Conversation #9 - Beware of the Sustainability fakers!

Recent research by psychologist Professor Geoffrey Beattie demonstrated fascinating ‘faker’ behaviours from people when asked about their purchasing decisions on light bulbs. They said one thing, but their hands and gestures gave away the real attitudes and likely behaviours beneath. Many were faking endorsement of ‘greener’ options when in fact they would actually choose the least environmentally friendly bulbs.

Customers can spot corporate fakers a mile away and marketers must learn to do the same with customers!

We see two challenges for the marketing community:

1. How to identify less than sincere inputs from customers to ensure that you don’t chase down blind alleys? How do you get behind political correctness to the genuine insights that will trigger people to change their purchase and/or consumption/usage behaviours? There are clear implications for research techniques and the need to improve insight skills.

2. As ‘sustainability’ becomes better understood, and more ‘part of doing business’, marketers must decide how serious & genuine they are about it and take responsibility to a strategic level. For many this involves a much closer relationship with the corporate affairs team or giving more guidance to R&D teams and other functions to drive meaningful, rather than cosmetic, change.

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