Changing audience behaviour: festival goers and throwaway tents

Abstract

Purpose – To translate theory into a practical tool, the purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for the development of social marketing strategies to modify event attendee behaviour in a sustainable direction. Design/methodology/approach – Consumer value is synthesised with social marketing and consumer behaviour theory to develop the framework. A major problem for festivals (throwaway tents) and current pro-environmental practices are used to determine the framework's applicability. Findings – The conceptual framework suggests that achieving desired behaviour(s) within an audience requires consideration of the added value at the downstream level, strategies that recognise offsite/onsite behaviour settings, engagement of upstream advocacy and more attention to the evaluation of success. Research limitations/implications – A single low-involvement behaviour example is used to validate the conceptual framework suggesting further work is needed to widen tests of its applicability. Originality/value – This paper synthesises theory into a framework that has significant potential as a tool to develop behavioural change strategies at events.

Should there be more showers at the summer music festival? Studying the contextual dependence of resource consuming conventions and lessons for sustainable tourism

“…Suspicions have been raised about how these attempts may be as much about gaining a brand advantage (Wong et al, 2015) as about any deeply felt concerns about the impact of sizeable events that are sometimes staged in fragile rural ecosystems (Cierjacks, Behr, and Kowarik, 2012;Henderson and Musgrave, 2014). Nonetheless the link is certainly there, as indeed it always has been with festivals long providing a home for counter cultural thought regarding the value of current norms and the sustainability of human consumption (Sharpe, 2008).…”

“…As such, they would seem to provide an excellent opportunity to target those who are already receptive by promoting 'environmental messages in a way that is fun, creative and experimental' (Gibson and Wong, 2011, p. 98). However, it would also seem that campaigners hoping to recruit festival goers to the environmental cause (see, for example, Henderson and Musgrave, 2014;Mair and Laing, 2012) should proceed with some caution (Sharpe, 2008). This is because, for many attendees, festivals are explicitly about being away from their everyday pressures.…”

Assessing the Learning Effects of Host Communications on the Green Knowledge and Behavior of Festival Attendees—Evidence from Compulsory Garbage Sorting in China

“…Festivals, as themed series of events with leisure or cultural features, are gaining growing popularity by catering to the cravings for innovative lifestyles and escape in members of modern society [11]. Festivals are becoming avenues for green practices, such as lower environmental impacts on nature, efficient energy and resource usage, the application of innovative green technologies and so forth, with waste sorting being no exception [12].…”

Enhancing Social Cohesion where Festival as a Media, is it Possible?

“…Today's festival has become a different medium from the other forms of activity, because the full support of government, stakeholders, and society as massively participate in promoting and making it happen [6]. Society in principle expects to be given a space Stephen Henderson and James Musgrave [22] where they can creative and expressive as well as the skills that they have [23,24]. The stronger support of the community will be the more awake the characteristic values [25,26] festivals and messages to be conveyed through the festival can be received well by the visitors and the community itself [27].…”