The impact of advertisements on consumption behaviour and sustainable consumption

Greetings fellow bloggers,

"What effects do adverts have on your consumption behaviour?"

The short answer to the first part of this weeks question is "Very little".

I watch little or no TV (don't have the time these days!!) so don't get exposed to ads through this media. I notice ads in the papers and posters when I'm walking down the street. I find the majority of internet ads that invade my homepage annoying. Nearly all direct mail goes straight in the bin unless it's about a product area I'm already interested in. What ads do for me is raise awareness of a new product or service but they will not prompt me to rush out to look at it and (maybe) buy unless I already have a need.

The other angle on this is that I'm pretty loyal to a number of brands that I 've bought over the years and will tend to browse these either in the high street or on-line before purchasing. Why did I select these brands? There was probably some ad influence but the biggest factor was personal recommendation from friends and family or 'expert' reviews in magazines and papers... and these are still the biggest external influences on purchase decisions for most product categories - outdoor gear, wine, books, holidays, cds.

Do you think advertising will be enough to bring about sustainable consumption?

The short answer is "No".

Advertising certainly has a role to play, for example in raising awareness or, if targeted on a particular segment, selling the benefits of a particular behaviour, initiative, product or service. However, it needs to be part of a much broader set of joined-up initiatives that include financial penalties and incentives and changes to infrastructure. If they are not alrady doing so the government (or whoever it is leading the chagre on the sustainable consumption agenda) also has to think beyond the traditional ad campaigns (posters, TV ads etc) and look at other approaches that have become mainstream such as a well crafted PR campaign with press article endorsement and viral marketing.

'Bye for now
Kev

P.S. as an aside, has anyone else noticed the steep drop in direct mail from the banks in the past 18 months for loans and credit cards I don't want to buy things I don't need . A very good by-product of the credit crunch... the trees think so as well!