• NPR Morning Edition , Monday, December 15, 2008 11:15 AM

Christopher Joyce reports on the use of social marketing to get people to make the right choices -- such as Energy Star appliances --for society. "People buy on emotion, and they justify with the facts," says Maria Vargas, a director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program.

"Social marketers say there are some things to avoid when you're trying to make people change their energy appetites," Joyce tells us. The idea of sacrifice is one of them, as President Jimmy Carter proved.

There's also a funny spot featuring the "first static-electricity fueled" home on the NPR website. It's from the Alliance to Save Energy, an efficiency advocacy group with a funny bone.

Read the whole story at NPR Morning Edition »