Social Marketing as a Strategy to Reduce Unintended Adolescent Pregnancy

Abstract

Recent research has shown that 82% of adolescent pregnancies are unintended. Social marketing has potential to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancy but its effectiveness in this area has not been thoroughly evaluated. This arti- cle reviews the literature on social marketing and assesses its potential to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancy. We identified five communication principles as relevant to adolescent reproductive health messaging: Countermarketing, making credible and likeable "arguments" for behavior change, use of theory-based models, social modeling and behav- ioral alternatives, and risk communication when the behavioral choices are clear. We examine studies of social marketing on other health risk behaviors and a case study of a recent campaign to promote parent-child communication about wait- ing to have sex. Findings suggest that to reduce unintended pregnancy and improve reproductive health outcomes among adolescents, there is a need for targeted prevention messages and social marketing approaches.