Abstract:

The study investigates using social marketing tools to avert harmful traditional practices concerning the COVID-19 pandemic in Cross River State, Nigeria. Some of these practices were religiosity, where the majority of people prefer going to pray in church instead of taking COVID-19 preventive measures, and food taboos, where certain foods, such as excess salt intake, were also believed to be the best. 367 respondents were sampled from a population of 3,798. After distributing the questionnaire, 329 were found usable, and analysis was done using simple linear regression. The results showed that combining social marketing tools was insignificant in averting harmful religious practices concerning COVID-19. Instead, a personalized communication approach, which is an aspect of social marketing (promotion) should be adopted to sensitize religious leaders to correct false impressions about religiosity and food aiming to improve health, the environment, and society at large.