| This dissertation evaluates the effect of the 2012 1% Low-Fat Milk Has Perks! social marketing intervention, a multi-component intervention conducted in the Oklahoma City media market that prioritized SNAP beneficiaries, and describes the findings from the formative research leading up to its development.;The intervention effect was measured by comparing changes in 1% milk sales as well as changes in the type of milk SNAP beneficiaries reported usually purchasing. A segmented regression model identified that there was no trend toward increasing 1% milk sales prior to the intervention but a significant and positive trend emerged after the intervention was implemented. Among SNAP beneficiaries, pre- and post-intervention telephone surveys revealed that low-fat milk use increased from 7.7% to 12.4% from before to immediately after the intervention, a 61% relative improvement. The use of 1% milk, the focus of the behavior change, increased the most (92.7% relative increase). These changes were accompanied by proportional decreases in whole and 2% milk use. No change in the market share of 1% milk occurred in the Tulsa media market, the comparison media market, from before to after the intervention ended, indicating that indicating that the 1% Low-Fat Milk Has Perks! intervention was the cause of the change.;Social marketing can be an effective health promotion tool to change nutrition behaviors at the population level and among the specific priority population of SNAP beneficiaries. |
