## Making green go macho
_By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling_
Reusable grocery bags look like "man purses." You can't rev the engine on an electric car. Is there any way to present green activities as being manly? According to two researchers, the answer is "yes." It just depends on how you say it, which is true for marketing green products in general.
Since 1995, Edwin Stafford and Cathy Hartman, two professors of marketing at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, have been examining issues of sustainability, including green messaging. Recently the two published [an article][1] titled "Making Green More Macho" in the journal _Solutions_. The article is a commentary to a [study][2] from OgilvyEarth that found that men are more likely to perceive green activities as being feminine and, therefore, are more reluctant to engage in them.
"The reason we advocate making green messages more masculine is because we believe that our environmental problems can't be solved by leaving environmental products in the niche market," says Hartman. "They have to become mainstream. So we need to look at what mainstream values are and see if there is some way we can match up our messages and our marketing our approach with those."
Their article points to several environmental marketing campaigns that successfully spoke to perceived masculine values, enabling the message to reach targeted male demographics. One of these was the 1985 anti-littering campaign launched by the Texas Department of Highways and Public Transportation that first used the now-iconic slogan "Don't mess with Texas."
According to the article, this slightly acerbic message more effectively reached younger males by communicating to them that littering was inconsistent with their sense of macho Texan pride. The campaign also presented a narrative that Texas was being trashed by outsiders and people who didn't care about the state, and it was up to "real" Texans to do their part, according to the article.
The article points to other areas where this sort of messaging could be effective. Specifically, the authors call attention to how the military has made strides in using more renewable energy, which could be used in a marketing campaign aimed at reducing dependence on oil. Additionally, the article points to the Tesla Motors, the maker of an electric sports car that defies the perceived wimpiness associated with other electric vehicles.
Competition can be a good way to stoke machismo while delivering a green message, says Stafford. A Prius owner who admits to being gently teased about his not-so-beefy choice of wheels, Stafford says that shortly after acquiring his vehicle he discovered a whole sub-culture of people who compete to get the most miles out of a gallon of gas from their hybrids.
More broadly, according to the professors, much of the messaging behind green activities and products can be recalibrated to resonate with the values of a targeted audience.
"So often, green marketing focuses on the greenness of things," says Stafford. "And yet we, in marketing, teach our students that you have to focus on what is the value that customers want so can you reframe the green message to deliver on the value that people are seeking."
For instance, the professors were involved with a campaign to promote wind power in Utah. Initially, they attempted to play up the water savings that come from using wind energy, but the message didn't stick with the public. However, they found much more success in calling attention to how wind energy projects contribute significantly to the tax base that pays for schools, an important issue in a state where large families are common.
Hartman says that marketers could better sell environmental products by playing up other features that consumers want, such as durability or price. For instance, when fleece made from recycled PET bottles was first introduced, some consumers thought it would be coarse, says Hartman, but instead it turned out to be as soft or softer than cotton fleece.
"Incentives need to be there because people will ultimately operate on what's cheapest and most convenient," says Stafford.
Green marketers could also be more effective by adding a benefit to a product or service, according to the researchers. For instance, in promoting a new residential recycling program, it could help to lock in garbage rates for people who opt into the program.
In some cases, just having a small gesture can change consumer behavior, says Stafford. For instance, many grocers in various states give consumers a discount from bringing in their own bag.
"It doesn't have to be a huge amount [as long as you have the admission] that what you're doing is being valued," he says.
[![China Replas 2012 Banner][3] ][4]
**_To return to the Resource Recycling newsletter, click [here][5]. _**
[1]: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/1128
[2]: http://www.ogilvyearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/OgilvyEarth_Mainstream_Green.pdf
[3]: http://www.resource-recycling.com/images/e-newsletterimages/ChinaReplas2012_logo.gif (China Replas 2012 Banner)
[4]: http://2012.replas.org.cn/endhjj-1.aspx
[5]: http://www.resource-recycling.com/images/e-newsletterimages/RRe-news080112.html
URL: http://resource-recycling.com/node/2972
No comments:
Post a Comment