title: Social marketing: a tool not a solution.
abstract: There is a longstanding debate on the contribution of social marketing to public health in general, and to health education and health promotion in particular. This paper presents further discussion from a public health point of view and concludes that priority should be given to health-oriented approaches rather than market-oriented strategies. It is argued that, at best, social marketing is a tool not a solution for health education's and health promotion's problems. To communicate health education messages effectively and efficiently, health needs assessment is recommended as a way forward. It is a public health approach and contains a range of flexible methods in the implementation of health education/promotion programmes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Montazeri
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods*