Examples of where social marketing is being used to influence government policy

One of the most important social problems in Türkiye is acts of violence against women. The main reasons for this are the woman’s request for separation or divorce, pudicity, cheating and jealousy. The number of femicides has increased significantly in Türkiye in the 2000s compared to previous years. With 474 women killed, 2019 was the year in which the most women were killed in the country in the last 10 years.

In related studies, it has been observed that women who are exposed to violence cannot easily report this and cannot seek help. For this reason, the KADES project was developed by the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Türkiye in order to prevent violence against women and to support them. The target group is the women who have been or are likely to be exposed to violence by their spouses or someone else.

Within the scope of the project, bureaus for combating violence against women and domestic violence were established in provincial centers in order to inform the public and prevent possible violence actions and shorten the response times in emergency situations. To support this, a smartphone app was developed, and women motivated to download it and activate its features. With this app, the location information of women who are victims of violence is accessed, and necessary interventions are made to protect them. Between 2018 and 2023, approximately four million women downloaded the KADES application to their smartphones and about 56 thousand notifications were made using the application between these dates.