With the advent of technology and the unequal distribution of wealth among the masses, the world has begun to become increasingly polarised between the haves and the have-nots. Numerous struggles and calls for social justice have already taken place. In order to become more equitable, to aid in the reduction of wealth disparities, and to promote social justice, governments, corporations, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have taken the lead.

Marketing has played a critical role in the dissemination of these ideas as well as the means (products) by which they are put into action in society. Marketing has undergone significant transformation in recent decades, with the goal of becoming more inclusive. From being based on exchange and transaction, it has evolved to include the advancement of society and the betterment of the world as its primary objectives. Because of this, we have to reconsider our approach to marketing. Marketing is now associated with social change, which it can affect through the use of the tools at its disposal. The specific branch of marketing that deals with its ability to bring about social change is Social Marketing. The ability to comprehend society and its structure, as well as functionalism and milieu's, will allow social marketing to be more effective in achieving the desired results.

Religion as a concept in its true essence for the betterment of individual and society. They have formed the way humans across the globe live their lives. The impact is felt by every individual believer as well as non-believer. Around 80% of the world’s population follows some form of religion. Religion to be practiced needed a set of rules and a method which with repetition became a ritual and thereby indulge in religious rituals. These religious rituals are positivist in nature and are proven to bring well-being in an individual and a social change in the society through their practice. When compared both religious rituals and social marketing aim for the betterment of the world and hence when interlinked both can act as a catalyst for bringing about social change.

To study the impact, it needs to be understood that religious rituals are not strictly followed across the globe. Some communities have much more flexibility that the others, while some have weaker tendencies that the others to follow specific religious rituals. Western societies, by their nature, are individualistic, and religious rituals have traditionally been regarded as symbols of superstitions. As a result, little research has been conducted in this area because religious rituals were regarded as inconsequential in their eyes. Eastern societies, which are collective in nature, do not hold the same views on religious rituals as western societies. Instead, they consider religious rituals to be an integral part of their lives and have incorporated them into their way of life. An increasing number of studies have looked into topics such as secular consumption becoming sacred, religious rituals becoming associated with consumption practises.

In this regard, it should be noted that researchers have made only a few attempts to understand the impact of religious rituals on social marketing and their relationship. From 1980 to the present, seminal papers on consumption rituals, spiritual consumption, and the relationship between religion and marketing have been published on a regular basis. It appears that there are still research gaps in our understanding of religious rituals from the perspective of social marketing and the positive impact religious rituals have had on people's lives.

The research paper tries to fill one of these gaps by reviewing the literature which is available in silos in the disciplines of religion, sociology, anthropology, psychology and marketing. The paper consolidates these studies and comes up with a framework which explains the linkage between religious rituals belonging to the religious dimension with social marketing belonging in the dimension of marketing. The paper has seven propositions which creates the entire framework and the intersection from religious rituals to social marketing.

Anthropology, religious studies, sociology, and psychology are some of the primary fields of study in which ritual behaviour experiences are investigated. As a result, rituals have emerged as an important component of consumer behaviour analysis in recent years, which is beneficial to consumer behaviour studies (1).

The term "ritualism" comes from the latin word "ritualis," which literally translates as "ritualised." The daily activities of every culture are governed by a strong sense of ritualism that governs their daily activities. Traditions of individual and collective communities, as well as religious practises, are the primary means by which rituals are manifested. It is customary for a particular group of people to use signs and symbols, gestures, and a particular way of doing things, which are known as rituals. In the society where they are used, they are used to denote, distinguish, and are based on deeply ingrained belief systems that exist in the society in which they are used. There are four ways in which religion has an impact on consumer psychology and behaviour: through religious beliefs and rituals, religious values, religious values, and religious involvement (2).

Rituals and Society

Rituals are patterns of behaviour and actions that are based on religious beliefs. Rituals emerge as symbols of the beliefs held by a society. (3) demonstrated that societies with a strong emphasis on individual initiative will downplay ritualism, whereas societies in which order and hierarchy are the dominant social experiences will favour ritualism. As a result, there is a difference between western and eastern philosophy when it comes to rituals. The majority of western philosophers from the Renaissance and Reformation eras regard rituals as blind beliefs devoid of knowledge and science, because the society was centred on individual initiative at the time of their writing. They believe that rituals are a hindrance to development and that they act as barriers to the prosperity of a society. They believe that rituals are the result of historical whims. It is possible to see these ideas in American and a few other European societies where individualism is the way of life.

Malinowski (1921) spent the years 1914-1916 working with the Trobriand islanders and many other tribal communities around the world, where he observed the functioning of their societies through the eyes of an individual living in those societies. The way the individuals lived their lives and the needs that they had were universal in nature, according to Malinowski's observations. He came to the conclusion that, despite the fact that the islanders attributed magic to a variety of outcomes and performed numerous rituals in their daily lives in order for that magic to benefit them in fulfilling those universal needs, he was correct in his assessment. He came to the conclusion that the entire society, which consisted of both socio-economic activities and individual members or groups of society, worked in cohesion, with each individual member or group of society performing its specialised role, as all of the customs and rituals were designed for the individual to fulfil those needs, and they were functional in nature. He went on to say that the entire society, which consisted of both socio-economic activities and individual members or groups of society, worked in cohesion, with each individual member or group of. It may seem counterintuitive that the rituals were functional in nature and resulted in some outcome, but the knowledge of why the rituals were performed and what the scientific basis for their practise has been lost to time, and the element of magic has been introduced to fill the knowledge gap that has existed since the beginning of time. According to Durkheim's theory of ritual action (1995), when members of a group come together for rituals, they are reaffirming their boundaries and their solidarity with their fellow members. As a result, the stronger one's religious beliefs are, the more stringent one's adherence to religious rituals will be, and vice versa. It was Durkheim's theory that was based on social facts, with a particular emphasis on social norms, values, and the structural organisation of society. Rituals were the glue that held the society together and allowed it to function as a cohesive unit.

Rituals are regarded as a way of life in the Eastern philosophy tradition. Their definition of a ritual is a collective act that arises out of a collective belief and works towards a collective result. Something that will continue to exist irrespective of the actions of an individual. That which holds families and societies together is known as the "glue." They believe that rituals are an inalienable part of their culture and that they are deeply ingrained in their way of life. Rituals are more prominent and recognised in collectivist societies, such as those found in the Middle East and on the Asian continent, among other places. When extraordinary changes occur in these societies, rituals make them visible, and more importantly, they make them plausible. In a society like India, where the majority of the population is collectivist by nature, rituals are ingrained in the culture. Rituals begin long before the birth of an individual and continue to be observed for many years after the death of that individual. Rituals exist outside of an individual's life cycle, such as the birth and death cycle. In a society, there are many different milieus, each of which is represented in a different way. The fact that they are members of the same society, but hold divergent viewpoints, and that these groups share common beliefs (5) through the rituals that they observe, is significant. It has also been observed that older societies have a stricter adherence to rituals than younger societies. Their rituals give meaning to their lives, as well as the confidence to survive and pride in their accomplishments. Merton's Strain Theory (1938) asserts that individuals are under social pressure to achieve goals that are considered acceptable by the community. Individuals' responses can be classified into five categories: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion, to name a few. When Indian society is viewed through the lens of Merton's theory, it depicts a society in which the majority of people respond to stress through ritualism. The religious and historical beliefs that underpin these are the reason for this. The majority of people believe that following rituals will help them achieve the elusive goals of society. As a result, the response that its members give in order to achieve these elusive goals is through rituals, as the belief's transcend life, and thus do the rituals that are followed. According to Victor Turner's Structure-Antistructure theory (1969), the purpose of rituals is to imbue the people of the community with statuses and roles in order to place them in the service of the human community and for the common good of the community. Foraging and gathering resources from forests were assigned to specific people in India, which was an ancient society with many diverse communities to manage. They were forgotten for a period of time as a result of economic development and urbanisation. Historically, people who lived in the forests were the conduits through which the general public could gain access to the forest's flora and fauna. He or she was the society's explorers and knowledge-bearers, who were responsible for discovering the benefits that could be derived from plants and animals for the benefit of the community. Over the last few hundred years, most of the knowledge they had accumulated has been lost as a result of the volatility of their society and the discontinuity in their generations as a result of external influences. Nonetheless, the practises have not been forgotten and are still in use. As a result, they are confident and proud of the way they have lived for centuries, and the rituals they practise have been practised for thousands of years, according to them. Even today, the vast majority of people in India rely on forests and agriculture, and they are still deeply rooted in their ancestral traditions. As they become a larger proportion of the population, the society as a whole becomes more deeply rooted in religious beliefs and ritualistic practises in nature. In order to effect social change among this segment of society, social programmes must be promoted in such a way that both their way of life and their sense of accomplishment in doing things are commended. There is no doubt that social marketing based on religious rituals will be successful in tribal and rural areas of collectivist societies such as India, where the majority of people hold strong religious beliefs and religious rituals are deeply ingrained in their daily routines.

Figure 1- The strength of religious rituals as evidenced by their beliefs

Religious Rituals

A religious ritual can be understood as any repetitive and systematized behaviour that is dictated by religion, culture or tradition with an aim to connect or please a deity or supernatural power. There are numerous ways in which a religious ritual can be carried out. (Geroge, Park 2013). Religious rituals have been examined from a variety of perspectives in the marketing field. Consumption rituals and spiritual consumption are the two areas that have received the most attention.

Spiritual Consumption

Since the beginning of the study of spiritual consumption, which encompasses spiritual experiences, spiritual materials, and pilgrimages, it has added many new dimensions to how individuals in a society consume their food and other goods. Before, consumption was considered to be an antagonistic force to spirituality, but this is now being called into question, according to some. Preliminary research into spiritual consumption has begun to suggest that spirituality not only supports specific types of consumption, but also outlines the rituals through which consumption occurs in a given society. According to the research, religion encourages the consumption of specific goods and services. Though there is service uncertainty still it has a positive impact of the individual (6).

As more people seek spiritual well-being products and services in the marketplace, the market is becoming increasingly crowded. When it comes to consumer spirituality, it is defined as a collection of interconnected practises and processes that are carried out with the goal of obtaining spiritual satisfaction while engaging in market activities (products, services, and places). The offerings on the market have been specifically created to satisfy consumers' need for meaningful experience with oneself or with a higher external power, and they are available for purchase on the open market in order to satisfy this thirst. Materiality, embodiment, and technological innovation have been identified as the three vehicles through which consumers engage in order to access consumer spirituality. Materiality, embodiment, and technological innovation have been identified as the three vehicles through which consumers engage in order to access consumer spirituality. (7)

Many studies have been published on pilgrimages and the spiritual consumption that goes along with them in Europe and the Middle East, and they are still being published. Mona (2013) and Cova (2018) are two examples of this. There is still room for multiple such studies in India, where there is a greater variety of spiritual consumption options available as well as numerous pilgrimage sites with thousands of years of historical significance.

Consumption Rituals

Festivals, special occasions, religious events among others lead to excessive consumption of goods and services, the consumption ritual classification can be applied to these types of events (1).

When compared to general types of consumption-laden activities, ritualised consumption differs in that it provides opportunities for individuals and communities to undergo transformations that may be temporary or permanent in nature, as opposed to the latter. It is possible to observe ritualistic behaviour in everyday activities such as eating dinner with family, eating together which is something that can be observed. Akshaya tritya , on the other hand, are considered ritualistic because they commemorate significant events in the culture, involving buying specific commodities (gold) on specific date. Even rituals like not buying iron based products on a Saturday are quite prevalent in some parts of Indian society.

Study carried out by Mona in 2013, contributes to a better understanding of consumption practises among pilgrims who are participating in an Islamic pilgrimage known as the ziyara, particularly in terms of gift-giving. When it comes to pilgrimages, they investigate the interplay between secular and sacred consumption. The researchers discovered three types of gifts- ordinary liturgical gifts, supplication gifts that invite 'prayer counter-gifts; and soteriological gifts which are given in order to ensure other-worldly salvation. Liturgical gifts are those that are given on a regular basis (also known as apostasy). It is widely believed by pilgrims that gifts are essential components of their pilgrimage, they are considered to be a requirement for entry. In pilgrimage rites, the consumption of tangible goods is an unavoidable component, with pilgrims' intangible spiritual experiences being transformed into something more tangible through the consumption of material goods. Those who are participating in an Islamic pilgrimage are encouraged to give gifts in order to embody the sacredness of the places that the individual has visited and to allow family and friends to share the sacred experience they had. Sacred experiences are shared in this way so that family and friends can share in the pilgrims' sacred experience as well. It appears that the religious dimension of gift giving has been overlooked by marketing and consumer studies scholars who have previously focused their attention on the subject of gift-giving. It is similar to going to a temple bearing gifts (flowers, Prasad) for the deity and also giving some form of gift (monetary/non- monetary) to the priest seeking his blessings in return. It also leads to giving alms to the poor in the vicinity of the temple. The whole process acts as a consumption driver for the shops dealing in ritual materials in the vicinity.

Related Propositions

Proposition - P1- Religious ritual leads to Spiritual Consumption

Proposition - P2- Religious ritual leads to Consumption rituals

Spiritual Consumption and Well-being

There have been a number of studies that have focussed of spiritual consumption and its effects on physiological and psychological well-being of individuals. Studies related to alcohol have proven that daily spiritual experiences relate to lower alcohol consumption and also improved the quality of life. (7)

Consumption rituals are common in the context of beverage and food usage, and they are related with psychological and social advantages like social bonding, attitudinal change, and enhanced consumer perceptions. Religious rituals are also common in the context of alcohol consumption.  The cognitive, social, and affective outcomes of ritual food and drink consumption, can help in creating a holistic understanding which can be used to create solutions for limiting excessive consumption of harmful products thereby improving the society (8)

Religion has been found to be positively associated with subjective well-being through the experiments which used signalling theory. Researchers have speculated that religion, by requiring participants to participate in time-consuming rituals, may help them to exercise greater self-control, thereby improving their overall well-being and reducing their risk of disease.(9).

Random gestures do not have the same impact on consumption as ritualistic gestures. Furthermore, delaying the possibility to consume after undertaking a ritual increases pleasure, lending support to the idea that ritual actions helps increase goal-directed action (to consume). Taking part in a ritual oneself has a greater impact on consumption than simply watching someone else take part in a ritual, indicating that participation in rituals is required for the benefits of rituals to manifest themselves. Rituals help people get more enjoyment out of their food and drink because they evoke a higher amount of engagement in the experience than other methods. (10)

Related Propositions

Proposition- P3- Spiritual consumption has a positive impact on well-being.

Proposition -P4- Consumption rituals dictate the consumption of specific products and services

Proposition- P5- Consumption of some products and services as dictated by religious rituals has a positive impact on well-being

Religious rituals of prayer are related to  higher levels of well-being among consumers, which is related to lower levels of materialism among those who participate..(11). People who place a considerably major value on materialistic principles consume more goods and incur more debt than those who do not place a high priority on materialistic principles. They also have lesser social interactions, act in more environmentally harmful ways, have numerous difficulties at work and lesser educational motivation, and report lower levels of personal and physical well-being. (12). A confession of a past consumer transgression has an impact on subsequent amends-making behavior patterns such as dieting or environmentally - conscious (13). Sustainable consumption, financial saving, and investment are all examples of future-oriented consumption behaviours that will be boosted by the practise of religious rituals that are more cyclical (rather than linear), future-focused in their time orientation rather than past- or present-focused (14). Its reported that when people are allowed to perform their religious rituals, their activities become less stressful (15). People who are spiritual in nature but do not adhere to a religious framework are at risk of developing a psychological disorder. (16). Individuals feel safer and their food is purer when rituals are present (17).

Related propositions

Proposition-P6- Well-being through religious rituals, which is mediated by spiritual consumption and consumption rituals, leads to a low level of materialism

Proposition-P7- Consumption of some products and services as dictated by religious rituals leads to materialism.

Framework

The proposed framework creates an intersection of religion and marketing with a focus on religious rituals and social marketing. The seven propositions listed in the previous section take a form in this proposed framework.

Figure 2- Proposed Framework from extending religious rituals to social marketing.

An individual's level of religious conviction has a major influence on attitudes, beliefs, and purchasing decisions. In the past decades, rationality has become an important in consumer research studies, and a great amount of study has been done in this field. Although this literature supports the existence of links between religion and certain consumer outcomes, it does not explain the psychological mechanisms that drive these effects. While it is vital to understand the variables that contribute to the disparities in outcomes that arise from differences in religiosity, it is equally essential to understand the factors that contribute to the inequalities in outcomes that emerge from differences in religiosity. Rather than merely examining the disparities between customers of various religious origins, we must understand the causes for such variances in consumer religiosity. Religiosity is linked to low materialism, prejudice, consumer morals, and risk avoidance, among other things. Furthermore, religious customers are more likely to have a favourable attitude toward religious goods and to be thriftier in their purchases. To clarify the links between religiosity and consumer experiences, we utilised particular instances of each measure to describe each dimension. Prayer-induced happiness was linked to a decrease in materialistic inclinations, which is in line with the link between materialism and stress and discontent. Furthermore, the threat of everlasting damnation acts as a potent disincentive to unethical behaviour, resulting in better consumer ethics. The arguments outlined may be seen in people's risk aversion and attitudes toward products and services in every community throughout the world. Consumers with strong religious identities (strong religious beliefs and involvement in religious rituals) are emotionally dedicated to their religion and glad to be members of it; as a result, it is realistic to expect them to be receptive to religious ritual requirements. Our final proposal addressed the positive impact of religious rituals on non-materialism and how they influence consumer decision-making. In a similar vein, marketers will be able to envision the seamless integration of their products into society without encountering opposition from the general public. They may be able to accelerate the diffusion of their products throughout society by utilising the proposed model. The model can also be applied to the marketing of products and services.

This can help marketers and social marketers in making everyday consumption pleasurable and enjoyable. Because rituals evoke increased engagement and attention from the customer, they appear to enrich the consuming experience. People's levels of involvement with items vary, and feeling intensely connected boosts the power of the experience. (14).

Interestingly, rituals have a substantial impact on how people react to what comes next, which is a surprise finding. Consumption is consistently more enjoyable following rituals than it would have been otherwise, according to our findings. Ordinary eating and drinking situations in order to systematically examine the impact of rituals on consumption. Therefore, rituals may be employed as a technique of motivating individuals to do a little bit more of the things that make life meaningful in order to make it worthwhile.

The social marketer working for the betterment of society will have to delve into the history, culture, traditions, beliefs, and customs of his target audience in order to identify religious rituals that are currently being practised or that were previously practised and stimulate them, marketing those rituals in order to bring about social change without provoking a society's rejection or defence, but rather an easier acceptance. The influence of religious rituals can be seen in both the daily lives of individuals and the structure of society as a whole. Ritualism has the potential to become a useful tool in the marketing toolkit that has previously been overlooked. It is proposed that ritualism can be a powerful tool for bringing about social change in a society because rituals are actions carried out by individuals or by groups of people acting as a whole to effect social change. Rituals have an indirect impact on social movements or have the potential to bring about social change. Rituals are environmentally friendly and don't consume a lot of resources. Hayagreeva Rao (2019) argues that for social movements to be successful, they must have cohesion and focus, which are also side effects of ritual participation. The paper takes the previous work of researchers forward by consolidating it and create a framework. Researchers in marketing and particularly in social marketing will be interested in this research. The framework can be applied on the existing religious rituals to improve the overall wellbeing of the society.

Each of the propositions mentioned above can be studied independently and also the interplay they have with each other. Quantitative research can be carried out to prove the framework. The boundary conditions can also be studied. Generally, the belief is than an individual follows a single religion and is bound to those rituals. If the individual is in religious transit or follows multiple religions does the framework still hold. Further ethnographic studies and netnographic studies can be carried for proving the framework and building literature around it using religious rituals across the globe.

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