The Positive Side of Negative Labelling

Interventions to encourage sustainable consumption

“…External Regulation: Negative Labelling (Van Dam & De Jonge, 2015) Introjection: Social Norms (Melnyk et al, 2011) Integration: Self-confirmation (Van Dam & Fischer, 2015) Identification: Pride & Guilt (Onwezen et al, 2014) Figure 1: Regulatory styles and matching interventions classified by locus of causality and source of incentives…”

“…Negative labelling and (the red side of) traffic light labelling are interventions that match this regulatory style. Negative labelling manipulates the reward/punishment structure of product choice in favour of sustainable choice (Van Dam & De Jonge, 2015). This intervention assumes that even though these consumers acknowledge the relevance of sustainable consumption, their choices are dependent on external cues that trigger their personal interest.…”

“…Various ways of emphasising the non-sustainable character of the least sustainable product in a choice set appear to be sufficient to deter the consumer. As a result consumer preference shifts away from the most non-sustainable product and overall consumer choice becomes more sustainable (Heinzle & Wüstenhagen, 2012;Van Dam & De Jonge, 2015).…”

Inclusive business : Constructing a model and an indicator for food and agribusiness multinational enterprises for smallholder inclusion in high value-adding supply chains

“…Therefore, reducing the information asymmetry vis-á-vis consumers signalling the positive ethical quality of cocoa products -such as the improvement of farmer's livelihoods-seems critical to gaining success. Some scholars have however argued that negative signalling of the low ethical quality of a product has a stronger effect on the adoption of ethical products (Van Dam and De Jonge 2015). According this view, the problem of consumer buying behaviour will be mitigated when MNEs smallholder sourcing strategies for improving farmers' livelihoods based on integral price of cocoa beans is mainstreaming.…”

“…Weinrich and Spiller 2016). However, ethical labels signal positive quality but fail to create massive demand for such products (Van Dam and De Jonge (2015).…”