This important book offers a revolutionary approach to solving a range of social problems--drug use, smoking, unsafe sex, and overpopulation--by applying marketing techniques and concepts to change behavior. For example, it shows that at-risk teenagers are consumers who decide whether or not to "buy" safe sex practices. This successful approach is based on Alan R. Andreasen's more than twenty years of experience in consulting, teaching, and research with social marketing programs around the world.

Andreasen shows that effective social change starts with a thorough understanding of the needs, wants, and perceptions of the target consumer--who has ultimate control over the outcomes. The book offers a detailed explanation of how to design a step-by-step program that will move the customer from ignorance and indifference to action and ultimately maintenance of that action. Marketing Social Change offers a wealth of information for developing an effective social marketing plan.

ALAN R. ANDREASEN is professor of marketing and dean for faculty affairs at the School of Business of Georgetown University. Andreasen is also an internationally known marketing consultant who has worked with numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Public Broadcasting System, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Cancer Institute, the United Way of America. He is the coauthor (with Philip Kottler) of Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations (4th ed., 1991), and the author of Cheap But Good Marketing Research (1991).