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This paper aims to describe the comparison of two tools in assessing social marketing campaigns.

Using data collected from the campaign planners of 31 alcohol misuse prevention campaigns, two tools were compared; the Social Marketing Indicator (SMI) and Andreasen’s Benchmark Criteria.

In the case of the benchmarks, 26 per cent of the campaigns fulfilled four or more criteria and no criterion was fulfilled by more than 70 per cent. The main differences between current practices and social marketing are the often-missing segmentation and an explicit exchange. The SMI found a lower degree of resemblance between current practices and social marketing. In this case, the major differences lie in the use of behavioral theory and the absence of an exchange.

The SMI allows a more precise description of an intervention. This represents an advantage, as a campaign’s resemblance to social marketing can be reported by directly pointing out the process steps that make the difference. This is important for understanding the research evidence base in social marketing.

Although the benchmark criteria are based on a conceptual approach, the SMI is built around a core procedure. The SMI can thus help program planners from the onset of a project to make sure they do social marketing as it is defined.

This is the first empirical test comparing a new tool against the well-established, frequently critiqued, Benchmark Criteria, in gauging “social marketing” practice in health campaigns.

Despite social marketing being widely adopted in English-speaking countries, there is limited evidence of it being adopted in German language countries. Alcohol misuse is a social problem that has been the topic of health campaigns globally. The purpose of this paper is to understand the level of knowledge and adoption of social marketing among alcohol misuse prevention campaign planners, to understand current practices in campaigns, and to examine the use adoption of social marketing in such campaigns in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Campaigns were identified through bibliographic databases, online search engines, and expert inquiry. A survey was administered to campaign planners to retrieve primary data about campaigns. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Practices were compared to social marketing using Andreasen's six social marketing benchmark criteria.

In total, 31 campaigns were included in the review. Some 55 per cent of planners reported knowing about social marketing and 52 per cent reported using it in the reviewed campaign. Relative to the benchmark criteria, social marketing was rarely adopted, with one campaign attaining all six criteria and eight meeting at least four of them.

The paper is the first to provide an overview of the use of social marketing in alcohol misuse prevention campaigns in German language countries. It generates information on knowledge and adoption of social marketing and contributes to understanding the diffusion of social marketing in a sample of European countries.

This chapter offers an inquiry into the emerging phenomenon of corporate social advocacy, also known as CEO activism, in a non-Western sociocultural context. It addresses gaps in CEO activism research, including a dearth of non-Western contexts, dominance of modernist perspectives, and omission of female activist CEO voices. I apply alternative theoretical lenses of Caritas, Ubuntu, Africapitalism, and postmodernism to examine facets of CEO activism in Ghana. Data were collected through long interviews with 24 activist CEO men and women and data underwent hermeneutic phenomenological theme analysis. Findings suggest that CEO activism in Ghana is motivated by a range of factors previously not articulated in the literature on CEO activism. Brand activism typologies adequately describe the causes/issues advocated by activist CEOs in Ghana – as findings advance perspectives of non-Western society CEO activists. Hence, this chapter internationalizes the CEO activism phenomenon for the public relations literature while extending diversity, equality, and inclusion, sustainability, postmodern values, and insider activist perspectives to also include Caritas, Ubuntu philosophy, and Africapitalism.