title: 'You just change the channel if you don't like what you're going to hear': gamblers' attitudes towards, and interactions with, social marketing campaigns.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate how gamblers interact with, and respond to, downstream social marketing campaigns that focus on the risks and harms of problem gambling and/or encourage help seeking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative study of 100 gamblers with a range of gambling behaviours (from non-problem to problem gambling). We used a Social Constructivist approach. Our constant comparative method of data interpretation focused on how participants' experiences and interactions with gambling influenced their opinions towards, and interactions with social marketing campaigns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three key themes emerged from the narratives. (i) Participants felt that campaigns were heavily skewed towards encouraging individuals to take personal responsibility for their gambling behaviours or were targeted towards those with severe gambling problems. (ii) Participants described the difficulty for campaigns to achieve 'cut through' because of the overwhelming volume of positive messages about the benefits of gambling that were given by the gambling industry. (iii) Some participants described that dominant discourses about personal responsibility prevented them from seeking help and reinforced perceptions of stigma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social marketing campaigns have an important role to play in the prevention of gambling risk behaviours and the promotion of help seeking. Social marketers should explore how to more effectively target campaigns to different audience segments, understand the role of environmental factors in undermining the uptake of social marketing strategies and anticipate the potential unforeseen consequences of social marketing strategies.
authors.affiliation: Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for Health Initiatives, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Samantha L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Westberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D040241:Social Marketing; D057545:Social Stigma; D014739:Victoria; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: gambling; problem gambling; public health; risk; social marketing; unintended consequences