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This paper aims to explore co-design as a method for actively involving young consumers in the design of an alcohol education program that utilizes an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) component.

Dietrich et al. (2017) six-step framework was applied to a co-design project involving four groups of 14- to 16-year-old Australian high school students. Data collection included observations by three facilitators, written feedback from members of each group and video presentations of the generated ideas. The data analysis focused on investigating the applicability of the six-step framework to young consumers and evaluating the quality and practicality of the generated ideas.

Sensitization is key to enabling young consumers to become equal participants during the co-design process. Sensitization allowed the participants to engage in the design task in a playful manner, which fostered active participation and creative insights during the co-design session. A team approach based on interactivity and group autonomy enabled adolescents to contribute insights into their specific needs and wants. This was complemented by a trusting environment and the presence of immediately available yet “hands off” facilitators.

The findings are limited to one specific sample and design task. Future research is required that investigates co-design with young consumers in different contexts.

This paper provides guidance for the application of co-design with young consumers by highlighting the importance of sensitization and facilitation.

This study marks one of the first approaches to co-designing alcohol education programs, including VR components, with young consumers. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the consequences of involving young consumers through co-design.

The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative reflexive process evaluation method for a social marketing programme featuring an innovative virtual reality (VR) simulation experience for adolescents.

A process evaluation framework focusing on three key elements – context, implementation and mechanisms of impact – was followed in this study. In total, 374 participants (mean age: 15.2 years, 58 per cent female) completed outcome evaluation surveys before and after the programme delivery, and 300 participants completed qualitative feedback forms following their participation in the VR component of the programme.

A process evaluation delivers insights beyond those attained in outcome evaluations, enhancing the understanding of factors contributing to programme success or failure that can be used to improve future programme iterations. The VR experience demonstrated high satisfaction scores with users, and the findings demonstrate the importance of a multi-disciplinary and industry partnered programme approach to support VR implementation and delivery.

This research demonstrates that additional learnings are obtained from a process evaluation. The findings are limited to one specific research programme, and the outcome effects of the VR simulation have not been assessed in isolation.

The methods outlined in this paper offer a process evaluation tool that can be used by marketers and other practitioners to reflect on programme success or failure to enhance core offerings.

The application of Moore et al.’s (2015) process evaluation framework delivers a reflexive research tool that can be applied to critically consider three key elements: context, implementation and mechanisms of impact of developed programmes. VR’s capacity to provide a satisfying and highly valued programme resource that participants value for its realistic, novel and immersive experiential learning experience was demonstrated.

Gamified and engaging school-based alcohol social marketing programs have demonstrated effectiveness; however, wide-scale dissemination of these programs is limited by their resource-intensive character. The purpose of this paper is to address this limitation, a brief alcohol social marketing pilot program was derived from a comprehensive alcohol social marketing program to compare effectiveness.

A sample of 115 14–16-year-old adolescents from six secondary schools participated in the brief alcohol social marketing pilot program. Program effectiveness was assessed using repeated measure analysis on adolescents’ knowledge, attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy and intentions to binge drink. Results were compared with the comprehensive social marketing program and a control group.

The brief pilot program produced statistically significant outcomes for the same measures as the comprehensive program across attitudinal variables, descriptive norms and opportunistic self-efficacy.

Converting existing social marketing programs into brief alternates is more cost-effective and, in this case, demonstrated better outcome effects. However, findings are limited as in-depth comparisons were hindered by changes to content across program modes. No process for converting comprehensive programs into brief alternates was identified prior to this study, and therefore a number of considerations for program alteration were derived from program facilitator experiences.

The findings provide initial evidence that a brief version of an existing comprehensive program can be an effective alternate to more resource-intensive programs under more cost-effective circumstances for program developers and facilitators.

Females are underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), both in the workforce and in universities. Low self-efficacy and limited access to role models are key factors preventing retention of female STEM students enrolled in university degrees. This paper aims to report on one social marketing pilot programme that was co-designed to increase self-efficacy in females currently enrolled in STEM programmes.

The Co-create, Build and Engage (C-B-E) framework was applied. Process and outcome evaluations were conducted using a repeated measure design to assess pilot programme effectiveness.

A significant increase in self-efficacy and high satisfaction rates were observed for STEM students that attended the bias literacy workshop. Social advertisements raised awareness for available STEM specific university services.

This paper outlines the application of the C-B-E framework. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study delivers the first scientific paper reporting an outcome evaluation for a social marketing programme seeking to retain women enrolled in university STEM degrees.

This paper presents a methodological analysis of the co-creation and evaluation of “Biobot Academy” social marketing program to promote socio-emotional skills and prosocial behaviour in children, using a Living Lab method. This paper aims to identify how using a Living Lab method can enhance the co-creation and evaluation of a gamified social marketing program with users and stakeholders. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to apply and further develop a Living Lab framework to guide social marketing program design.

Using a case study method, the Living Lab process was applied during the development of the gamified social marketing program for promoting socio-emotional skills and prosocial behaviour in children. In total, 28 online and in-person sessions over a two-year period led to program co-creation. Guided by a mixed method approach, testing was conducted in a non-randomised waitlist control trial, while qualitative data from in-game data capture, classroom observations and recordings were collected.

The application of the Living Lab method warranted improvements, specifically to the front-end and back-end steps of the existing process. While the non-randomised trial indicated effectiveness of the social marketing program across all outcome measures (self-awareness, empathy and prosocial behaviour intentions) compared to control, qualitative findings showed program improvements were needed on three specific aspects, namely, interactivity, user experience and comprehension.

This study provides methodological guidance for the application of the Living Lab method in other social marketing settings to help co-create innovative social marketing solutions with diverse stakeholder groups.

Graphic health warnings (GHWs) on tobacco product packaging constitute one component within a multifaceted set of tobacco control measures. This study aims to understand whether consumers’ attention to GHWs will be associated with recall and quit intentions, using Australia as the case for this study.

Using the 14 GHWs currently in market as visual stimuli, non-probability intercept sampling was conducted, eye tracking and post-survey datasets were collected from a total of 419 respondents across three Australian cities.

Results show the front graphic image areas draw initial attention and the Quitline message area holds the longest attention duration. Attention is highly correlated with better quality of recall of health warning information, emotive responses, believability ratings among smokers and smokers’ perception of health risks and quit intentions. Associations are also noted with perceived health risk and quitting intentions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has objectively tested the effectiveness of in-market tobacco GHWs in Australia and highlights eye tracking as a valid measurement approach that can enhance and drive new insights to evaluate consumer behaviour towards visual stimuli. This study extends new knowledge around the physiological relationships between viewing behaviours, health vulnerability perceptions and intentions to quit smoking, which has theoretical implications for the extended parallel process model which underpins this research.

This research describes and evaluates the co-creation of a programme called “A Healthy Choice”. Underpinned by design thinking (DT), this study aims to improve the healthfulness of food choices in supermarkets among consumers to promote their well-being.

The research features two studies. Study 1 included five co-design workshops with consumers and staff (n = 32) to develop a consumer-centred programme. The findings supported the design and implementation of a programme evaluated in Study 2 (an ecological trial). The programme modified a supermarket environment to increase the prominence of healthier products (shelf-talkers and no discount), ran positive food experiences (cooking and label reading workshops) and was supported by a community-wide information campaign in social and local print media.

A total of 15 new strategies were developed by consumers and staff to support health and well-being in supermarkets. Feasibility discussions and staff voting contributed to the development and storewide implementation of the programme. Evaluation showed that the programme was effective in increasing consumer knowledge of healthier food choices (measured via public survey). Sales analysis showed mixed results; sales increased for promoted products in some categories, but there was no effect in others.

Given the real-world setting in which this programme and its evaluation were conducted, there were several innate limitations. The co-design process generated many more ideas than could be implemented, thus creating a healthy “pipe line” for the next iterations of the programme.

The key contribution of this work to supermarket intervention literature is the recommendation to change the paradigm of engagement between the key stakeholders who are typically involved in supermarket programs. Using the co-design and DT frameworks, the authors offer an example of stakeholders working together in close partnership to co-design and collaboratively implement a programme that promotes healthier choices.

This project contributes to the emerging body of empirical work using DT principles in the area of healthy food choices in supermarkets. A rigorously designed evaluation of a co-designed supermarket programme contributes to scholarly evidence on food well-being programs in supermarkets.

The purpose of this research is to understand what motivates 7–11-year-old children to participate in online brand communities (OBCs). Prior research has concentrated on prescriptive product categories (games and gaming), predominantly adolescent groups and the social aspects of community engagement and actual behaviour within communities, rather than the motivations to participate with the OBC. This has ultimately limited what has been gleaned, both theoretically and managerially, from this important segment.

An interpretive, longitudinal position is adopted, using a sample of 261 children (113 male and 148 female) from across the UK, using event-based diaries over a 12-month period, generating 2,224 entries.

Data indicate that children are motivated to participate in a brand community for four reasons: to support and ameliorate pre-purchase anxieties, resolve interpersonal conflicts, exact social dominance in terms of product ownership and perceptions of product knowledge and to actively engage in digitalised pester power. The study also reveals that certain motivational aspects such as conflict resolution and exacting dominance, are gender-specific.

Knowledge of children’s motivation to engage with OBCs is important for marketers and brand managers alike as the data reveal markedly different stimuli when compared to known adult behaviours in the field. Given the nature of the study, scope exists for significant future research.

The study reveals behaviours that will assist brand managers in further understanding the complex and untraditional relationships that children have with brands and OBCs.

This study makes a novel examination of a hitherto little-explored segment of consumers. In doing so, it uncovers the theoretical and practical characteristics of child consumers that contemporary, adult-focussed literature does not recognise. The paper makes an additional contribution to theory by positing four new behavioural categories relating to community engagement – dependers, defusers, demanders and dominators – and four new motivational factors which are fundamentally different from adult taxonomies – social hegemony, parental persuasion, dilemma solving and conflict resolution.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the social and personal drivers of co-creation in children.

A sample of 463 children aged between 7 and 13 years were recruited. Using electronic event-based diaries, 2,631 entries were captured during an 18-month period.

Data from 861 entries identified a series of anomalous external social and personal factors that drove children to engage in co-creation. These were for maintaining external relationships, dealing with addiction to the co-creation process and dealing with personal loneliness.

The study reveals new, unconventional and gender-specific behaviours that might assist marketers in understanding children’s complex relationships with co-creation and brands.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to examine children’s social and personal drives to engage in co-creation.

From time to time we report cases of food being sold under false and misleading descriptions, where the defence claims the consumer is really expecting too much for her money; like Pip, she has “great expectations.” The sale of food and drugs abounds with deceptive descriptions and devices; clever, subtle, attractive and far more extensively practised than in the old days when analysts and inspectors sought out the adulteration of food. Their annual reports contain the more lurid examples, which are but a fraction of the whole. The price of genuine products has risen out of all proportion in recent years and the introduction of artificial and synthetic materials in substitution is regrettably inevitable, but the importation of price into the offence of misdescription is likely to bring to confusion law that is probably more complete than ever before. It is the essence of all false descriptions that they should in fact mislead, but it is garnishing the point to suggest as many a defending counsel and not a few magistrates do, that the price paid must be taken into account in any alleged misdescription; that if it is low for such an expensive commodity as “cream,” then a purchaser should not be deceived into believing she was obtaining genuine cream, even if the name “cream” was being applied. As the County Magistrates at Leicester were recently asked to decide, “Who would expect real cream in a fourpenny cream bun ?” (p. 70). Still less so, if a fancy name such as “Kreem” is used; all this, Section 47, Food and Drugs Act, 1955, notwithstanding. In the case quoted, evidence was called to show that if a shopper requires a cream bun containing real cream, she will ask for a “dairy cream bun” and that the witnesses would only expect to receive the genuine article if they went to a dairy; that when buying cream confectionery from a confectioner's shop, they did not expect to receive anything but imitation cream.