Commentary

Candify The Vegetable

The path to changing attitudes and behavior is never unilateral, as much as advertising gurus might clamor. Last month, I wrote about the power of passive aggression and shaming, as strategies to counter our inherent lack of concern about the effects of climate change. Now, it’s time for the carrot. 

Frankly, the stick should be enough in this case. The recent Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change report as well as the U.S. Global Change Report Program clearly stated that this is no longer a future danger, it is here and now. In fact, we are no longer debating the severity of the issue, we are now looking for remedial or palliative measures. Which, in turn, means that the human brain is even more limited in its projective capabilities than we had imagined. Given the fires, storms and crop damages around the world, we have still not felt alarmed enough to change our ways. Apparently, we only respond to stimuli as immediate as our house literally burning down – and even then, according to firefighters, we tend to do the wrong thing. 

Hence, the carrot. This is no longer the time to take ideological stances. Let’s just do whatever works and do it every way we can. 

A recent NPR interview mentioned the idea of “candifying the vegetable” because we are all wired to avoid the unpleasant and seek out the gooey, sugary bits of life. 

The Baby Carrots campaign from CP+B a few years ago turned this insight into gold. They identified the problem: carrots are seen as vegetables, vegetables are seen as disgusting, children –and people in general – don’t eat what they consider disgusting. The solution? Turn baby carrots into junk food – in their packaging and their marketing. Baby carrots suddenly got repositioned as a crazy orange snack and sales took off. 

Let’s try to apply that to climate change. Quite simply, we need to change the tone of the conversation, from finger-wagging ( of which the author is also guilty) to back-patting. Perhaps a rewards program? It works for airlines, credit cards and Starbucks, why not for the future of human life on the planet? So here’s the plan:

First, create a carbon tax. It works. 

Then use that tax to provide real, tangible rewards for environment-friendly behavior – using less plastic, driving smarter, maybe even taking fewer flights. The carbon tax in parts of Europe (where I am currently vacationing) provides incentives, but indirect ones that individuals do not experience – therefore, they do not change their behavior. As we discussed above, incentives need to be direct and immediate. 

For the marketing community, this is finally something we can sink our teeth into, using all the skills of our profession. In fact, there is already a precedent: Eurostar and Green & Black's have joined a new green loyalty card scheme to encourage consumers to shop more sustainably.

It is called The Ice Organization and, unlike the frequent flyer scheme, it rewards shoppers for buying goods and using services that are considered environmentally friendly, such as train travel, locally grown food, hybrid taxis and solar lighting.

The goal is to reward people for living a more sustainable life. And the point of it all, according to Jude Thorne, CEO of Ice. 

"There are lots of projects to educate people about sustainable living," said Thorne, "but we wanted to put 'what's in it for me?' back in the frame."

The scheme works in a similar way to other rewards cards, with customers able to collect and spend points when shopping with any partner company. Retailers' reward rates vary, but on a large purchase such as solar panels, shoppers could claim more than £100 of credits, while on smaller items such as food, they are likely to earn a few pence at a time. Unlike some schemes, shoppers do not have to wait for a certain number of credits to accrue before spending them.

So there you have it. Don’t turn the future of our species into broccoli. Make it yummy and they will come.

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