Endangered species condoms: a social marketing
tool for starting conversations about population
First online: 24 March 2020
Sarah
Baillie, Kelley Dennings and Stephanie Feldstein
Center for Biological Diversity, Tucson, Arizona
sbaillie@biologicaldiversity.org
kdennings@biologicaldiversity.org
sfeldstein@biologicaldiversity.org
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DOI: 10.3197/jps.2020.4.2.31
Licensing: This article is Open Access (CC BY 4.0).
How to Cite:
Baillie, S., K. Dennings and S. Feldstein. 2016. 'Endangered species condoms: a social marketing tool for starting conversations about population'. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 4(2): 31–44.
https://doi.org/10.3197/jps.2020.4.2.31
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The Endangered Species Condoms
project was launched 10 years ago to bring the discussion of human population
growth back into the environmental movement with a focus on human rights and
reproductive justice. In that time, more than 1 million condoms have been
distributed by thousands of volunteers. The principles of social marketing are
used through the Endangered Species Condoms project to create a national
discourse around the population issue. They are introduced in both formal
teaching settings like high school and university classrooms as well as
informal settings like community events and after-hours programing at zoos and
museums to reach a broad, diverse audience.
Keywords: endangered species; outreach;
overconsumption; social marketing
Introduction
Human
population growth is at the root of our most pressing environmental issues. The
number of people on the planet drives up the demand for resources which in turn
propels climate change, fossil fuel use, habitat destruction, and biodiversity
loss.
However,
this topic is rarely discussed within the environmental movement. The Center
for Biological Diversity, a national environmental non-profit based in the USA,
recognizes that it is crucial to have conversations around the effects of
population growth on the environment and wildlife in order to address the
problem. The Center only supports ethical, non-coercive solutions to combat
unchecked human population growth, including comprehensive sex education and
universal access to contraceptive resources and reproductive health care. Using
creative social marketing techniques has helped break down barriers to bring
this important topic back into the environmental discourse.
Social
marketing is used to address “wicked problems” – those that are complex with no
easy solution – and unplanned pregnancies are just that. Decreasing unplanned
pregnancies involves improving contraception and sexual education through
policy and infrastructure, along with changing cultural norms around family
size and talking about reproductive health. The social marketing framework
facilitates choosing a behavioral objective along with a priority audience and
then campaigns are designed around this. The objective could be upstream to
change policy with elected officials as the audience or downstream where the
objective is to use contraception and the audience is individuals of
reproductive age.
This
paper will discuss the importance of talking about population within the
environmental movement, why the Center focuses on domestic reproductive rights
and choices, and how we use a social marketing framework in our creative
outreach to effect change. The Endangered Species Condoms are a unique tool to
start a conversation about the negative impacts of unchecked population growth.
They provide people with a literal tool to prevent unintended pregnancies and
additional information about the ethical solutions we advocate for. We have
developed and grown this program over the past ten years to expand our reach to
new audiences.
Resistance to discussing
population as an environmental issue
We
are currently in the sixth mass extinction and losing species at an
unprecedented rate, an estimated 1 million species are at risk of extinction
(UNSDG, 2019). There is a very clear correlation between the growth of the
human population and the extinction rate of species (Scott, 2008; McKinney,
2001; McKee, Chambers and Guseman, 2013). North America has lost 29 percent of
its total bird population in the past 48 years (Rosenberg, et al., 2019). Large
apex predators adjust their hunting patterns based on the presence of humans
(Suraci et al.,
2019), as do mesocarnivores (Clinchy, et al., 2016). As our population grows,
every new individual needs resources such as food, water, shelter, energy and
land, and as demand on natural resources grows we are negatively impacting
wildlife through destruction of habitats and other changes to the ecosystem.
Despite
population being intrinsically connected to the most urgent environmental
crises of our time, it is rarely directly addressed by the environmental
community. Some organizations and individuals may have different strategic or
philosophical reasons for ignoring the topic. For example, some groups have
chosen to focus on industrial practices and polluting infrastructures rather
than individual behavior. These groups may view the solutions to population
such as reproductive rights and education as outside of their missions or
expertise. But we have also found that many people distance themselves from
population discussions because of cultural taboos around sex or stigma from
past transgressions where proposed solutions for population growth have
targeted vulnerable, marginalized communities. In some cases, groups may
support equality, education and healthcare with an emphasis on other
co-benefits like resilience, while excluding language around population growth
to avoid potential negative associations.
In
2009 the Center for Biological Diversity recognized that all our other work to
save species would ultimately be undermined if human population growth was not
addressed. Since it can be a challenging topic for many people to talk about,
we knew we had to be creative if we were going to bring population back into
the environmental movement in a positive, productive way. The award-winning
Endangered Species Condoms project was created to use humor and art to make the
topic of population and family planning easier to approach.
The
colorful condom packages include original artwork featuring North
American species threatened by population growth and slogans like “Before it
gets any hotter, think of the sea otter.” Inside the package is more
information about the featured species, how population pressure negatively
effects wildlife, recommended human-rights solutions, and two condoms.
In
addition to learning about population and proposed solutions, recipients
literally receive a tool enabling them to have safe sex and help prevent
unplanned pregnancies. The condoms included in the packages are fair-trade,
vegan, nitrosamine-free and sourced from sustainable rubber plantations.
The
Endangered Species Condoms help people make a direct link between population
growth and imperiled wildlife that they care about. Each species featured on
the condom packages was chosen because of its connection to the threats from
our growing human population. For example, monarch butterflies are disappearing
due to corn and soybean crops replacing the native plants they need to survive.
There is also the additional threat of the pesticides used on those crops, most
of which are grown to feed to livestock. Hellbender salamanders are declining
because of increased water pollution from runoff coming from cities and
agriculture. Polar bears have become powerful symbols of climate change and the
effects of greenhouse gas emissions from our ever-growing population. By
starting the conversation with the featured animal, people are reminded of what
they want to save before broaching a potentially uncomfortable topic. As
discussed in more detail below, the Center has successfully used this approach
to start more than a million conversations about the impact of population
growth on wildlife and the environment.
Focusing on population pressure
in the U.S.
Since
the United States has one of the largest carbon footprints per individual,
Americans have a disproportionate impact per person compared to other
countries. Americans are also responsible for a disproportionate amount of
habitat loss, pollution and waste. The Endangered Species Condoms – and the
Center’s Population and Sustainability program as a whole – work to provide a
local context for how wildlife are affected by the twin threats of population
growth and overconsumption. By focusing on these issues side-by-side, we’ve
been able to demonstrate how they’re intertwined and overcome the false
dichotomy that only one or the other is to blame for global pressure on the
planet. Although many population groups focus their work in higher-fertility
countries, the Center chooses to focus our efforts domestically to increase
awareness among high-consuming populations and advance positive solutions to address
this global issue.
We
acknowledge that U.S. population is growing more from immigration than it is
from the birth rate (Adamy and Overburg, 2019), but we believe that national
immigration policy is not an appropriate or effective solution to address a
global problem. Furthermore, immigration policy has often been used in the
United States to violate human rights and worsen environmental damage (CBD,
n.d.).
Where
we do see opportunities for solutions is in addressing reproductive rights.
While the United States is below replacement rate fertility, about 45 percent
of all pregnancies in the country are unintended (Finer and Zolna, 2016). This
is high for a developed country, but it becomes less surprising after learning
only 39 states mandate sex education. Of those, only 17 mandate that it be
medically accurate (Guttmacher Institute, 2019). Thirty nine states stress
abstinence, and only 20 states include information about condoms and
contraception (Guttmacher Institute, 2019). In addition, recent federal
policies restricting the Affordable Care Act and Title X clinics are decreasing
access to contraception and health services. Improving access to family
planning and education is crucial to slowing population growth to more
sustainable rates.
How social marketing can help
change the population narrative
In a
previous article published in this journal, William Ryerson (2018) wrote about
entertainment education. He discussed how, when the framework is rooted in
social and behavior-change communications theory, results can be substantial
and cost-effective. Social marketing used by the Center for Biological
Diversity is another successful social and behavior-change framework. The
social marketing process applies marketing principles and techniques to create,
communicate, and deliver value in order to influence behaviors that benefit
society as well as the priority audience (Lee and Kotler, 2011).
The
concept emerged in the 1950s when sociologist G.D. Wiebe (1951), in an article
in Public Opinion Quarterly, asked “Why can’t we sell brotherhood like we sell
soap?” and explored the challenges of selling a social good as if it were a
commodity. However, it was not until 1971 that Kotler and Zaltman (1971) coined
the term “social marketing” and developed a framework from which to work. One
of the first social issues tackled by social marketing was that of attempting
to increase contraceptive use in India in the 1960s. The effort involved
selling subsidized Nirodh condoms with the assistance of major private sector
marketers like Unilever and Brooke Bond Tea, which helped support distribution
of the product (Harvey, 1999). This trend continued into the 1980s when condoms
emerged as an effective tool to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS (Manoff,
1985).
Like
entertainment education, social marketing is rooted in theories of behavior
change including the Social Ecological Model, Stages of Change or
Transtheoretical Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Social Cognitive Theory,
and Diffusion of Innovation Theory. These theoretical approaches are used to
help outline research, create a campaign strategy and/or track evaluation
metrics. Social marketing is frequently used in the health sector and is
commonly applied to some environmental issues, such as energy efficiency. It
can be used with any social issue where there’s a beneficial behavior-change
component, such as family planning.
Social
marketing is a targeted, step-by-step and data-driven process with the
objective of removing the barriers an audience may have to a desired action and
enhance the benefits and motivations to engage in the behavior. There is
a focus on outcomes and impact, and monitoring and evaluation are important
components to track results.
The
number and type of social marketing steps can vary, but the following seven
steps show how the Center for Biological Diversity uses the framework for the
Endangered Species Condoms Project (Dennings, 2018):
1. Outcome – Campaign outcomes might be dictated by
management, costs, local government, etc. and should include goals for short
and long-term success. Our long-term outcome is to decrease population pressure
on wildlife and associated habitat by increasing access to family planning and
contraceptive resources. The Endangered Species Condoms serve the short-term
outcome of increasing visibility and engagement for these issues in support of
long-term behavior and policy change.
2. Action or Behavior – The desired behavior identified for a
campaign’s priority audience should be helpful and have a high likelihood of
the audience engaging in the action. Some behaviors are made up of sub-actions
which may require creating a behavioral map prior to choosing the behavior the
campaign will promote. While the Endangered Species Condoms facilitate safe
sex, the primary purpose of the colorful, fun packages is as a conversation
tool. The desired action is to spur conversations about population that will
inspire people to choose whichever birth control method is right for them and
get engaged in supporting access to all forms of contraception, comprehensive
sex education and reproductive healthcare equality.
3. Segment – Although many social issues would
benefit from “everyone” changing their behavior, segmenting people by factors
such as perceived barriers, difficulty of the action, demographics and
receptiveness to different messaging can be used to create more effective,
tailored campaigns. (Lee and Kotler, 2011). While anyone inspired by the
Endangered Species Condoms’ message can help influence society and the
political system, the project’s target audience is people of child-bearing age.
Particularly those who have not yet made family planning decisions or who are
environmentally-minded but may be unaware of the intersection between the
increase in population and environmental degradation.
4. Barriers – The reasons why people are not already
engaging in the desired behavior – including internal barriers like motivation,
knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and abilities as well as external barriers like
infrastructure, economics, access, convenience and social situations – needs to
be researched for each audience and incorporated into campaign strategies
(McKenzie-Mohr, 2011). The humor, artwork and informational packaging of the
Endangered Species Condoms helps overcome taboos and stigma by providing an
approachable way to frame an often-challenging conversation and clear
information on the problem and positive rights-based solutions.
5. Strategy – Many behavior-change strategies are
informed by social science such as the use of prompts, norms, defaults,
commitment, diffusion, feedback, framing, heuristics, incentives, etc. (Michie,
Atkins and West, 2014). Using some of these social science strategies, the
Endangered Species Condoms are an effective way to prompt a conversation about
population and its impact on wildlife. By talking openly about family planning
as a climate change solution we help normalize the conversation.
6. Implement – After planning and testing a strategy,
it is then implemented and the results monitored. The Endangered Species
Condoms are distributed through a large volunteer network, with a focus on
particular holidays and events discussed in more detail below.
7. Evaluate – The campaign should be assessed on a
regular basis and adjusted as needed as this is an iterative process. A logic
model can be a useful tool to help think about outputs, outcomes and impact.
The Center evaluates each major condom distribution in addition to an annual
review of the project as a whole.
Another
way to build a campaign strategy is with marketing’s four Ps: Product, Price,
Place and Promotion (Lee and Kotler, 2011). The Endangered Species Condoms
project provides an attention-grabbing product that’s related to the message
and given away for free. Place is determined by the focus of each distribution
– for example, some distributions focus on specific geographic locations tied
to holidays or species, while the Pillow Talk program targets institutions such
as zoos, museums and science centers. Finally, the condom package itself and
the use of prompts, norms and framing all contribute to the promotion, which is
enhanced by traditional and social media outreach and, occasionally,
advertising such as posters or billboards.
How the Endangered Species
Condoms project works
The
Endangered Species Condoms are distributed by hundreds of volunteers nationwide
every year. Around 100,000 condoms are disseminated annually, and in July 2019
we celebrated giving out our millionth condom. The condoms are shared three key
ways:>
1.
People submit their ideas year-round for how they want to give out the condoms,
and we send the condoms free of charge to where we think there are good
opportunities for volunteers to have conversations about population. Volunteers
hand out the condoms in a variety of settings, such as classrooms, health
clinics, churches, community events and college campuses. While we may offer
support and tips for individual distributions, this peer-to-peer strategy is
focused on volunteers choosing where they would like to hand out the condoms,
allowing us to reach different audiences in a wide range of communities that we
might not otherwise have access to.
2.
The Center organizes several coordinated distributions each year where
thousands of condoms are sent out to be given away within a particular
timeframe or following a theme. Volunteers are recruited around holidays that
are particularly relevant, like Valentine’s Day and Earth Day. We have also recognized
World Population Day, Earth Overshoot Day and World Contraception Day.
Additionally, we send condoms to strategic decision-makers. For example, in
2017 we sent the Endangered Species Condoms to all 100 U.S. Senators for World
Population Day connected to a vote on the Affordable Care Act. We also sent
them to President Trump’s appointees to Health and Human Services.
By
using both traditional and social media to promote these distributions, we’re
able to extend the reach of the condoms. This is done by placing op-eds, blog
posts, and targeted local outreach. These allow the conversations to go beyond
just those people who are receiving the Endangered Species Condoms. For
example, a tweet one senator posted with a picture of the condoms received more
than 4,700 likes, 1,600 retweets, and 170 comments as well as attracting
attention from online alternative news outlets.
3.
The interactive Pillow Talk program gives away condoms at special events held
at zoos, museums, science centers and other science center locations (described
in more detail below).
Over
the ten years the Endangered Species Condoms project has been active, there
have been three iterations of six condom package designs highlighting different
species. The artwork has been updated to keep the designs contemporary and
different species have been included to represent a broad range of wildlife
affected by human population growth. Some species, like the polar bear and
hellbender, have been present in multiple sets. We also incorporated four Spanish-language
designs in 2017, translating the polar bear and monarch butterfly packages and
adding the vaquita porpoise and Mexican gray wolf. The intention was to expand
our reach by being more inclusive with our messaging.
The
Endangered Species Condoms project also expanded in 2017 to include an
environmental education and outreach program called Pillow Talk. This program
uses engaging activities to discuss the relationship between population and
patterns of consumption, and how Americans’ disproportionate impact per
individual is an important component of our unsustainable population growth.
This
program started with zoo, museum, and science center adult-only event audiences
but can be adapted for other settings. We started with these particular audiences
because studies show that people who visit these institutions are more
interested than the average person in ways they can reduce their individual
impact (Falk, 2014)(Falk et al.,
2007). Often, they are unaware of the greenhouse gas emissions impact that
having a child has and now can add family planning to their emissions reduction
toolkit (Wynes and Nicholas, 2017).
In
the past two years, the Center has worked with 53 different institutions and
participated in 100 events around the country. We estimate that we’ve reached
tens of thousands of individuals through these events that host anywhere from
100 to 3,000 visitors. Volunteers represent the Center at these events to help
explain the message behind the Endangered Species Condoms, answer questions and
facilitate environmental education activities.
The
activities provided for Pillow Talk events are designed to also address the
consumption side of the population equation. A game called Carbon Budget
Monopoly helps participants gain a better understanding of the components of
their carbon footprint. Players start with an amount of money to represent the
amount of carbon dioxide that the average American is responsible for annually.
They are then asked a series of questions about their daily life related to
diet, transportation, energy use and having children. Potential answers are
broken down into categories to simplify the responses and calculations. The
higher the environmental impact of an answer, the more money is owed. For
example, someone who eats meat every day would pay more than a vegetarian or
vegan. The amount of money left over at the end of the game gives the player an
idea of how they compare to the average American and understanding of what
actions make up the biggest parts of their carbon footprint.
Evaluating success
There
are challenges in assessing the behavior change of a large national audience,
particularly around long-term issues such as having children or contraceptive
use. Since the condoms are given away at a variety of events by volunteers, we
aren’t able to follow up with the recipients to learn if the condoms changed
their perceptions, influenced their family planning decisions or prompted them
to have additional conversations. As a result our evaluation focuses on
measuring the number of conversations between volunteers and condom recipients,
the quality of conversations, social media and earned media.
High-quality
conversations are those where we’re reaching the intended audience and the
message of the condoms is discussed beyond just the novelty of the packaging.
This is built into the model for Pillow Talk events. For individual
distributors, we are selective in opportunities when screening the requests for
the Endangered Species Condoms. Distributors with a specific plan and audience
are preferred. For example, an environmental science professor at Bellevue
College uses the condoms in her lesson plan. She talks about the connection
between population and species decline and then gives the condoms to her
students with an assignment to share the condoms with someone else and tell
them about the connection. The students then write a paper about how the
conversation went.
Though
we aren’t able to track how every volunteer conversation goes, we do receive
feedback from volunteers and event coordinators from Pillow Talk events, which
helps us evaluate the events and refine our training materials as needed. A
volunteer from an event in Florida describes visitors’ reactions to the
condoms:
“As a volunteer, I immediately
saw positive changes in people’s expressions and increases in enthusiasm for
listening to our message when I mentioned the condoms. People seemed much more
engaged by the unusual topic and were genuinely excited about getting to take
the packages home to show people.”
An
event coordinator in Texas emphasizes the importance of drawing these
connections for visitors:
“The Endangered Species Condoms
proved a strong attraction for our guests and a wonderfully playful gateway
into connecting the dots between human behavior and its larger consequences on
the environment. The mission of increasing awareness of our impact on the globe
– from climate change to infringing on natural habitats – can and should be a
part of our daily consciousness.”
We
continue to solicit feedback from individual volunteers, event volunteers, and
event coordinators so that we can continually better understand how our message
is received.
Conclusion
Endangered
Species Condoms present a unique way to discuss human population growth and its
impacts on our environment. They function as both a messenger and tool for our
recommended solutions. Based on the principles of social marketing, the condoms
serve as an eye-catching form of advocacy, helping people make the connection
between wildlife and family planning and, by extension, between conservation
and reproductive rights. This project makes these issues more approachable,
which we hope continues to inspire both individuals and other environmental
groups to recognize the importance of tackling population as the urgent issue
it is.
Adamy,
J. and Overburg, P., 2019. Immigrants propel population growth in 10% of U.S.
counties. Wall Street Journal.
[online] Available at: <https://www.wsj.com/articles/immigrants-propel-population-growth-in-10-of-u-s-counties-11555560061>
[Accessed: 23 October 2019].
CBD,
n.d.. Statement on Immigration and
Population. [online] Available at:
<https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/immigration_statement.html>
[Accessed: 29 October 2019].
Clinchy,
M. et al., 2016. Fear of the human “super predator” far exceeds the fear of
large carnivores in a model mesocarnivore. Behavioral Ecology. 27 (6), pp. 1826-1832. doi:
10.1093/beheco/arw117.
Dennings,
K., 2018. Changing behaviors. In: Social Marketing Association of North
America. Missouri Recycling Association
2018 annual conference: creating connections. Kansas City, MO.
11-13 September 2018.
Falk,
J. H. et al., 2007. Why zoos & aquariums
matter: assessing the impact of a visit to a zoo or aquarium. [online] Association of Zoos and
Aquariums. Available at: <www.aza.org> [Accessed: 16 October 2019].
Falk,
J. H., 2014. Evidence for the educational value of zoos and aquariums. [online] World Association of Zoos and Aquariums Magazine, 15.
Available at: <www.waza.org> [Accessed: 16 October 2019].
Feldstein,
S., 2015. A long-overdue burial for the population vs. consumption question.
[online] Ensia. Available at: <https://ensia.com/voices/a-long-overdue-burial-for-the-population-vs-consumption-question/>
[Accessed: 29 October 2019].
Finer,
L. B. and Zolna, M. R., 2016. Declines in unintended pregnancy in the United
States, 2008-2011. New England Journal of Medicine, 374
(9), pp. 843–852. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1506575.
Guttmacher
Institute, 2019. Sex and HIV education.
[online] Guttmacher Institute. Available at:
<https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/sex-and-hiv-education>
[Accessed: 22 October 2019].
Harvey,
P. D., 1999. Let every child be wanted: how
social marketing is revolutionizing contraceptive use around the world.
Westport, CT: Auburn House.
Kotler,
P. and Zaltman, G., 1971. Social marketing: an approach to planned social
change. Journal of Marketing,
35(3), p. 3. doi: 10.2307/1249783.
Lee,
N. and Kotler, P., 2011. Social marketing: influencing
behaviors for good.4th edition. London: SAGE Publications.
Manoff,
R. K., 1985. Social marketing: new
imperative for public health.Westport: Praeger Publishers.
McKee,
J., Chambers, E. and Guseman, J., 2013. Human population density and growth
validated as extinction threats to mammal and bird species. Human Ecology, 41 (5), pp.773–778. doi:
10.1007/s10745-013-9586-8.
McKenzie-Mohr,
D., 2011. Fostering sustainable behavior:
an introduction to community-based social marketing.
Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
McKinney,
M. L., 2001. Role of human population size in raising bird and mammal threat
among nations. Animal Conservation, 4
(1), pp. 45–57. doi: 10.1017/S1367943001001056.
Michie,
S., Atkins, L. and West, R., 2014. The behaviour change wheel: a
guide to designing interventions. London: Silverback
Publishing.
Nations,
U., 2019. Growing at a slower pace, world
population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11
billion around 2100[online] UN DESA United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs. Available at:
<https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2019.html>
[Accessed: 22 October 2019].
Rosenberg,
K. V. et al., 2019. Decline of the North American avifauna. Science, p. eaaw1313. doi: 10.1126/science.aaw1313.
Ryerson,
W. N., 2018. The hidden gem of the cairo consensus: helping to end population
growth with entertainment media. The Journal of Population and
Sustainability. 2 (2), pp. 51–61.
Scott,
J. M., 2008. Threats to biological
diversity: global, continental, local. U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho Cooperative
Fish and Wildlife, Research Unit, University of Idaho.
Suraci,
J. P. et al., 2019. Fear of humans as apex predators has landscape‐scale impacts from mountain lions to
mice. Ecology Letters. 22
(10). pp.1578-1586.
UNSDG,
2019. UN report: nature’s dangerous
decline ‘unprecedented’; species extinction rates ‘accelerating’. [online] Sustainable Development Goals.
Available at: <https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/>
[Accessed: 2 October 2019].
UNESCO,
2010. Population continues to grow.
[online] Available at:
<http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/popups/mod13t01s001.html>
[Accessed: 22 October 2019].
Wiebe,
G. D., 1951. Merchandising commodities and citizenship on television. Public Opinion Quarterly, 15 (4), p.679. doi:
10.1086/266353.
Wynes,
S. and Nicholas, K. A., 2017. The climate mitigation gap: education and government
recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. Environ. Res. Lett, 12 (7), p. 74024. doi:
10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541.