Information alone does not change behaviour

I recently came across this interesting anti-smoking advertisement from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation. What I love about it is that it clearly demonstrates that “outreach”/ “public education” / “communication” alone is often not enough to change behaviour.

What if the target audience already knows how bad smoking is? Specifically how bad it is for them. What if they can already recite all the symptoms and potential life-threatening implications? The last thing they need is another message with yet another reason why they shouldn’t smoke. What they need is a “mirror”…

This is of course is the premise behind the field of social marketing. Moving people from knowledge to belief to behaviour change. I am curious if this was just a solid creative concept for a video or part of a larger social marketing / behaviour change strategy.

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