Macro-social marketing for health: the case of Cuba

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.12.2.0272
• Pages: 272-299
• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Sonya A. Grier,Luis Alberto Barreiro Pousa,Ileana Díaz Fernández
• Subject Matter: macro-social marketing,public health,Cuba,behaviour change

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 12.2 WInter 2020

ACADEMIC ARTICLE

MACRO-SOCIAL MARKETING FOR HEALTH:

THE CASE OF CUBA

Sonya A. Grier

American University

Luis Alberto Barreiro Pousa

University of Havana

Ileana Díaz Fernández

University of Havana

Sonya A. Grier is a Professor of Marketing at the Kogod School of Business, American University.

Her research interests include issues of social marketing and health disparities, and race in diverse

marketplaces. Recent publications include “Race in the marketplace and COVID-19”, Journal of

Public Policy & Marketing (2020); “Re-Imagining the Marketplace: Addressing Race in Academic

Marketing Research,” Consumption Markets & Culture (2019), and “Marketing inclusion: a

social justice project for diversity education”, Journal of Marketing Education (2019).

Luis Alberto Barreiro Pousa is an economist. He is currently a Professor of Heritage

Management at University College San Gerónimo de La Habana (University of Havana).

His current research is in management, entrepreneurship and marketing, and focused on

issues related to heritage. Recent publications include El emprendimiento privado en Cuba:

recomendaciones de política (book, forthcoming) and “Patrimonio histórico documental de la

música en Cuba: conceptualización del término y su necesidad de gestión”.

Ileana Díaz Fernández is an economist. She is currently a professor at the Centro de Estudios de

la Economía Cubana (CEEC) at the University of Havana. Her research interests include strategic

management, entrepreneurship, innovation and survey analysis. She has also worked in the fields

of gender employment and management with a gender focus. Her most recent publication is the

forthcoming book El emprendimiento privado en Cuba: recomendaciones de política.

Abstract

The macro-environment in which social marketing is practised is an important factor

in how it is structured and practiced, as well as its effectiveness. This paper analyses

MACRO-SOCIAL MARKETING FOR HEALTH: THE CASE OF CUBA 273

IJCS Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/ijcs/

Cuban practices aimed at encouraging health behaviour change from a social marketing

perspective. We utilise the case study method to assess the key social marketing

dimensions of three health promotion programmes (tobacco, tuberculosis and AIDS) in

Cuba. Each case is assessed against social marketing benchmark criteria used in prior

research. Analysis of the cases is used to explicate the Cuban government use of macro-

social marketing approaches to address health challenges. Results demonstrate: (1)

how Cuba uses a unique organisational approach to address population health needs

and challenges and (2) the role of particularities of the Cuban context in the theory and

practice of social marketing in Cuba. An examination of Cuban social marketing activities

can broaden our understanding of the way social marketing is conceptualised and

practised and may help increase the effectiveness of social marketing to improve health.

Keywords: macro-social marketing, public health, Cuba, behaviour change.

Introduction

Social marketing is used worldwide across a variety of contexts including different

socio-political structures, cultural norms and market dynamics in both “devel-

oped” and “developing” countries. The field has advanced by utilising commercial

marketing concepts and applying them to social goals in diverse contexts (Peattie

and Peattie 2003). Research increasingly emphasises the need for social marketers

to understand the various environmental and structural factors, as well as stake-

holders and institutions, which influence behaviour, in order to develop social

marketing interventions (Kennedy and Parsons 2012; Lefebvre 2013b; Dibb 2014;

McHugh etal. 2018). The increasing number of “wicked problems”, i.e. those

societal challenges characterised as complex, intractable and especially difficult to

solve (Head 2008), highlight the importance of the macro-environment in which

social marketing is conducted. Indeed, scholars argue that understanding aspects

of the environment for change efforts is one of the key drivers of innovation in

social marketing and important for its efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability

(Lefebvre 2013b; Brennan etal. 2016; Suárez Lugo 2017).

The particular features of a society’s macro-environment undoubtedly influ-

ence the nature of social marketing within it. For example, diverse social, polit-

ical, cultural or economic environments mean that particular configurations of

market dynamics impinge on individual behaviour and the way in which social

marketing is conceptualised and implemented. The nature and boundaries of

important key social marketing concepts such as “competition” are heavily

influenced by the characteristics of the focal marketplace. For example, in a

centralised economy, the nature of the competitive environment is defined by