Even Mps Flout The Laws: Is The Rule Of Law Under Threat?

This piece is inspired by some worrying trends in the nation`s LAW management system; the lawmakers and the law enforcers have become lawbreakers. Consequently, the level of lawlessness in our society is becoming unbearable. In this work we propose to apply social marketing principles to the broader phenomenon of law breaking and law enforcement to help us understand the behavior of citizens (whether they are ordinary people, MP`s or law enforcement officers) as socially complex actors in a modern society. Our primary goal is to offer socially constructive and citizen-friendly alternatives for policymakers and law management authorities.

“Social Marketing is the use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, reject, modify, or abandon a behavior for the benefit of individuals, groups, or society as a whole” (Kotler et al., 2002). It primarily aims at achieving a socially desirable attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The individual benefits and society becomes better and safer.

The reason societies must search for and apply socially sensitive alternative law management approaches is that citizens now have a stronger bargaining POWER because they determine the winners in our political contests. Consequently, politicians have become overly responsive and, in some cases, utterly helpless against citizens who violate our laws. In developing societies it is not worth enforcing the national laws, from the politicians` unpleasant political experience of having done so in the past; the citizens will punish your government.

As rivalry among parties intensifies, and as the desire on the part of politicians to placate voters increases, impunity and lawlessness will worsen and our nation may become a banana republic. To arrest the current situation calls for a paradigm shift in the way laws are made and implemented.

To marketers it is self-evident that the delivery of social services/law enforcement can be made far more effective if the citizens are segmented based on differences in subcultures, literacy, social status and social class. This will allow policy makers to develop different approaches to dealing with lawlessness. The idea is not to have different laws for different people but to use different and creative approaches for different segments.

For example, if ignorance of the law must not be an excuse (ignorantia legis neminem excusat) then our illiterate population must be given extensive legal education. The elite have the capacity and so they know or have the ability to know the law. Applying the principles of law to the ignorant and the elite equally grossly discriminates and creates injustice and inequity that our legal systems seek to address.

Social marketing applies PERSUASIVE techniques and has been used successfully in a number of different contexts suggesting that its basic principles have universal applicability and experiences can be replicated.

1. Tobacco use in the U. S.; this program successfully reduced tobacco use among the target group
2. Tuberculosis in Peru; the program reduced TB among the target population
3. Malaria in Nigeria; the incidence of malaria deaths was reduced
4. Diarrhea-related mortality in Madagascar; this resulted in significant reduction in diarrhea-related deaths

(The cases are discussed in detailed in Hong, Kotler and Lee 2010)

The first step in implementing social marketing is for law management institutions to become Citizen-centered. This will require that the institutions work with citizens to co-create law and order. This approach will ensure that stakeholders participate, become advocates and provide feedback for maintenance of law and order

To implement the social marketing philosophy the authorities must borrow and use the basic marketing tools namely PRODUCT, PRICING, PROMOTION AND DISTRIBUTION.

Social marketing product refers to the bundle/basket of benefits the individual will derive from the new and desired behavior. The benefits must prove superior to the old behavior pattern. Benefits for being law abiding will include personal and society`s safety, minimal damage to personal and society`s property, avoiding inconvenience/pain associated with accidents, litigations etc. The role of social marketing will be to ensure that citizens understand the benefits associated with becoming law abiding.

Social marketing pricing refers to the perceived cost to the individual if the old behavior is abandoned. For the street vendor the cost of not selling on the streets is sharp decline in sales. The vigilante loses visibility and so becomes less attractive to his pay master. Traditional marketers provide incentives to get customers to modify their buying behavior. Law management authorities have a duty to provide incentives that will make any changes in behavior desirable, less costly and less painful. For vigilantes, skills training could be the magic formula. What we need on our roads is not more police patrols but disciplined and law abiding road users because the police cannot be everywhere.

Social marketing distribution works to achieve two forms of social utilities; ownership and convenience utilities. One way to promote voluntary behavior is to allow the target group to co-own the behavior change process. This is important because the desired behavior must be cultivated and maintained so that it is exhibited anywhere anytime. Convenience means it must not be difficult to ascertain the nature of the desired behavior and must also not be difficult to act in the desired manner. Road signs and street lights could help in this direction.

Social marketing Promotion involves public officers using persuasive communications approaches to inspire and influence citizens to accept or reject a behavior. Communication must be multi-level involving all relevant stakeholders. One obvious challenge with law enforcement is the “BIGMAN” syndrome in our society. When the BIGMAN breaks the law the poor gets the signal that it is normal to break the law. Again, the BIGMAN calls to request for the release of ordinary people who flout the laws. This is the reason social marketing communication must be integrated and must also target all stakeholders.

In conclusion, the increasing incidence of lawlessness in an era of democracy and rule of law is a matter of contradiction and shame. Understanding how the social marketing model can be adapted and applied to managing and maintaining law in a developing society is vital for the future of rule of law and democracy. The Marketing discipline must take a prominent position in fashioning this understanding. The authorities must begin exploring these time-tested and socially constructive approaches to reconstructing modern societies.

Source: ANAS SULEMANA (Fellow, Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK)

Lecturer: Tamale Technical University, Tamale

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