What is social norms marketing?

Social norms marketing uses survey data collected on individual campuses to educate students about the actual level of drinking on that campus among their peers. It has been shown that students consistently overestimate the level of drinking among their peers, which then creates pressure to drink up to the norm. Once students’ misperceptions of the norm are corrected, drinking levels on campus appear to go down by about 20%. (see What are specific schools doing to solve the problem? and the Social Norms Marketing section of this site.)