This chapter begins by presenting the different terms used in Latin America to refer to marketing activities, these are Mercadeo, mercadotecnia, and marketing. Next, it presents how social marketing emerged and how it has evolved, highlighting that it is a marketing response to address different social problems. Social Marketing seeks to use marketing strategies and tools to benefit society and has been used differently in varied contexts. For example, Social Marketing has contributed to the prevention of problems related to health and the environment. Likewise, the chapter points out that one of the limitations to knowing more about how Social Marketing has been used in Latin America is the limited evidence available.

However, the chapter indicates that the evidence shows that Social Marketing is confused with other marketing applications. Furthermore, it is clarified that there are several approaches, models, and approximations from which Social Marketing is worked and the ignorance of the use of Social Marketing in Latin America is mentioned. The chapter highlights the contribution of the Latin American Association of Social Marketing (LAMSO): addressing some of these limitations and thus respond to the different problems of Latin American contexts.