Websites About Demerit Goods

Below are three website about various demerit goods. They are educational, they discuss the media and advertising, and they also touch on the aspect of social marketing we talked about in class today. Some are more interactive than others so enjoy!

If you forgot what demerit goods are, click here.

1. Above The Influence
This website is part of a large awareness campaign in the USA. It is fairly interactive and it allows you to research facts about the most commonly abused drugs, read testimonies, ask even ask a doctor. In addition you can play games related to these topics, submit your story and watch their public awareness advertisements. I recommend it because it is well made, it doesn't seem forceful to the reader and it got me clicking around and reading about things.



2. Junkfood Science
A nice blog about junkfood and healthy living. The blog discusses research and articles that the media ignore and even won an award for one of the best medical/health blogs out there. The blog is no longer active but it is still interesting to read about various issues. I recommend it because it seems professional and has a healthy approach to educating the reader rather than trying to change his/her opinion.




3. BADvertising
A fun website dedicated to honest tobacco advertising. You can browse various tobacco and cigarette ads and change them to make them "honest". The website is interesting and encourages you to try to think about various ways these advertisements could be changed so they are no longer deceptive. Some of the ads are a little bit forceful, but I do admire the original approach. I recommend this website because one can compare and contrast the honest vs. the deceptive ads and actually create them him or herself and thus engage in the actual issue without just observing it.


An example of a BADvertising ad.

4. Alcohol Counter-Advertising
This last page is not really a website, but more of an educational article, however I found it interesting. The article is fairly long, but it discusses the effectiveness of alcohol counter-advertising and various models used to measure it. It also touched on the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns we talked about in class today. I recommend it because it is an interesting (though infinite) read and offers some interesting insight.