as to help in the protection of lives and property. In addition, the Pinkie Campaign has been able to help the drivers maintain the new behaviour by conducting regular seminar with the changed drivers. This has helped to increase the success of the Pinkie Campaign drastically.
Six Tips for Success
Taking advantage of other successful campaigns
The Pinkie Campaign has taken advantage of another successful campaign that was dubbed ‘P plate speeding campaign’. This campaign was targeted at increasing the awareness of the police towards enforcing the law to the young speedy drivers, who have caused a huge loss of lives. The campaign was very successful in all aspects in that the police were able to enforce the law against young speedy drivers. Some of the aspects of the campaign that the Pinkie Campaign has taken advantage of include television commercials that are air on all television station for fifteen seconds and advertisement through billboards and advertisement boards across the country (Brennan & Binney 2010).
Selection of a ready target audience
The target audience are young speeding drivers. By selecting the young drivers, the Pinkie Campaign was able to get a readily available audience that was willing to listen and agree with the message that was being delivered by the campaign. The selection of a target audience depends solely on the message that is to be delivered thus very important in the determination of the success of the campaign.
Promotion of one change at a time
During the entire campaign, the Pinkie Campaign has been promoting one change at a time, as this will allow the drivers to understand fully the message that this being delivered during every change. It is important for the drivers to understand the message as this is the key factor in the determination of the maintenance level of the new behaviour.
Identification and Removal of behavioural barriers
The Pinkie Campaign was able to understand and eliminate the barriers that might hinder the change into new behaviours by the young speedy drivers. Some of the barriers that were identified include stigmatization from other young drivers where these young drivers are criticized because of having to drive at moderate speeds. Another barrier was time where most of the young drivers complained of lack of enough time, thus having to drive in a hurry. They were therefore taught about time management.
Bringing in real benefits
The Pinkie Campaign showed the young drivers the benefits of having to drive at moderate speeds, which include a reduction in the losses that were experienced by the government and reduction in the number of lives that were lost due to speedy driving.
Highlighting costs of competition
The Pinkie Campaign highlighted the effects of having to compete while driving, which is one of the main reasons that have led to a crop up of speeding drivers. The campaign discouraged the spirit of competition among the young drivers considering that this may cause accidents when driving (Brennan & Binney 2010).
References
Bandura, A & Driskell, M 2007, ‘Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unified Theory of Behaviour Change’, Psychological Review, vol. 84 no. 1, pp. 191-215.
Brennan, L & Binney, W 2010, ‘Fear, Guilt and Shame Appeals in Social Marketing’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 140-146.
Janz, N & Becker, M 2004, ‘The Health Belief Model: A Decade Later’, Health Education & Behaviour, vol. 11 no. 1, pp. 1-47.
Johnson, S & Zwick, W 2006, ‘Efficacy of a trans-theoretical model-based expert system for antihypertensive adherence’, Disease Management, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 291-301.
Prochaska, J & Velicer, W 2001, ‘Evaluating a population-based recruitment approach and a stage-based expert system intervention for smoking cessation’, Addictive Behaviours, vol. 26 no. 1, pp. 583-602.
Rosenstock, I 2006, ‘Why people use health services’, Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, vol. 44 no. 3, pp. 94–127.
Strecher, V & Becker, M 2008, ‘Social Learning Theory and the Health Belief Model’, Health Education & Behaviour, vol. 15 no. 2, pp. 175–183.
Tay, R 2002, ‘Exploring the effects of a road safety campaign on the perceptions and intentions of the target and non-target audiences to drink and drive’, Traffic Injury Prevention, vol. 3 no. 3, pp. 195-200.
