Abstract:
For decades, New Zealand’s drinking culture has raised much concern around the consumption of alcohol. One way to counter hazardous drinking behaviours is the use of social marketing strategies which aim to influence behaviours to benefit the individual and society as a whole. Both industry and government sponsors have engaged in social marketing efforts in an attempt to manage consumption experiences around alcohol which aim to encourage more social drinking behaviours. As young males have been identified as the most at risk group in New Zealand, in terms of their drinking behaviour (Gray et al., 2014), this qualitative study aims to uncover an in-depth understanding of how New Zealand males respond to social marketing messages which attempt to influence consumption experiences with alcohol. In doing so, this thesis explores an area of research which combines social marketing efforts from industry and government sponsors and how consumers respond to such messages. In addition, as new media has changed the way in which media and advertisements are consumed, the use of television as a medium to convey such messages is also examined. The findings highlight ambiguous, complex and discrepant responses which contribute to existing understandings around social marketing and responses to advertising. By placing consumer responses at the forefront, this study attempts to better understand how social marketing messages are received and how such efforts can be maximised in the future.