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Lecture4

Lecture 4 focuses on sustainable consumption and marketing communications, addressing the need for sustainable practices in the context of climate change. It explores the challenges of the 'green gap', the role of consumer behavior, and the importance of effective communication strategies to motivate sustainable actions. Key theories such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and Behavioral Reasoning Theory are discussed to understand the disconnect between consumer intentions and actual behaviors.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
18 views44 pages

Lecture4

Lecture 4 focuses on sustainable consumption and marketing communications, addressing the need for sustainable practices in the context of climate change. It explores the challenges of the 'green gap', the role of consumer behavior, and the importance of effective communication strategies to motivate sustainable actions. Key theories such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and Behavioral Reasoning Theory are discussed to understand the disconnect between consumer intentions and actual behaviors.

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minyizhang666
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Lecture 4: Sustainable consumption and

Marketing Communications

Marketing For Net Zero

Dr Kristina Auxtova
kristina.auxtova@ed.ac.uk
Course structure

Section Week Week’s Topic Workshops

I. Context & theoretical Course introduction


W1
foundations Marketing in the climate crisis & Framing sustainable marketing

W2 Circular Economy and Marketing Practice Part 1 Podcasting Workshop


II. Contemporary marketing
practices, questions, and Circular Economy and Marketing Practice Part 2
W3 Assignment Q&A
challenges in the context of Guest Speaker
climate change
W4 Sustainable Consumption and Marketing Communications

III. The future of Sustainability


W5 The future of sustainable marketing practice
Marketing Practice

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

▪ Understand the need for and nature of sustainable consumption.

▪ Examine the green gap as the key challenge in sustainable consumption

▪ Explore key approaches to motivating behavioural change for sustainability

▪ Marketing psychology: changing norms of behaviour

▪ Social marketing theory

▪ Understand the role of transparency and the concept of greenwashing

▪ Explore good practice in sustainable communication


Key Readings for Week 4

Emery (2012). Sustainable marketing


Chapters 3, 5 and 8. (recommended)

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

See Emery (2012), Peterson (2021)


What is the role/ responsibility of a consumer?

Do individual actions of a consumer


Government
matter?
Are they sufficient?
Triangle of
change

Business People

The triangle of change (Emery 2012)


Consumer attitudes to sustainability

AWARE
sustainable
practising
wooclap.com cynical
guilty
Code: XPFNRZ fatalist fed up

UNFAVOURABLE FAVOURABLE
ATTITUDE ATTITUDE

disinterested
in denial

ignorant

UNAWARE Attitudes to sustainability (Emery 2012, Figure 3.1)


Moving beyond the green consumer

The challenge is not how to access the


sustainable green niche, or those that are most
amenable to change (repeating the mistakes
of the green marketers) but to target everyone
The green consumer was targeted as a
segment, a specialist niche, via the use of
product substitution
This approach did not result in a mass green
movement or mainstream green consumption

Peattie & Crane (2005) Green Marketing: Legend, myth,


farce or prophesy? Qualitative Market Research: An
International Journal, 8(4), 357–370.
Segmentation for sustainability?

Early models focused on environmental concerns only.

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.

Willingness to adopt sustainable habits: willing? reluctant? resistant? hostile?


Sustainable consumption in CE:
Framework of Flow strategies

From a consumer perspective:


- Regenerate flows: Go green – no hazardous and non-renewable materials
- Choosing organic food, toxic-free cosmetics, renewable energy

- Narrow flows: Use less – using less resources to create new, focus on quality
- Reduce overall consumption & participate in sharing and rental models

- Slow flows: Use longer – keeping products/materials in use as long as possible


- Treating products with care, repair if necessary (helps if emotional attachment increased)

- Close flows: Use again – reuse & recycling


- Consumers are suppliers of the very ‘waste products’ recycling processes require

- Gifting, selling, donating, separating waste

Konietzko, J., Bocken, N.M.P., Hultink, E.J. (2020). Circular ecosystem


innovation: An initial set of principles. Journal of Cleaner Production
The Importance of Lifestyle as Context

The sustainability of our


consumption behaviour is
about the total impact of our
overall lifestyle – not
individual purchases.

Belz & Peattie (2012)


© 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. www.wiley.com/college/belz
The lifestyle sacrifice threshold
People have individual limits of how sustainable they are willing and able
to be in their lifestyle before the effort and sacrifice is too much.
.
More likely
to improve Adopt fully sustainable lifestyle
sustainability
Derive pleasure without unnecessary materialistic consumption
Purchase fewer material goods

Reduce car usage

Eat organic Eat less meat

Buy Fairtrade goods

Take energy saving


measures at home
Lifestyle sacrifice
Use sustainable household threshold
products

Recycle waste

Do nothing
Less likely to be willing to
adopt behaviour

(Emery 2012)
Adopting sustainable behaviours?

THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOUR

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:

▪ (1) Beliefs determine attitudes,


▪ (2) attitudes lead to intentions
▪ (3) intentions inform behaviour.
▪ (4) Social norms and behavioural control moderate
intentions & behaviour
BUT
Gaps can be found between attitudes and intentions,
or between intentions and behaviour

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…

Analyse your carbon footprint and reflect on your results


Select one emissions-reducing action and perform this action for 3 weeks.

- 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

Critiques & limitations of the attitude-intent-behaviour models:


▪ simply accepting that intentions lead to behaviour Carrington et al.’s (2010) response
to the critiques:
▪ studies tend to measure stated intentions and self-reported
behaviour, rather than actual behaviour → social
desirability bias
▪ little attention given to actual behavioural control
individuals have
▪ ignoring the external effect of the environment/situation on
purchase behaviour (e.g. interactions with the physical and
social environment)

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

Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT)


Includes reasons for taking an action, as well as reasons against taking an action in models of
decision-making – favors more complete explanation
Adoption of Rooftop Solar Panels
▪ study that adopted BRT
▪ Reasons for adoption:
▪ Economic benefits
▪ Environmental benefits
▪ Independence from conventional
energy sources
▪ Reasons against adoption:
▪ Initial capital costs
▪ Uncertainty regarding performance
▪ Perceived incompatibility with existing
infrastructure of the home
▪ Reasons against outweighed reasons for
▪ Need to understand the resistance and the
obstacles to try to address them

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

Sustainability marketers need to understand


facilitators of behaviour change to help consumers
change their behaviours and act on their intentions

5 actions for companies to consider:


▪ use social influence & social norms
▪ shape good habits
▪ leverage the domino effect
▪ decide whether to talk to the heart or the brain
▪ favour experiences over ownership.

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

Changing norms of behaviour


1) Copying others – What others do & what is expected to be done
2) Thinking of others – Altruism, ascription of responsibility to self for the undesirable consequences to others
3) Thinking of ourselves – Pro-environmental personal norm becomes a personal moral obligation to act.
Focus theory of normative conduct

Robert Cialdini (social psychologist) argues that behaviour is guided by two


types of social norm
RESEARCH INSIGHT
➢ Descriptive – what is done, what most people do A major predictor of
whether people will install
➢ People want to behave in a socially appropriate manner
solar panels is simply
➢ Adopt the norms of peers as a standard against which they compare whether their close-by
their own behaviours neighbours have done so.

➢ Injunctive – what ought to be done


RESEARCH INSIGHT
➢ A reflection of the moral codes of society and the social group Telling buffet diners that
➢ Can either motivate or restrict people’s behaviour the norm was to not take
too much at once (and
▪ Following social norms is often unrecognised by consumers themselves that it was OK to return for
seconds) decreased food
▪ Marketers need to identify that true reason for behaviour change
waste by 20.5%.

White and Simpson (2013). When Do (and Don’t) Normative Appeals


Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors? Journal of Marketing, 77, 78-95
Turbocharging social influence

1. Make sustainable behaviours more evident to others


➢ Choices made in front of others are found to often be more eco-friendly
➢ Clear bin bags in Halifax making contents visible to neighbours decreased landfill garbage by 31%

2. Make people’s commitments to eco-friendly behaviour public


➢ “For Our Air: I Turn My Engine Off When Parked.” → 73% decrease in idling time

3. Use healthy competition between social groups


➢ WWF Earth Hour, a global lights-off event → competition between cities
➢ sharing how people performed (energy use, petrol mileage) – can compare to neighbours to encourage
energy savings
Behaviour change through social marketing

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

Both social and sustainable marketing aim to replace an undesirable


behaviour with a desirable one

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

Four components of sustainable behavioural change


Undesirable Sacrifice/ Possible Benefits
behaviour Costs/ Barriers replacement
behaviours For successful
outcomes, the
Using a car for Speed Public transport Societal: substitute
local journeys Convenience Walking Less noise/air pollution services and
products must
under 5km Laziness Cycling CO2 reduction provide benefits
Saving of natural resources that outweigh
Quality of life the costs of not
changing

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

Sustainability benefits and features need to benefit the


selfish self
Brands must meet the immediate psychological needs
of the consumer

Hellman’s Make Taste not Waste


60% of food waste happens at home
How to turn what’s in the fridge into tasty meals?
Creative Platform for a Behaviour Change Programme
- App
- Fridge Night Challenge
- Recipes
Communicating sustainability
Let’s consider a question…

Why are marketing communications so often the focus of critical attacks


on marketing as a field, and sustainable marketing in particular?
Communications – focus of criticism

Two views of marketing communications:


▪ Firstly as a ‘Mirror’ of Society, which reflects back what we want and how we live,
and connects us to the solutions and products that companies offer us.
▪ Secondly, as a ‘Distorted Mirror’ that encourages over-consumption, selfishness
and which promotes stereotyping, superficiality and a homogenised global
consumer culture.

Is advertising bad for us?


Evidence suggests that advertising in particular is creating a society in
which people save less, borrow more, work harder, and consume ever
greater quantities of material goods.

Publis Interest Research Centre


(PIRC) and WWF-UK report

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

‘Communicating sustainability’ ‘Communicating sustainably’


▪ ‘brainprint’ of communications ▪ ‘footprint’ of communications
▪ what messages and content we communicate ▪ how the marketing communications of
an organisation are actually enacted
▪ Considers all the organisation’s stakeholder interests
▪ emissions from website hosting, event &
▪ Facilitates transparency, accountability, & integrity
content production, media buying
in the organisation

The influence of marketing’s brainprint:


CISL (2022) Marketing's Influence on worldviews, identities and
lifestyles. Sustainable Marketing, Media and Creative [Online course].
The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership https://www.wearemiq.com/blog/why-marketers-shy-away-from-sustainable-advertising/
Accountability and transparency

We have moved from times when disclosing or promoting social responsibility


and sustainability efforts was additional value – it is now a requirement for
survival, both from a policy perspective and a competition perspective.
“Companies are
increasingly swimming in a
highly transparent fishbowl”
Do we need to talk about the good we do? (Kotler, 2011,p.134)
➢ Communication is needed to inform stakeholders, internally to employees
and externally

➢ “it makes customers conscious of their choices (e.g.,


rewarding/boycotting a company) and creates a positive inclination in the
market and a culture of sustainability.” (Baldassarre & Campo 2016: 428)

➢ “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

Baldassarre, F. & Campo, R.


(2016). Sustainability as a
marketing tool: To be or to
appear to be? Buziness Horizons,
59 (4), 421-429
Greenwashing
▪ ‘The dissemination of misleading information by an organisation to conceal its
abuse of the environment in order to present a positive image’.
▪ ‘The act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a
company or the environmental benefits of a product or service’.

= claiming that a product/service/organisation is environmentally friendly, by:


▪ Hiding negative impacts or outcomes
▪ Showing only selective information - Making too much of one sustainable
attribute of their product when other features of the product are not
sustainable
▪ Bending real data
▪ Focusing only on the positive side of the story - Organisations unethically
emphasising a ‘hero product in a portfolio of villains’
▪ An environmental claim which is unsubstantiated (a fib) or irrelevant (a
distraction).

Image source: https://impakter.com/beware-of-greenwashing-finance/

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)

Have we got there? Is sustainability the sexy trend now?

Marc Stoiber (2005). Making sustainability sexy, from an ad man’s point of view. Grist, Nov 30
Being green just isn’t enough

Losing sight of the basics


- Sustainability is one of many goals of SMC –
traditional marketing objectives should not be
overlooked (primary core benefit of a phone
needed as just being green is not enough for
consumers)
Clouding the brand story
- Sustainability is only one part of the story for
most brands
Misreading the target audience
- Green market is not homogeneous and
segments change depending on industry
Types of sustainability appeals

Normative appeals – copying others Normative appeals - to individual responsibility


▪ Invoking social norms ▪ Links to personal ethics & helps people take ownership
of their behaviours
Types of sustainability appeals

Normative appeals - altruistic Zeitgeist appeals


▪ In the best interest of others: humanity, ▪ Link to prevailing social concerns about
community, future generations, children environmental and social issues

▪ Appeals to biospheric values


Types of sustainability appeals

Benefit appeals Euphoria appeals


▪ Financial: Save money, save the planet ▪ Invoking a sense of well-being:
Pure, healthy, natural
▪ Health / Taste

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

Apple shares a carbon footprint update with Mother Nature

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

▪ Frame messages in terms of losses rather than


gains, focus on local impacts & offer concrete
steps for action

▪ BUT Information does not necessarily lead to


awareness, nor does awareness lead to action
Bacardi and Lonely Whale
– hope – eliminating single-
Emotional appeals use straws

▪ Evoke guilt, hope, empowerment: Save the kids, polar bears

▪ Hope and pride are particularly useful in driving sustainable consumption.

▪ Guilt can also be an effective motivator but should be used carefully –


used subtly or with moderation.

▪ Emotional exhortation can lead to a sense of paralysis – feeling that an


individual can do little to alleviate global problems

Tide – clear consequences


White, K., Hardisty, D. J., & Habib, R. (2019). The Elusive Green Consumer. Harvard Business Review, 125–133.
Iyer, E. & Bannerjee, B. (1993). Anatomy of green advertising. Advances in Consumer Research, 20, 484-501.
Making the message relevant

Help consumers make more sustainable choices by


▪ Making the issue personally relevant – about your home and
lifestyle
▪ Avoiding negative guilt-based messages; focusing on benefits
relating to saving money, ‘getting something’, and
convenience
▪ Making environmental benefits tangible through compelling
illustrations (e.g. Octopus campaign) and statistics (comparing
CO2 reductions of a product use with a number of cars off the
road as easier to visualise and understand)
▪ Associating behaviours with positive self-images for the
consumer (making sustainability sexy) and with the here and
now (not global and about the future)
Questions for now – or later?

Course co-organiser: kristina.auxtova@ed.ac.uk

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