We encourage and enable wider use of social marketing to address complex social issues such as racism and injustice.
Racism permeates our societies. Sometimes overt, sometimes unconscious, it impacts how we think, what we believe, what we do. As we have heard so eloquently from the voices on the streets in the United States and around the world, racism and injustice is a part of daily life for black and brown people. The murder of George Floyd in the US has sparked a global conversation, and now, as social marketers, we need to approach all of our work with this in mind — listening, hearing, and understanding the reality of racism and inequality.
The social marketing associations of Australia (AASM), Europe (ESMA), Latin America (LAMSO), North America (SMANA), and the International Social Marketing Association (iSMA) stand with our colleagues around the world who are demanding equality and justice to ensure that black lives matter (see SMANA’s “Letter from the President … on Anti-Black Racism in America.”).
As a federation of social marketing associations around the world, we have been working for many years to create the conditions for social marketers and our profession to thrive because we believe that the study and practice of social marketing benefit individuals and communities by influencing behaviour change for the greater social good. We will continue this work with an even greater focus on ensuring that our profession represents all individuals and all communities around the world.
We are committed to achieve this goal through our network of social marketing associations, and we will work to help our members do the same. Our commitment as a community is to stand against racism, injustice, and inequity in its many forms and work for change.
At iSMA we will expand the number of members who serve on our Board to increase the diversity of elected members representing communities around the world. We are committing to proactively encouraging a broad slate of candidates to stand for election in our Board election. And we commit to ensuring that our associations and professional development opportunities are accessible to all our members—regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, or geographic location.
We encourage you to explore some of the social marketing anti-racism research, interventions or programs that are available. Please follow our organizations on social media to learn more about these resources. And we invite you to learn more about social marketing as a practice by visiting our website.
Ross Gordon – AASM President
Suzanne Suggs – ESMA President
Patrick Cook – iSMA President
Vilarmina Ponce Lucero – LAMSO representative to iSMA
Emily Patterson – SMANA President