Transcript
From ‘Nudge’ to ‘Shove’ A Case Study of the Failure of Social Marketing (Tesco’s Carbon Labelling Initiative) Dr Claire May (Lincoln Business School) Prof. Andrew Fearne (Kent Business School)
Outline of Presentation • Context – Defra sponsored PhD study on sustainable consumption of food • Tesco Carbon Labelling Trial case study
• Outline of study • Results • Discussion - challenges and complexities, implications for social marketing
Context • Defra sponsored PhD study on sustainable consumption of food • Climate change a social and political priority • Changes in food consumption fundamental (Garnett, 2008)
Literature Gap and Contribution • Lack of research whereby food purchasing behaviour had been changed to become more environmentally sustainable • Most previous studies on profiling the sustainable consumer used behavioural intention or self-reported behaviour – inherently inaccurate • An academic study working successfully with stakeholders and other parties
Behaviour Change Need to evaluate impact here Change behaviour
Attitude – Intention - Behaviour Gap
Change attitudes
Necessary but not sufficient
Increase Knowledge
Raise Awareness
not here
Behaviour Change Need to evaluate impact here Change behaviour
Create enabling environment
Change attitudes
Necessary but not sufficient
Increase Knowledge
Raise Awareness
not here
Conceptual Framework Important but long-term – not the focus of this research
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS e.g. attitudes, values, beliefs
PRE-STORE SITUATIONAL FACTORS e.g. Awareness, knowledge, meal occasion, shopping mission
NON PURCHASE
MOTIVATION
ABILITY
OPPORTUNITY
INTENTION
BEHAVIOUR
PURCHASE
Some scope for intervention – raise awareness and increase knowledge
IN-STORE SITUATIONAL FACTORS e.g. marketing (packaging, labelling, promotions), merchandising (availability, POS)
Most scope for intervention behaviour change
What are Carbon Labels? • Designed to help understanding of carbon footprints of products or services (The Carbon Trust 2010) • The label shows the amount of carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) emitted during the manufacture, distribution, use and disposal of a product – the carbon footprint over its lifecycle (The Carbon Trust 2009)
Tesco Carbon Labelling Trial • Over 100 products (washing detergents, orange juice, lightbulbs, milk, kitchen towel, toilet tissue) – largest trial of its kind in the UK
• Interest and activity in carbon labelling international and gaining momentum at that time • Debate – validity and efficacy, particularly with regard to impact on consumer behaviour • Contribute to this debate by investigating how supermarket shoppers respond to the label and how carbon labels could be most effectively utilised to change behaviour
Research Methodology •
Stage 1 – Identify reasons for current behaviour and barriers to behaviour change (Focus groups) • Stage 2 – Experimental Intervention (pre-store and in-store) • Stage 3 – Determine impact on attitudes and perceptions (instore shopper interviews, parent survey, teacher interviews) and behaviour (dunnhumby data)
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Stage 1 Focus Groups - Results • Fundamental lack of awareness of the existence of carbon labelling and a lack of understanding about what the label means • A need to make sustainable purchasing easier • A ‘blanket’ approach to designing intervention messages is not the optimal strategy, rather a specifically tailored approach for each lifestage is required
Stage 2 Experimental Interventions • Pre-Store – working with primary schools to run a ‘Carbon Footprint Week’ • In-Store – various merchandising activities were designed, centred around carbon labelling (floor stickers, shelf talkers and leaflets). • Experimental Design – intended to assess effectiveness of the different combinations of interventions – pre-store only, in-store only and both pre and in-store. Comparable stores with no interventions were used as control.
Interventions - Results • Approximately 15 schools participated in Carbon Footprint Week, involving approximately 620 children • 146 ‘Homework Challenge’ sheets received
• Example of Display:
Interventions - Results • 90 usable responses to parents questionnaire • 7 interviews with teachers • 786 usable responses to store exit questionnaire
Results – Parents Questionnaire • Pre-store interventions: Raised awareness of carbon labelling in 70% of respondents
Raised understanding of carbon labelling in 54.4% of respondents (although further analysis reveals this understanding to be limited) 27.8% claimed they had purchased low carbon products as a direct result of their child’s involvement in CFW
Results – Teachers Interviews • Children enthusiastic and interested in topic • Difficulties with Homework Challenge Sheet reported (store not near enough, unavailability of carbon labelled products featured on the sheet)
Results – Store-Exit Questionnaire • Awareness of Visual Merchandising (unprompted) 31.7% noticed something different and most noticed something not relevant to the interventions
Therefore, interventions not sufficiently impactful or prominent
Results – Store-Exit Questionnaire • Awareness of the carbon label on Tesco products: 80.5% unaware before coming into the store • 90.2% had NOT purchased any products specifically because the carbon label influenced their decision
Results – dunnhumby data • Loyalty card data • 100% store card, non-aggregated, store level, all shopper segments
• 6 week time period (two weeks before, during, after)
80
60 Number of Customers
Results – dunnhumby data
New Malden Store – Washing Detergents Washing Detergents 140
120
100
40
20
0
14/07/2010 13/07/2010 12/07/2010 11/07/2010 10/07/2010 09/07/2010 08/07/2010 07/07/2010 06/07/2010 05/07/2010 04/07/2010 03/07/2010 02/07/2010 01/07/2010 30/06/2010 29/06/2010 28/06/2010 27/06/2010 26/06/2010 25/06/2010 24/06/2010 23/06/2010 22/06/2010 21/06/2010 20/06/2010 19/06/2010 18/06/2010 17/06/2010 16/06/2010 15/06/2010 14/06/2010 13/06/2010 12/06/2010 11/06/2010 10/06/2010 09/06/2010 08/06/2010 07/06/2010 06/06/2010 05/06/2010 04/06/2010 03/06/2010 02/06/2010 01/06/2010 31/05/2010 30/05/2010 29/05/2010 28/05/2010
Dates
Source: © dunnhumby 2010
Results – Overall • Results showed some impact on raising awareness, understanding and claimed behaviour, but no discernable impact on actual purchasing behaviour
Findings – Carbon Labelling •
Inappropriate to judge the potential impact of carbon labelling in light of such low levels of awareness and understanding
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The question remains, if carbon labels were more widely recognised and understood, would shoppers take notice and change their decisions?
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Highly probable that that lack of behavioural change was due to failure to sufficiently raise understanding and awareness – operational issues and constraints
Findings – Social Marketing •
Great opportunity but complexity comes from working with stakeholders
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Interventions need to be big
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Interventions need to be targeted
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Benefit in using mixed methods
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Importance of not relying on self-reported behaviour
Where Next? Shove? •
Further effort in terms of education will increase both time and expense
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Focus group theme: Choice editing
“…we’d be really happy to know that the supermarket had taken a decision on our behalf and they only stocked products where they’d taken in account the carbon footprint……that meant it would take responsibility off us and we wouldn’t have to worry about that, because we’ve got enough to worry and think about” (Young families, moderately influenced)
• Does changing behaviour require more than conventional marketing techniques? Re-thinking the boundaries (Wymer, 2010) “social marketing effectiveness is negated if the context within which individual behavior is influenced is ignored” (Wymer, 2010, p. 101)
References Garnett, T. (2008). Cooking up a storm: Food, greenhouse gas emissions and our changing climate. Surrey, Food Climate Research Network, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey.
The Carbon Trust. (2009). “What’s a Carbon Reduction Label?” Retrieved 29th April, 2009, from http://www.carbonlabel.com/individuals/label.html. The Carbon Trust. (2010a). "The Carbon Reduction Label." Retrieved 21st July, 2010, from http://www.carbon-label.com/. Wymer, W. (2010). “Rethinking the boundaries of social marketing: Activism or Advertising?” Journal of Business Research 63: 99-103.
