Lecture4
Lecture4
Marketing Communications
Dr Kristina Auxtova
kristina.auxtova@ed.ac.uk
Course structure
image by gratuit
News of the Week
Your weekly challenge – What’s new in the world of marketing for net zero?
Today’s Session Aims
White, K., Hardisty, D. J., & Habib, R. (2019). The Elusive Green Consumer. Harvard Business Review, July-August, 124-133.
(essential)
- A useful article considering 5 strategies to motivate sustainable consumption
Baldassarre, F., & Campo, R. (2016). Sustainability as a marketing tool: To be or to appear to be? Business Horizons, 59(4),
421–429. (essential)
- A very useful article considering transparency, with self-assessment tools and guidance for marketers
White, K. & Simpson, B. (2013). When Do (and Don’t) Normative Appeals Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors?
Journal of Marketing, 77, 78-95 (recommended)
- A useful article considering descriptive and injunctive social norms
Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Whitwell, G. J. (2010). Why ethical consumers don’t walk their talk: Towards a framework
for understanding the gap between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded
consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 139–158. (recommended)
- useful in developing a strong understanding of the attitude-intent-behaviour gap
Can Marketing Save the Planet? How Marketers Can Tell a True Story about Climate Change with Seth Godin. (further)
The DSP and (over-)consumption
The DSP of Western democracies after World War I became a materially focused ideology
encouraging increased consumption for individuals
▪ “More is better” became the driving ethos of society’s members
▪ Consumers have been ‘trained’ to desire novelty and to be dissatisfied with what they have
and encouraged to consume more and more frequently
▪ Lack of awareness and understanding of sustainability, misunderstandings and misperceptions
▪ Lack of motivation to be sustainable
▪ Consumers protect what they regard as their personal rights and freedoms to consume in the
way they want and the feeling of entitlement to enjoy choice
▪ Act of consumption itself at odds with sustainability
Business People
AWARE
sustainable
practising
wooclap.com cynical
guilty
Code: XPFNRZ fatalist fed up
UNFAVOURABLE FAVOURABLE
ATTITUDE ATTITUDE
disinterested
in denial
ignorant
Useful aspects:
- Extent to which consumers already behave sustainably
- Whether such behaviour can continue and be extended to other aspects
of lifestyle
- Reason why sustainable behaviour is adopted or rejected
- How distinct groups can be identified and targeted via their behaviours.
- Narrow flows: Use less – using less resources to create new, focus on quality
- Reduce overall consumption & participate in sharing and rental models
Recycle waste
Do nothing
Less likely to be willing to
adopt behaviour
(Emery 2012)
Adopting sustainable behaviours?
Most commonly applied & modified theories to understand the ethical decision-
making process are theory of reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and theory
of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991; Chatzidakis et al., 2007). These theories assume:
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Orgnizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
The attitude-intent-behavior gap(s)
Despite the heightened preference for sustainability, consumers’ ecological values and
attitudes often fail to materialise in actual purchases of sustainable products.
Attitude-behaviour gap
“the disconnect between consumers’ expressed preferences for
sustainable product alternatives and their actual (un-)willingness to
purchase”
(Peterson 2021; see also Shaw et al. 2016)
Literature also talks about the intention-behaviour gap, value-action gap, or the green gap
Shaw, McMaster & Newholm (2016). Care and commitment in ethical consumption: An exploration of the
‘attitude-behaviour gap’. Journal of Business Ethics, 136(2), 251-65.
You were asked to…
- How was your experience? How successful were you at undertaking the action chosen?
- What barriers did you face? What underlying factors made your chosen action challenging to perform?
footprint.wwf.org.uk
Critiques of Theory of Planned Behaviour
Carrington, M. J., Neville, B. A., & Whitwell, G. J. (2010). Why ethical consumers don’t walk their talk: Towards a framework for understanding the gap
between the ethical purchase intentions and actual buying behaviour of ethically minded consumers. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 139–158.
The attitude-behavior gap
Claudy, M. C., Peterson, M., & O’Driscoll, A. (2013). Understanding the Attitude-Behavior Gap for Renewable
Energy Systems Using Behavioral Reasoning Theory. Journal of Macromarketing, 33(4), 273–287.
The Elusive Green Consumer
White, K., Hardisty, D. J., & Habib, R. (2019). The Elusive Green Consumer. Harvard Business Review, 125–133.
White, K., Habib, R., & Hardisty, D. J. (2019). How to SHIFT consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature
review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 22–49.
How can sustainable behaviour become
everyday behaviour / the norm?
Social norm marketing focuses on the habit, and the habits of others, not so much on sustainability itself
Given its focus on behaviour change, social marketing is ideally suited for encouraging
sustainable behaviour.
Aims of social marketing – notice the commonalities it has with sustainable marketing!
- To benefit individuals and society as a whole
- To reduce barriers to change
- To act for the greater good, act ethically
- To promote changes that are inherently good
Peattie, S., & Peattie, K. (2011). Social Marketing for a Sustainable Environment. In G.
Hastings, K. Angus, & C. A. Bryant (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Marketing. SAGE
Social marketing applied to sustainability
Individual:
Exercise
Better health
Money savings
The social marketing process applied to sustainability e.g. reduction of car usage for short journeys (Emery 2012)
Nudgestock 2023 - Beyond brands: why people are key to
sustainability - Klara Kozlov & Jamie Hamill
Lantos, G.P. (1987): Advertising: Looking glass or molder of the masses?, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 6(1): 104–28.
Defining sustainable marketing communication
➢ “Why not engage critics and ask them help make the company better?”
(Adam Werbach 2009: p.103)
Werbach, A. (2009). Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press
Baldassarre, F. & Campo, R. (2016). Sustainability as a marketing tool: To be or to appear to be? Buziness Horizons, 59 (4), 421-429
A self-assessment tool for sustainable initiative
transparency
https://www.ul.com/insights/sins-greenwashing TerraChoice (2010), The Greenwashing Report: Homes & Family Edition
Starbucks (2018) Ditching plastic
straws with their new plastic
lids “sippy cup lid.”
McDonald’s (2019) pretending to
address the issue by introducing
paper straws that were not
recyclable
A 2021 report from the Changing
Markets Foundation on sustainability
claims in the fashion industry, found
60% of claims overall were misleading.
H&M were found to be the worst
offenders with a shocking 96% of their
claims not holding up. Be wary of
imprecise language – ‘conscious’
Why don’t consumers listen to us?
▪ Ignorance
▪ Lack of belief - greenwashing
▪ Sustainability issues tend to be complicated and poorly suited
to discussing on small labels or in short advertising slots
▪ The issues are often very serious, but consumers increasingly
want to be entertained, making striking a balance difficult
▪ Wrong message format
▪ Doom and gloom fail to appeal – ‘the end of the world’
▪ Fear can lead to apathy & guilt to feeling blackmailed
▪ Rational information overload
▪ Misusing social norms – showing unsustainable behaviours
can lead to these being copied
Making sustainability sexy
Coming back to social norms and making sustainability cool and mainstream….
“Sustainability. Sexy. Two words you don’t often see together. Sustainability is a serious
word, It’s about saving the world from ecological disaster. Getting humanity on track
for survival. Heady stuff best left to academics, unions of concerned scientists, and
earnest tree-huggers. Sexy… now that’s a fun word. A word that implies pleasure. Tied
to advertising, it’s a hook that’s been used to raise sales curves on everything from
cars to cognac. A very big opportunity awaits if we – marketers, producers, and
media – manage to somehow join these words at the hip.”
Marc Stoiber (2005)
Marc Stoiber (2005). Making sustainability sexy, from an ad man’s point of view. Grist, Nov 30
Being green just isn’t enough
Iyer, E. & Bannerjee, B. (1993). Anatomy of green advertising. Advances in Consumer Research, 20, 484-501.
Types of sustainability appeals
Management appeals
▪ Our company is part of the solution
Iyer, E. & Bannerjee, B. (1993). Anatomy of green advertising. Advances in Consumer Research, 20, 484-501.
Types of sustainability appeals
Rational appeals
▪ Tap into consumer self-efficacy – confidence
that their actions will have a meaningful impact