The Banned Wagon: Are Bans the Best Way to Solve the Plastic Problem?
An overwhelming wave of consumer activism has rolled out in support of the campaign to eliminate single-use plastic straws, kick-started in 2017 by Lonely Whale. This kind of consumer interest in the environment is by no means a new phenomenon. Back in 1970 on the first-ever Earth Day, 20 million people in the US joined the protest to raise awareness about the human impact on the environment. This was one of North America’s (and the world’s) first widespread and unified demonstration of concern about pollution.
These early concerns have only strengthened with time, as consumers increasingly demand transparency and accountability from corporations about their environmental impact. According to a global study carried out last year, 81% of consumers now say that they consider it ‘extremely important’ that companies should make changes to help the environment [1].
The Psychology of Consumer Activism
Despite not being new, the rapid nature of the spread of the plastic straw movement is remarkable. Ignited by the ‘Strawless in Seattle’ campaign in 2017, support has spread like wildfire. It has been picked up internationally and endorsed by a number of celebrities, from Amanda Seyfried to Russell Crowe. The #StopSucking hashtag achieved a social media reach of more than 304 million in just the first four months [2], and Lonely Whale believes that more than 29 million straws have been kept out of the waste system as a result [3].
However, according to National Geographic, plastic straws form just a tiny proportion (0.025%) of the plastic waste in our oceans. Considering this, why has this particular campaign been so successful in garnering our support? In this regard, it is no coincidence that Dune Ives, Lonely Whale’s Executive Director, holds a Ph.D. in Psychology.
While admitting that the straw movement itself is simply a “gateway” for wider changes, she discussed the strategic factors involved in encouraging behavioral change on such a wide scale. Crucially, she notes the importance of presenting consumers with the option to adopt this change of their own accord, as opposed to setting a mandate, because “[in] general, people reject being told what to do” [4]. Essentially, the campaign has been a very effective ‘nudge.’
References
[1] Sustainable shoppers buy the change they wish to see in the world. (2018, August 11th). Retrieved from https://www.nielsen.com/content/corporate/us/en/insights/reports/2018/the-education-of-the-sustainable-mindset.html
[2] Lonely Whale, accessed December 27, 2018, https://www.lonelywhale.org/stopsucking/. Entry from the 10th Annual Shorty Awards, accessed December 17, 2018, https://shortyawards.com/10th/strawless-ocean-campaign.
[3] Dune Ives, “The Gateway Plastic”, Global Wildlife Conservation, October 19, 2017,https://www.globalwildlife.org/2017/10/19/the-gateway-plastic/.
[4] Herbert C. Kelman, “Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change”, Journal of Conflict Resolution, no. 1 (1958), 51-60:https://doi.org/10.1177/002200275800200106.
[5] Weber and Shandwick. (2018). Battle of the Wallers: The Changing Landscape of Consumer Activism. Retrieved from https://webershandwick.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Battle-of-the-wallets report-UK.pdf, Radhika Viswanathan,“Why Starbucks, Disney, and the EU are all shunning plastic straws”, Vox, December 21, 2018, https://www.vox.com/2018/6/25/17488336/plastic-straw-ban-ocean-pollution.
About the Author
Hannah Potts
Hannah completed a conversion MSc in Psychology at Brunel University, having taken her undergraduate degree at Cambridge in English Literature. With several years’ experience working in business (finance and insurance), her particular interests lie in applying cognitive psychology to decision-making and its application in consumerism and the workplace.
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