Rethinking social marketing: towards a sociality of consumption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how members of an online alcohol reduction community learn, construct and engage in alcohol reduction consumption consistencies. Design/methodology/approach – Blog data from 15 individuals participating in the online community of Hello Sunday Morning were collected and analysed. Informants also participated in a series of in-depth interviews to gain a self-reflective perspective of alcohol reduction action, activities and interactions. Findings – The findings indicate learning of new alcohol reduction consumption consistencies occurs through three modes or learning infrastructures: engagement, imagination and alignment, enabling a collective sense of connection in the creation of new alcohol-related rituals and traditions, competency of practices and transmission of values and norms beyond the community. Research limitations/implications – The results underscore the need for social marketers to recognise learning of alcohol reduction behaviour is continually negotiated and dynamically engendered through socially reproduced conditions, responses and relationships. Originality/value – This study contributes to the transformational potential of social marketing situating behaviour change as a social interaction between actors within a dynamic market system.