Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?

<p>The global trade in wildlife is a threat to species conservation and animal welfare. A key driver is demand for traditional medicines (TMs). We present an initial experimental survey of demand reduction and demand redirection interventions aimed at changing the behaviour of TM consumers in...

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Main Authors: Moorhouse, TP, Coals, PGR, D'Cruze, NC, Macdonald, DW
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020
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author Moorhouse, TP
Coals, PGR
D'Cruze, NC
Macdonald, DW
author_facet Moorhouse, TP
Coals, PGR
D'Cruze, NC
Macdonald, DW
author_sort Moorhouse, TP
collection OXFORD
description <p>The global trade in wildlife is a threat to species conservation and animal welfare. A key driver is demand for traditional medicines (TMs). We present an initial experimental survey of demand reduction and demand redirection interventions aimed at changing the behaviour of TM consumers in China and Vietnam. Treatment respondents (n = 1600) were shown TM products, with messages outlining their conservation, welfare or human health impacts, and asked their intention to buy these products in the future. Control respondents (n = 400) were shown nothing. All respondents were then shown a ‘herbal’ (plant-based) substitute, and asked how likely they would be to buy it. Respondents were finally shown a list of TMs and asked to select those they would buy.</p> <p>Of treatment respondents 62.7% stated they would stop buying TMs, but when later offered a list of TMs, 52.2% selected at least one to buy. Frequent buyers exhibited a smaller treatment response than occasional buyers (56.4% versus 67.1%, said they would stop buying), and a larger gap between this and their later decision to buy TMs (a 32.8% versus 14.0% difference). With respect to herbal substitutes, 88.9% of regular buyers selected high purchase likelihoods, compared with 73.5% of occasional purchasers, proportions unaffected by experimental group.</p> <p>Information campaigns may have a limited effect in reducing demand, particularly among frequent users of TMs. Frequent purchasers, however, exhibited the greatest enthusiasm for herbal substitutes. Future approaches to protect wildlife should test the effectiveness of working with TM practitioners to redirect demand onto alternative, non-animal TM ingredients.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:f4a23b29-3480-453a-a2b1-2f6b06be51492022-03-27T12:21:19ZReduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:f4a23b29-3480-453a-a2b1-2f6b06be5149EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordElsevier2020Moorhouse, TPCoals, PGRD'Cruze, NCMacdonald, DW<p>The global trade in wildlife is a threat to species conservation and animal welfare. A key driver is demand for traditional medicines (TMs). We present an initial experimental survey of demand reduction and demand redirection interventions aimed at changing the behaviour of TM consumers in China and Vietnam. Treatment respondents (n = 1600) were shown TM products, with messages outlining their conservation, welfare or human health impacts, and asked their intention to buy these products in the future. Control respondents (n = 400) were shown nothing. All respondents were then shown a ‘herbal’ (plant-based) substitute, and asked how likely they would be to buy it. Respondents were finally shown a list of TMs and asked to select those they would buy.</p> <p>Of treatment respondents 62.7% stated they would stop buying TMs, but when later offered a list of TMs, 52.2% selected at least one to buy. Frequent buyers exhibited a smaller treatment response than occasional buyers (56.4% versus 67.1%, said they would stop buying), and a larger gap between this and their later decision to buy TMs (a 32.8% versus 14.0% difference). With respect to herbal substitutes, 88.9% of regular buyers selected high purchase likelihoods, compared with 73.5% of occasional purchasers, proportions unaffected by experimental group.</p> <p>Information campaigns may have a limited effect in reducing demand, particularly among frequent users of TMs. Frequent purchasers, however, exhibited the greatest enthusiasm for herbal substitutes. Future approaches to protect wildlife should test the effectiveness of working with TM practitioners to redirect demand onto alternative, non-animal TM ingredients.</p>
spellingShingle Moorhouse, TP
Coals, PGR
D'Cruze, NC
Macdonald, DW
Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title_full Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title_fullStr Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title_full_unstemmed Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title_short Reduce or redirect? Which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines?
title_sort reduce or redirect which social marketing interventions could influence demand for traditional medicines
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AT dcruzenc reduceorredirectwhichsocialmarketinginterventionscouldinfluencedemandfortraditionalmedicines
AT macdonalddw reduceorredirectwhichsocialmarketinginterventionscouldinfluencedemandfortraditionalmedicines