Blog Post #14: Marketing and Human Priorities

Hey everyone! As my semester is coming to a close, I want to take the opportunity to thank those of you that have been following my blog. I really appreciate it. I have put a solid amount of work in to this project, and I hope that some of you have been able to come away with some valuable lessons learned. In addition to this post, there will only be one more post (at least in the sense that it will likely be the last post which pertains to the topic of marketing). Throughout this experience, I have realized the very real interest that I have in blogging in general. I find blogging to be a useful outlet that allows me to both gather my thoughts and to deliver meaningful messages and lessons to others. I plan on continuing a blog somehow (which will likely entail creating a new blog with a new purpose).

Thanks to all that have been reading my blog!

I addressed the concept of sustainability in my 11^th blog post (entitled “Sustainability is Not ‘Going Green’”) on April 6^th, and in light of a recent assignment that I have had in my marketing class, I would like to revisit the topic. The assignment I mentioned is a video promotion project focused on topics of environmental sustainability. The goal is to be able to create value for a specific target market with the video. My project, along with my partner Yiwen, focuses on water and sustainability. A problem arises, though, when trying to target a certain group of people when water sustainability problems are so pervasive in the modern world.

Water seems abundant, but there are HUGE problems across the globe when it comes to water.

The problem that I am speaking of relates to issues discussed in my philosophy class, entitled “Philosophy of Science, Technology, and the Environment.” Recently, we discussed the fact that people are more likely to take action when they learn that songbirds are being placed in danger rather than when they are being told that groundwater is becoming more and more polluted. While the groundwater pollution is a larger scale issue, people seem to directly relate to the songbirds suffering to a greater extent. This is interesting, especially since it can certainly be argued that groundwater is more important to human life than songbirds (Midgley, 2004, p. 234). The main reason for many humans who prioritize songbirds over groundwater is that humans personify and relate to songbirds; they attribute human qualities to them.

This is a lesson that should be considered when attempting to target a specific group of people when it comes to promoting the social awareness of environmental sustainability of any kind. Efforts need to hinge on factors that humans will give priority to. This is in a way unfortunate, but many causes can be approached in multiple ways to take advantage of this lesson. For example, maybe instead of showing how flushing prescription drugs down the toilet ends up polluting ground water, show how flushing prescription drugs harms aquatic life. The appeal will be more emotional and will likely see wider success.

A takeaway from what I have just discussed is that manipulating a message in order to match your organization/movement’s values with the values of the consumer is sometimes a necessary move. If done correctly, the integrity and point of the message will not be warped in any way. Instead, think of it like this: the message is being repackaged for easier and smoother consumption. It may not always seem obvious, so when consumers are not buying into your vitally important message about environmental sustainability, think about this post.

References

Midgley, M. (2004). Problems of Living with Otherness. In The myths we live by (p. 234). New York, NY: Routledge.