Less is more: is a green demarketing strategy sustainable?

Abstract

The research explores consumers' perceptions of the business motivations behind a new type of sustainable business strategy -green demarketing. Green demarketing refers to a strategy whereby a brand encourages consumers to buy less at the category level through purchase of the company's brand for the sake of the environment. Two studies show that consumer motive attributions and attitudes may depend on the brand's perceived fit with sustainable business practices. Specifically, results show that the brand's environmental reputation is the strongest predictor of consumers' responses towards a green demarketing campaign, with effects persisting above and beyond the influences of the brand's length of commitment to environmental protection and consumers' brand habits. Implications for practice and future research are proposed.

Conspicuous anticonsumption: When green demarketing brands restore symbolic benefits to anticonsumers

“…Kotler and Levy () define demarketing as a brand's efforts to reduce demand for its products and provide three motivations: general (reaction to supply shortage), selective (to support a segmentation strategy), or ostensible (a scarcity signal). Green demarketing is an extension proposed by Armstrong Soule and Reich () whereby a brand can use demand reduction messaging and product development to reduce category demand while supporting the responsible consumption of the focal brand. Initial research in this area suggests that for‐profit brands can successfully support consumers’ anticonsumption motivations under certain conditions (Armstrong Soule & Reich, ; Kim, Ko, & Kim, ; Reich & Armstrong Soule, ).…”

“…Green demarketing is an extension proposed by Armstrong Soule and Reich () whereby a brand can use demand reduction messaging and product development to reduce category demand while supporting the responsible consumption of the focal brand. Initial research in this area suggests that for‐profit brands can successfully support consumers’ anticonsumption motivations under certain conditions (Armstrong Soule & Reich, ; Kim, Ko, & Kim, ; Reich & Armstrong Soule, ). There have been multiple calls for increased research on the brand's role in consumption reduction (García‐de‐Frutos et al, ; Iyer & Muncy, ; Kotler, ) and This study answers the call to explore how brands might be powerful players that support individual level anticonsumption activities, for the sake of the environment.…”

“…A large communication campaign surrounding the movement contributed to its momentum and codified rich cultural meaning into the hashtag “#OptOutside” while establishing REI as a front running crusader against our culture's obsessive focus on consumption. The #OptOutside campaign is a prominent example of green demarketing, which refers to for‐profit brands that encourage consumers to reduce consumption (Armstrong Soule & Reich, ). Subsequently, REI won a Titanium Grand Prix at the 2016 Cannes Lions, one of the highest awards in advertising (Coffee, ).…”

Perception of Organic Food Consumption in Romania

“…Organic small businesses only represent a small proportion of the total food market (around 1–3%), but have significant potential for growth in the near future [4]. Growing consumer demand leads to rapidly increasing new market opportunities for organic food producers, retailers, and distributors [5]. According to Yussefi and Willer [6], all organic agricultural land worldwide takes up around 24 million hectares (633,891 farms).…”

Internal demarketing in the U.K. Civil Service since the 2007–2009 financial crisis

“…Demarketing occurs when marketing strategies, tactics, techniques, and tools reduce, rather than increase, demand (Bradley & Blythe, ) for products, services (Mark & Brennan, ), organizations, brands, places (Medway, Warnaby, & Dharni, ), or behaviors (Wright & Egan, ). After Kotler and Levy's () seminal categorization, its development has been sporadic and, despite the rise of green demarketing for environmental sustainability (Armstrong Soule & Reich, ; Sodhi, ), it remains a niche theoretical area. Its main application is by social marketers compensating a lack of price‐driven rationing mechanism (Lowe, Lynch, & Lowe, ) when running campaigns to encourage responsible drinking (Burton, Dadich, & Soboleva, ), or to reduce plastic pollution (Eagle, Harmann, & Low, ), cigarette smoking (Chauhan & Setia, ; White & Thomas, ), visitor demand in environmentally sensitive areas (Armstrong & Kern, ), and even unprofitable Higher Education programmes (Gbadamosi & Madichie, ).…”