You are wonderful. Your friends and family – I’m sure – would say you’re an individual. Unique, even. Except you’re not. You’re a routine: One that’s shaped by your definitions of normal practice. A normal practice that’s defined by those around you.
“Having neither the time nor skills to weigh up each piece of evidence we fall back on decision-making shortcuts formed by our education, politics and class. In particular we measure new information against our life experience and the views of the people around us.”
George Marshall in The Guardian (UK) ‘Jeremy Clarkson and Michael O’Leary won’t listen to green cliches and complaints about polar bears‘
Texas’ researchers found the main source of highway litter came from males under 35 years old who drove pick-up trucks, and liked sports and country music. Fines didn’t work, so they recruited Texas’s sporting and country-music heroes, from Lance Armstrong and Chuck Norris to Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett to front a campaign. One advert had a famous pitcher hurl rubbish in a bin using his famed split-fingered technique, followed by the catchphrase, “Don’t mess with Texas”.
The ads avoided the negatives of guilt and shame in favour of the positives of pride and group identity. A ‘new normal’ was established. Within five years roadside litter was down by over 70%. The campaign had targeted a specific group with a message from “people-like-them” that they were willing to hear.
Clearly the toe-to-toe fight to change behaviour through fines didn’t work – whereas simply pretending like everyone else’s behaviour was different, did.
As the architect Buckminster Fuller said, you don’t change things by fighting the existing reality, you change things by building a new model that makes the existing one obsolete.
There is evidence that we know what these patterns of ‘new normal’ look like:
“Consumers find it very hard to evaluate green credentials objectively, but they know what is ‘green’ and what is ‘not green’… At a level that is defined socially.”
R. Rettie, C. Barnham, Kinston University, Surrey, UK – Green Marketing conference, March 2009
Shamefully, current green versions of ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ seem to revolve around saving polar bears and living in tents: It’s neither desirable, nor about people you know and love. However, building a new model of normal practice to deliver a carbon-free world could easily represent new energy provision, energy independence, and the potential for new enterprise: Both desirable, and supportive of those you know and love.
This ‘new normal’ would stimulate the innovation needed to deliver against our need to reduce or replace our embedded carbon-rich energy and water needs: A new model of normal practice indeed.
What do you think?
(On second thoughts – according to the evidence presented – there’s very little point in appealing to you the individual.)
For more on this speak with us, or have a look at our capabilities
Also, as co-founders and supporters of the London Behavioural Economics Network, join the Meetup group and Facebook group for more details and events
Related Posts
August 13, 2023
Money (but not called that, and how it changes behaviour).
Advertising agencies make a lot of…
August 1, 2023
Reading ease is not as easy as all that – comprehension shows the way
It's easy to make text readable, right?…
July 20, 2023
The ‘Hollywood hello’ – and the importance of context when communicating
When communicating we all like to be as…
1 Comment
Add comment Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
[…] – Ad Age’s best ad of all timeThe New York Festivals Innovative Advertising AwardsYour daily routine is defined socially – so why should I appeal to you as an individual?Our founder’s work used in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design ‘Future of […]