EVALUATING SOCIAL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS ON CHILD ABUSE IN BENIN METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

This study  investigated the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns on child abuse. The broad objective of this study is to empirically evaluate the  effect of social marketing campaigns on child abuse, the level of awareness of social marketing tools and efforts in reducing the trend and incidences of child abuse in Benin metropolis with a view to evaluating the extent in which social marketing campaign is effective in mitigating child labour, assessing whether there is significant association between social marketing campaign and child trafficking, ascertain if there is a significant association between social marketing and eradication of the street urchins phenomenon, evaluate the relationship between social marketing campaign and eradication of child hawking.  The population of this study constitute the residents of Benin Metropolis. The sample  size for this study was 240. Copies of the questionnaire were administered to respondents in 10 major commercial hubs in Benin Metropolis viz; Ring road, Ramat park, Aduwawa centre, Third market centre,  Santana market centre, Sakponba centre,  Ekenwan centre,  New Benin upper mission centre, Uselu-Ugbowo centre, Oluku centre. Data were collected and analysed with Friedman's chi-square using SPSS 16.0. This study revealed that social marketing campaign is effective in mitigating child labour incidences. There is a significant association between social marketing efforts and the  abolishment of child trafficking, there is a significant effect of social marketing campaign on the eradication of street urchins phenomenon, there is a significant relationship between social marketing campaign and eradication of child hawking. Based on the findings, it is recommended that social marketing campaigns efforts should be directed towards reducing the rate of child abuse in Benin Metropolis as it is a significant tool in curbing this incidence and the reach of the campaigns should be widened to get across to the targeted audience of the campaign efforts.