Social marketing campaigns can help conservation efforts

[Cara J]

Social marketing campaigns that aim to change human behavior have proven to be instrumental in promoting wildlife conservation, according to new research. Conservationists have adopted the social marketing method, which has been proven useful in campaigns for topics like recycling and quitting smoking. Researchers recently looked at the “Rare Pride” campaign to save the yellow-shouldered Amazon parrot (Amazona barbadensis), or lora, on the Caribbean island of Bonaire.  The campaign included posters, songs, fact sheets and church sermons with the purpose of notifying the public about the birds’ threatened status as well as pet trade. Since 1998, the bird population has grown from 294 birds to 1023 in 2018. The team found social marketing campaigns were likely one of the main explanations for the birds’ recovery. Check out the study inConservation Biology.

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