The Rewards for Justice Program, Research Paper Example

It is an undeniable fact that the success of the Rewards for Justice Program totally hinges on the application of relevant marketing, promotional or advertising strategies. Two kinds of marketing that have produced effective outcomes in RFJ Program include social and cause marketing.

Social marketing has been recognized as a workable technique that the management of most non-profit organizations utilizes to reach people by publicizing a particular issue to raise funds for their organizations¹. The vital aspect of this marketing strategy is that a matter of interest, possibly a worrisome health issue that people are passionate about—for example, HIV/AIDS—would be the centerpiece of the marketing campaign. Also employed by non-profit organizations to generate funds, cause marketing works in an entirely different way by creating a kind of partnership between non-profit organizations and corporate bodies in pursuant of a cause or purpose with great passion².

Some characteristics of both social and cause marketing are, in a way, similar: they both support that undertaking marketing research is non-negotiable, and that customers or audience’s preferences should be given an unconditional priority.

Rewards for Justice Program is entirely a Western-initiated concept or idea which is meant to offer monetary incentives to the public to help in catching international terrorists that are serious threats to sovereign authorities, most especially the United States³. It is this concept that would have to be marketed to the target audience, most of whom live in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Incidentally, cross-cultural marketing proffers some difficult questions that should be answered? Would the people in the targeted localities be willing to offer their help in tracking down dangerous terrorists? Would they easily accept the philosophy that nurtures RFJ program in the first instance? How do their cultures perceive such an attempt? Won’t they see it as an obstructive or repressive effort from foreign cultures or governments?

International marketing requires that helpful research be carried out in the target markets prior to the entry into there with a new and somehow strange product (like RFJ Program)⁴.  Some issues of great concern include but not limited to discovering the current nature of marketing in the target localities, analyzing the marketing possibilities, identifying the probable competition or rival product (program), and understanding the human requirement of the marketing strategy.

Understanding the current marketing strategies in the target jurisdictions will result in huge success for proponents of the Reward for Justice Program. If Middle East, as it turns out to be, remains the main target for the United States and other world powers to root out all forms of terrorism activities and proliferation of dangerous terrorists, an Arab-leaning marketing perspective should be strictly considered in selling the Reward for Justice Program to them.

What are the requirements for effective social and cause marketing in Arab countries?  What are the dimensions to be taken in order to record unprecedented achievements in this area?

Marketing in Arab countries is similar to what is obtainable in any other part of the world: however, the only difference is that mass and social media that are utilized for mass marketing in the Arab world are strictly censored⁶. Invariably, social or cause marketing would be success-oriented depending on the influence of influential foreign governments on these local mass media. Censorship reduces the choice power of individuals and subjects them to constant fear and hopelessness. It is no longer news that the Middle East is basically religious and people’s lifestyles are under the control of powerful Imams, Sheiks, Sultans and Kings. These influential personalities control the media contents and make sure that the information passed across to the public is watered down, biased and non-revolutionary⁷. Hence, there is limited opportunity for foreign program to be unobtrusively marketed to the ordinary Arab citizens.

Worse still, social activities or issues are championed by the Islamic regimes in Arab and North African countries: hence, this provides little chance for foreign-sponsored Non-Governmental Organizations from gaining a deep entry into the psyche of the Arab people⁸. This circumstance has made the few Non Profit Organizations in Arab World to be ineffective and always put under the control of States. As a result of this social marketing is only peppered with Islamic messages and altruistic activities, and giving less room for constructive criticism of the reigning government⁸. There is a kind of symbiotic relationship between the Arab Governments and the few Non-Governmental Organizations in those countries, because the latter depend on the governmental grants and funds to operate and discharge their services to the public.

Marketing and media go hand in hand: but the conditions in Middle East, North Africa and some Asian countries make it somehow impenetrable to foreign influence. So, how can the United States send the essential message of its Reward for Justice Program to the people in these jurisdictions?

The first approach at solving this critical problem is to look into the possibility of using the pre-existing social and cause marketing modalities available in the target localities. This boils down to investigating the prevalent marketing strategies in Middle East, North Africa and some Asian countries. To narrow the scope of this investigation, Arab marketing procedures will be critically considered in this paper, since other Muslim nations operate with similar marketing principles.

Some interesting studies have been carried out on the issue of marketing mechanics in the entire Arab World as the forces of globalization threatened to collapse or geographical or ideological boundaries. Uninterestingly enough, some of the findings point to the dismal reality of Arab marketing processes, which involves some multiple factors in the interactions among human beings. These factors include physical, social, cultural, religious, political, mental and emotional circumstances.

For example, while American public may care less about the religious or cultural implications of an advertisement, Arab people place a great importance on the conformity of any advert to religious, social, emotional, physical, political and mental implications. So, how can such a politically controversial program like Reward for Justice Program be successfully marketed in an environment full of overtly religious and emotional people who would do everything in their power to frustrate overwhelming foreign influence on their world?

Rabasa noticed that employing the assistance of the Arab presidents to crack down on the extremists in their jurisdictions or sell anti-terrorism mantra to them has born little or no success since the heinous 9/11 attack on the United States¹¹. The political risks, on their parts, are magnanimous. Countries like Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan strongly demonstrate that such an approach is simply not working. The United States has spent billions of dollars in recent years to support anti-terrorism drives and programs in some Arab countries; but not much progress has been recorded in this area. Year in year out, more extremists and terrorists are bred across these nations, while the public seem to have lost complete trust in the governments and whatever programs (Reward for Justice Program inclusive) they may be peddling. Pakistan, for example, has suffered reprisals from local terrorists who took their frustration on the helpless and defenseless civilians.

However, the best approach to reach deeper into these seemingly impenetrable localities is by encouraging international Non-Governmental Organizations to domesticate their services and activities in the target geographical locations. The current infiltration of foreign NGOs in the Arab world has been instrumental in spreading Western ideologies to the Arab people⁸. Even though the activities of the International NGOs are restricted to only social and welfare categories, it is possible to use the avenue to preach to the locals the danger of allowing their children or family members grow into full-fledge extremists. Incidentally, foreign NGOs utilize both social and cause marketing procedures to enlighten the public about social causes and effects, and how they could live their lives appropriately.

These social activities can be extended into the possibility of marketing the Reward for Justice Program, in a subtle manner. The Arab people who work for the foreign NGOs may be recruited to reach out to their fellow countrymen and solicit for help to prevent future terror attacks on Western grounds as well as tracking down wanted terrorists. This approach may bring some backlash if the government operatives or conservative citizen groups discover the motive behind the campaign. However, this appears to be the only way to reach out to the dissidents within Arab world, who are always uncomfortable with foreign incursion into their religious and cultural setting.