I’ve become a rabble-rouser and activist on this really important point:  Society’s promotion and branding of health behaviors completely is inherently flawed and undermines the foundation for LASTING behavioral changes.

Our health promotion paradigm comes out of a medical model. In the USA, health means “absence of illness” while in other countries it has a much broader definition that includes well-being, etc. Here’s the big problem, we  (meaning those of us who promote health and healthy behaviors) have been marketing healthy behaviors as medicine that prevent future illnesses and helps heal those who have them.

Yet promoting behavior in this way simply sucks the inspiration right out of health behaviors. Who wants to stick with a behavior that’s “medicine”?! (In fact, research shows that people don’t even adhere to taking medicine; something that is much simpler than adopting a new behavior!)

This has got to be one of the most expensive marketing faux pas perpetrated for decades.  Branding healthy behaviors in this way creates an inherently “should-based” feeling toward them. This type of stance and motive for behavior has been shown to be non-optimal for long-term behavioral sustainability (across multiple behaviors) by research using Self-determination Theory.

Add up all of the monies wellness companies, industry, and government has spent on programs selling the “healthy behavior as medicine” brand PLUS all of the individuals who never adopted numerous health behaviors because they were not inspired to and who developed costly chronic illnesses – we’re talking billions upon billions of dollars.

It doesn’t matter that healthy behaviors like exercise, dietary changes promote good health. That’s irrelevant when it comes to effectively marketing behavior, just like it doesn’t matter that Apple makes gazillion dollars when people buy an iphone. What does matter is creating a brand for the product/behavior-of-interest that will engage and interest the end user!

The memo on ‘behavioral branding’ must have gotten lost somewhere….

I want to say a few more things about why even marketing “health” as the goal of health behavior change is a mistake.

Health as a goal for behavior….

• Health is abstract (what is health????)
• Health provides low feedback that you’ve achieved the goal (how do you know you are preventing a serious illness when you exercise???)
• Behavioral research (“delay discounting”) shows that big distant rewards (like health) are not as motivational as small frequent rewards (energy, well-being)
• It turns health behavior into medicine and robs behavior of being an inspirational act (as it has the potential to be)
• For healthy folks, taking time to practice a behavior ‘for health’ is simply not compelling. (It might be viewed as important in their minds and stated as a value, but there’s a significant chasm between what’s ‘important’ and what’s ‘compelling’ enough to fit into a very busy day. (I discovered this in a recent study.)
• OK-here’s a big one: Ultimately, health in and of itself isn’t beneficial. Health is really a proxy for other things.  Health is valuable because without it we lack energy, and lack of vitality challenges our happiness, sense of well-being, and ability to achieve our important daily and greater life goals.

So, instead of “health promotion” why don’t cut to the quick and target the REAL endpoint: vitality, happiness, and well-being? (This might be true for both healthy and ill individuals.) Not only are these discernible benefits a more accurate target they also happen to be really compelling and inspirational – A MUCH better hook and motivation for lasting behavior change.

When we deem health behavior  as “medicine”, it prevents individuals from making behavior change a vehicle for taking ownership of their lives and an autonomous act to achieve their greater life goals and purpose.

Love to hear your reactions to my rant. I welcome differing viewpoints and comments.

Michelle

PS. Early January you’ll find a new platform for me and positioning of my ideas…stay tuned.