Technology to the Rescue? Considerations for Behaviour Change Practitioners

Dang Nguyen and Michaela Jackson

Chapter 5 in Beyond the Dark Arts:Advancing Marketing and Communication Theory and Practice, 2023, pp 79-95 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: Digital technologies are becoming a more common part of behaviour change initiatives and campaigns. However, digital solutions can themselves present risks and challenges. In this chapter, we draw on the concept of technological solutionism to consider issues and shortcomings for behaviour change campaigns. We use the case of Florence, the World Health Organization’s “virtual health worker” who is designed to help people quit smoking, to spotlight how technologies operationalise social issues; the risk of embedded biases within technological solutions; and assumptions about digital access. While Florence is very efficient and always available, the experience overlooks some of the inherently “human” aspects of tobacco cessation, even if they are non-rational or time-consuming. The chapter encourages behaviour change practitioners to think critically about technologically enabled solutions and to be mindful of issues that can be embedded within them.

Keywords: Advertising; Behaviour Change; Communication; Data-driven Advertising; Data-Driven Marketing; Digital Advertising; Digital Marketing; Digital Media Studies; Macromarketing; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Social Change; Social Impact; Social Marketing; Social Media; Social Media Marketing; Social Responsibility; Socially-Responsible Communication; Socially-Responsible Marketing; Sustainability; Sustainable Development Goals; SDG; Social Advertising; AI; Artificial Intelligence; Behavioural Ecological Model; Big Data; Communication Ethics; Communication Studies; Consumer Data; Corporate Social Responsibility; Culture; Design Thinking; Diversity; Emerging Technologies; Ethical Behaviour; Ethical Marketing; Ethics; Health; Health Communication; Inclusion; Machine Learning; Media Studies; Public Health; Public Policy; Supply Chains; Social Media Influencer; Influencer; Socially Responsible; Advocacy; Brand Activism; Business Ethics; Circular Fashion; Conspiracy Theories; Context; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Crisis Communication; Critical Communication; Critical Marketing; Dark Side; Emerging Adults; Esports; Ethical Fashion; Fake News; Fast Fashion; Gamers; Evaluation; Gaming; Honesty; Inequality; Legal and Regulatory Frameworks; Modern Slavery; Morals; Multidisciplinary; Natural Language Processing; Nutrition; Objectives; Norms; Paradigms; Philosophies; Racism; Retailers; Slow Fashion; Strategic Communication; Sustainable Fashion; Stakeholders; Technological Solutionism; Transparency; Upstream Social Marketing; Vulnerability; Young Adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M1 M3 M30 M31 M37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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