Hippies, Greenies, and Tree Huggers: How the “Warmth” Stereotype Hinders the Adoption of Responsible Brands

Abstract

Past research has highlighted the difficulty faced by responsible consumers, individuals who wish to make environmentally and socially responsible consumption choices. Individual buyers, it is argued, act within a network of structural and social relationships that make responsible alternatives intrinsically hard to pursue. This paper maintains that one such barrier is the perception that users of responsible brands are not worthy of social emulation. Consumers are less likely to adopt brands positioned explicitly on their positive environmental or social credentials because of the stereotypes attached to the users of these products. Two empirical studies demonstrate that users of responsible brands are perceived as stereotypically warm. Warmth, however, is not an appealing feature in a consumption context. Warm groups are not envied and envy plays a central role in fueling a desire to emulate a consumption group. The study is the first to examine the possibility that a group‐level stereotype limits the potential attractiveness of responsible brands. The significant implications of this insight for both scholarly research and marketing practice are examined in detail. The presence of a warmth stereotype, which has a negative influence on the social perception of responsible brands, suggests that the development of niches of responsible or ethical consumers is intrinsically problematic.

Sustainable Luxury Marketing: A Synthesis and Research Agenda

“…Another suggested barrier to choosing sustainable products is that goods are core to consumer identity (Antonetti and Maklan ); this is especially important when their role as a differentiator is appealing (Belk ), which is the case in the context of luxury. Significant psychological benefits stem from purchasing and owning luxury products: consumers are seeking to create a personal brand identity, feel good about themselves (self‐identity), or impress others (peer identity) (Davies et al .…”

Conceptualization and measurement of millennial's social signaling and self‐signaling for socially responsible consumption

“…For example, Graham‐Rowe et al () found that consumers labeled electrical vehicle users as dull or tree‐huggers. Social stereotyping (e.g., derogatory nicknames) associated with SR consumers represent mental impediments to adopting sustainable alternatives (Antonetti & Maklan, ). The attitude‐behavior gap (Schlaile et al, ) suggests consumers claim to be responsible, but their actions appear to be incongruent with their beliefs (d'Astous & Legendre, ; Yeow, Dean, & Tucker, )—thus, supporting the need for further research into the SRCB of millennial consumers.…”

“…Studies have found that despite the presence of SR and proenvironmental attitudes among millennials, these attitudes do not always translate into actual behavior (Gaudelli, 2009); hence, it becomes critical to ensure that the behaviors measured reflect the actual SR behaviors of millennials. Research has also discussed motivations and barriers to adopting ethical and SR behavior (e.g., Antonetti & Maklan, 2016;Burgess, King, Harris, & Lewis, 2013;Carrington, Neville, & Whitwell, 2010). Consumers resist adoption of more sustainable options (i.e., electric cars) due to negative stereotypes associated with sustainable options (Burgess et al, 2013).…”

Sharing Economy as Innovative Paradigm Towards Sustainable Development: A Conceptual Review

“…Research generally emphasizes the triggers of sustainable consumption behavior in the traditional economy (McDonagh, P., & Prothero, 2014). Sustainable consumption behavior includes various forms, such as energy-saving behavior (Wang et al, 2011), food consumption (Sahakian, Marlyne, Wilhite, 2014), green product purchase (Antonetti, P., 2016) and product disposal (Mccollough, 2010).…”