July 31st, 2008
As Consumers, We Are More Conflicted Than Conscientious
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In two earlier posts, I had written about the consumption dichotomy in the National Geographic/ GlobeScan Greendex Survey –
The consumers in developed countries are not concerned about the environment, and the consumers in developing countries won’t back up their concern with proactive consumer behavior.
So, I propose, somewhat sadly, that the “can consume, will consume” maxim will continue to hold for most people in most countries, and the solution to our environmental woes will lie in consuming intelligently, and not in consuming less. Which makes me wonder why I ever thought that the trends towards less consumption will ever move from the fringes to the mainstream.
A recent AdWeek article titled ‘Deflating a Myth: Consumers Aren’t as Devoted to the Planet as You Wish They Were’ confirms my fears –
Surveys do consistently show people voicing strong support for environmental protection… But this is the sort of subject about which it’s awfully easy for people to pay lip service when a pollster asks whether they’d like to save the planet from despoliation… There is a lot of ‘aspirational’ commitment, as opposed to real commitment, by consumers… When it asks about specifics of green behavior, polling tends to confirm that mainstream consumers have learned to talk the talk but are still in the baby-steps phase of walking the walk.
The article quotes several studies that as a testimony to our confused conscientiousness as consumers –
- According to the TNS Global Shades of Green study (download PDF), while 53% of US consumers will consider paying more for eco-friendly products, only 26% admit to actively seeking those products when shopping.
- According to the BBMG Conscious Consumer Report (download PDF), while 90% of US consumers say that the term “conscious consumer” describes them well, only 10% go out of their way to buy products from companies that are aligned with their social goals.
- According to the Gallup Annual Environment Poll, only 28% of US consumers claimed to have made “major changes” in their own shopping and living habits over the past five years to help protect the environment.
This is precisely why Karen Fraser’s work on ‘Conflicted Consumers’ was chosen for the Harvard Business Review: Breakthrough Ideas List 2007. As per the Ethical Reputation Index report published by Karen’s firm Fraser Consultancy, 25% of all UK shoppers are ‘conflicted consumers’. Conflicted consumers are concerned about their ethical reputation of the brands they buy and may even spread negative word-of-mouth anecdotes about them, even as they continue to use those brands themselves. Though they may look like loyal customers, conflicted consumers are ready to switch brands if a cleaner, greener, more ethical alternative becomes available.
Andrew Winston — co-author of ‘Green to Gold’, a book that shows what works and what doesn’t when companies go green — says that companies need to strengthen their green positioning with a competitive price and quality proposition to convert the conflicted consumer and, perhaps, even encourage sustainable consumption, or buying less.
It’s the next big idea in marketing — marketers asking consumers to go off consumption — except that, as Andrews says, “it only works, of course, if companies make things that have lasting value or serve a need for longer than competitive products”.
In spite of our conflicted conscience as consumers, and maybe because of it, I think the world is ready for the anti-fad (or anti-fashion) brand.
