Sustainable Consumption Advertising

In almost every article I read regarding how to induce pro-environmental behaviour through adverting, the consensus seems to be that it needs to be "regular" in order to have a sufficient effect. Something I've noticed personally when either trying to promote sustainable consumption in the workplace is that many switch off. They seem to think "oh this is this climate change stuff again" and switch off without absorbing hardly any information, even if it is a stimulating argument designed for their specific audience. Perhaps it is because people seem to be inherently stubborn, or (which I lean towards) many have an arrogance whereby they believe they have "heard it all before" and thus have already formed their viewpoint.

I would therefore propose that we need to adopt a clever, more subtle approach. For example, using a (minimally used) hard-hitting advert which uses new ideas from the off that effectively sucks the viewer in. I remember a few years ago, a film advert began with a Batman shaped shadow, thereby enticing the viewer in due to its popularity, however it turned out to be a Scooby Doo advert - this film didn't appeal to me but nevertheless I ended up paying attention to the rest of the advert and had acknowledged its existence.. maybe this is the first step?

The issue of 'retrieval cues', highlighted in the Futerra article (Step 10), is particularly important as subtle reminders make the individual relate to a past advert, for example. This technique makes the whole issue a bit less imposing, especially as it is the individual that brought it to mind (be it by only joining the dots), rather than a blunt advert.

I suppose my main thoughts, when I look back over this quick rant, is that a varied approach is crucial since the audience can easily become bored with a subject that is constantly thrust at them. This, I believe, may help in engaging those 'non-believers'.