Want to motivate people to buy more environmentally friendly products? Here’s a tip: Make the product more expensive and make it seem cool to own it. If there is something very public about the product (a car, for example), all the better.
Scientists call this desire to participate in status-driven environmentalism competitive altruism.
The practical conclusions here? If green products are too cheap, they might undermine the buyer’s ability to signal her status — a desire built into our evolutionary psychology. Griskevicius and his colleagues recommend that companies find a way to publicize the fact that celebrities buy green products. They might also consider keeping those products at a higher price, since penniless people can’t afford to indulge in status-seeking and others will pay a premium for it. We may all be selfish and petty, but there’s no reason the planet can’t benefit from those shortcomings.
None of this is necessarily a negative. If a guy drives a hybrid (or donates a hospital wing or a new university library) for his own ego, so what? Sell to his ego.
This entire post, FWIW, was powered by compost and vegetable oil (although the take-out menu called it stir fry).
