Written by Nancy Lee, as part of her Social Marketing Sightings theme.
Sighted on: City of Mercer Island
Social Issue: Pet Waste
Social Marketing Strategy: Increasing Visibility & Concern for “Bad” Behaviors
On a walk this week in a local park, I noticed a new effort with an intent to increase picking up pet waste. The city spread flags throughout the park (green and red flags below), and then placed a large poster/signage explaining: “Each flag shows where un-scooped dog poop was left in the park this past month.” Although this caught my attention, as a pet owner who definitely “scoops the poop”, the question/wonder I have, as did a few other social marketers, is whether this would make those who are not picking up after their pet think it was a norm. In other words, they’re not alone. Would be a very interesting effort to evaluate.