Social Marketing Campaigns Can Help Threatened Wildlife Species Recover

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Encouraging people to change their behavior through social marketing campaigns can help the recovery of threatened wildlife populations.

Encouraging people to change their behavior through social marketing campaigns can help the recovery of threatened wildlife populations.

New research shows that social marketing campaigns play an important role in the recovery of wildlife species, offering evidence that can help conservationists design more cost-effective future campaigns.

Social marketing borrows ideas from traditional marketing, but instead of trying to sell a product, it tries to change human behaviour. Such campaigns have been successful in promoting actions such as recycling and quitting smoking, and the technique has been adopted by conservationists looking to protect certain species.

However, it has been difficult for conservationists to gauge the long-term success of such campaigns, as populations of species may take some time to recover. Now, by examining all the possible drivers of population change, a team from Imperial College London have been able to identify social marketing as a key factor in the recovery of a threatened species.

Read more at Imperial College London

Image: Many loras were kept as pets. (Credit: Gabby Salazar)