A while back Home Depot expanded into New York City. Their motto at the time was "You Can Do It. We Can Help." But they quickly learned that New Yorkers' motto was "You Can Do It. We Can Pay." Home Depot didn't mind when they realized that New Yorkers are big spenders. They adjusted their services to take advantage of the opportunity and now include design and contractor services in their portfolio.
Gen Z and Millennials talk about climate change on social media more than Gen X and Boomers. 67% of Gen Z talked about the need for action on climate change 1-2 times in the past few weeks, as did 61% of Millennials. (Tyson, Kennedy & Funk, 2021)
Yet, Baby Boomers are the group most likely to recycle, with 57% finding no barriers to doing so, while 73% of Gen Z has plenty of excuses not to.
(Gilsenan, 2021)
Baby Boomers are also the generation most likely to have boycotted a company in the past 12 months. (Duffy, 2021)
How do you account for this disconnect between Gen Z's/Millennials words and actions?
Can we persuade Gen Z and Millennials to step up and take personal responsibility for the damage they do to the environment? If so, how?
Would applying Cialdini's persuasion techniques help? If so, which ones? And how would you use them?
Tyson, A., Kennedy, B. & Funk, C. (2021, May 26) Gen Z, Millennials Stand Out for Climate Change Activism, Social Media Engagement With Issue. pewresearch.org. Retrieved November 2, 2021 from https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/05/26/gen-z-millennials-stand-out-for-climate-change-activism-social-media-engagement-with-issue/
Gilsenan, K. (2021, February 23) Sustainability in 2021: business as usual isn't an option. gwi.com. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://blog.gwi.com/chart-of-the-week/sustainability-necessity-2021/
Duffy, B. (2021, October 22) The Bunk of Generational Talk. wsj.com Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bunk-of-generational-talk-11634914564
11 comments:
A large issue with the advent of social media is the notion of performance. Individual’s are able to create their own curated persona online which may not reflect their true self. This appears to be paradoxical as someone’s online presence might not reflect their day to day actions. Therefore it is apparent that Gen Z and millennials might not be actively taking responsibility compared to baby boomers who aren't as active on socials.
I believe we can persuade Gen Z and millennials through Cialdini’s notion of commitment and consistency. Social media accounts that support environmental change can share consistent visual content of Gen Z and millennials actively doing participatory endeavors. Through consistent and moving visuals, I believe Gen Z and millennials will be more inspired and motivated to act.
In my opinion, there are several reasons why Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to talk about climate change on social media. First off, younger people tend to "show off" their knowledge and opinions while older people are mature enough to be secure with their wisdom and intelligence. Secondly, climate change will have less impact on older generations since Gen Z has more time left than them to spend on this earth. Last but not least, younger generations are more active on social media, the population base has already been more extensive. Study shows that 88% of 18-29 years old use social media, while only 37% of those 65 and up use social media; even though their numbers are growing, the gap is still significant.
Related to recycling, I do recycle but never talked about climate change on Instagram because it is my life habit instead of some activities that I want to join. I am not surprised that many Gen Z and Gen Y don't match their action with their words. That seems like something young people are likely to do - so much aggression, so little motivation. But they are easier to adopt new lifestyles than older people, so organizations or advertisements would promote recycling as a trend, then young people will follow. Regarding Cialdini's persuasion techniques, it would work by applying commitment and authority. Organizations, governments, celebrities are more likely to convince and inspire younger people to change their actions.
Resource:
How Age Influences Social Media Preferences: https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/business/resource/how-age-influences-social-media-preferences
I agree with Sophia on the reasons behind the disconnect between Gen Zs and between Gen Zs and Millennials' words and actions. Because they have more access to social media, they can let their voices be better heard than older generations. As the Pew Research Center graphic shows, 67% of Gen Zs and 61% of Millenials talk about the need for action on climate at least 1-2 times, compared to 53%of Gen Xs and 50% of Baby Boomers.
For Gen Z and millennials, there is a gap between what should be the country's top priority and what should be their top personal concern. Additionally, their actions are manifested through protests and rallies. But when it comes to recycling, they lack the knowledge to know which materials are recyclable or not. Due to their age, their living situations are more likely to see no recycling facilities in their buildings or no access to recycling collection services. What surprised me the most is that they don't think their individual impact makes a difference.
I think the consistency technique would work well. I would combine it with the scarcity technique by showing Gen Zs and Millenials what they stand to lose if they don't take action today. I would ask for small commitments that can be made first, having them agree that climate change should be their top personal concern in the ad copy. Then we can get it in writing using a pledge for action on social media. Users would get a sticker to show their commitment next to their social media profile (consensus).
Consensus can also be used separately. Using posters in residential buildings or running Out of Home advertisements to let them know "xx% of their peers recycle daily" can be effective. Having a "I recycled" daily check-in board and making it visible to their friends on social media can stimulate a need to belong.
How do you account for this disconnect between Gen Z's/Millennials words and actions?
They may not feel recycling is the best way to prevent climate change. Recycling isn't the only answer, prevention is key. You don't need to recycle a plastic water bottle if you are already only using reusable bottles. It seems like the study was only about recycling and not the other options.
Can we persuade Gen Z and Millennials to step up and take personal responsibility for the damage they do to the environment? If so, how? The best way is to show through action from the top down. Whether it's governmental (recycling bins everywhere), leaders of industries, or from their parents and family members at home. They also need to be shown there is a reason to preserve the earth, that maybe, there isn't another planet humans can inhabit and money can't fix the environmental damage. They also need to fundamentally believe their lives matter for the greater good, not just for their own instant gratification. Also, if we want people to recycle, the barrier to do so needs to be lower and more resources allocated.
Would applying Cialdini's persuasion techniques help? If so, which ones? And how would you use them?
I believe Social Proof can have a strong impact on them. Younger people (definition: before 40) tend to look for approval and feelings of belongingness and go to extreme measures to fit into a certain group. If they believe this is something their peers and the leaders of their social group are doing and is socially acceptable, then they are more likely to follow suit. Identify recognizable faces that can represent change and to spread the message. Additionally, I believe the bigger issue is that recycling isn't fundamental to our society, and that is a greater issue to tackle.
Young people are all about social media and expressing their mottos there. I think that they realize that the change is necessary if they want to live a healthy and long life on a healthy planet but expect someone else to do it for them. That is why they are listing the excuses instead of finding the solutions. Gen Z and Millennials also grew up in different conditions than Baby Boomers. Young people's lives are way easier nowadays then it was for Baby boomers who didn't grow up with so much technology and had to do many things on their own and put a lot of work. That is probably why they don't see driving the recycling waste to further place as a problem. Also, for Gen Z and Millennians is everything too much effort since there are many things digitalized now.
In my opinion, Cialdini's persuasion techniques could help. From my experience, motivational people could help bring young people to recycle through social media. Also, the consistency is the key. If young people see that the influencer who they follow on a social media keeps doing it and other people are admiring him for that, they are most like going to try it too.
In my opinion, it's not very surprising that Gen Z and Millennials are better at talking about this subject at social media than Gen X and Baby Boomers. Social media is a huge part of lives of young people and spend several hours scrolling the screen per day. Climate change is a subject that we hear about or think about almost every day - shall I use a plastic cutlery, will I bring my own shopping bag to eliminate plastic bags or shall I make an effort and bring my own cup to Starbucks? As I see it, most young people are wanting the change but are too lazy to make the change. Also, it can be about their image (not wanting to cary a cloth shopping bag in front of their friends and comfort. Young people have very easy life in some ways thanks to the technology. I think that this is the reason why Baby boomers recycle more - they are used to do more things on their own and for themselves. They were not used to do basic daily chores while making pictures while doing it. It has a sense for them, they do not do it because they want to look good for others. Also, older people have more likely other chores to do then post on social media about their lives.
From this point of view, Cialdini's persuasion technique might help. There are many powerful influencers on social medias who could motivate Gen Z and Millennials to start doing thing for improving climate conditions. The most important thing about that is that the young people need to believe that it's a cool thing to do and other people will be admiring them for that. They will get a chance to a role model for their friends. The consistency is the most important aspect because if a person makes these things as habits, then the will stop thinking about problems as excuses and will accept it as a part of their live.
One potential reason for the disconnect between Gen Zs/Millennials words and actions is that younger individuals are still too young to have good follow-through, especially as it relates to domestic responsibilities like recycling. Additionally, I could imagine how posting on social media might feel like “enough” of a contribution to the fight for climate justice, and other, more practical actions might fall by the wayside.
Perhaps then, engaging the younger generation to take action online (as opposed to in the real world) is the right course of action: for example, during the George Floyd protests social media was full of opportunities to make donations to relevant charities with Venmo etc – all without getting up off of the couch.
If the goal is to get Zoomers/Millennials to take action online, then Cialdini's techniques of “authority” and “liking” (via influencers), and “consistency” (via regular online payments) would be helpful. Then perhaps we can also get this generation to take responsibility for the damage they do to the environment in the real world as well.
I would have to agree with Carly P's statement regarding Gen Z's curation of their online persona. The notion of curating yourself in social media most of the time has nothing to do with your true self. I find this really evident among Gen Z's since this is the generation who strongly shows support to a particular cause through speaking up on Social Media but lacks the initiation to act on a particular cause. I feel like this generation would just want to "show off" that we are doing something for the benefit of mankind, but the truth is we just would want to appeal to our audiences on Social Media.
I believe that the principle of consistency would really persuade both millennials and Genz to initiate actions for improving climate conditions. If we just start acting on combatting climate change, then everyone will follow. I also feel the principle of authority would be effective on convincing these generations. Persuading influencers on Social Media would be a really effective persuasion channel to both Gen Z and Millenials since the majority of them use Social Media all the time, and when they follow someone whom they view as authoritative (like Influencers who support environmental cause), then they are mostly be persuaded.
I think that the young generation has more access to information than the previous generation. Also, they have a more "critical way" of knowing where to search for information.
The previous generation are more likely to read fake news and believe it.
I think the techniques that I would use are: persuasion, authority and consensus.
why?
Persuasion to tell them what is happening in the world and how they are key people to help the situation. Using a public figure as an authority reinforcing how this person and others like him/her do the same (consensus) and care about the future!
Thanks
Soraia G
I believe that the disconnect between Gen Z'z/Millennials words and actions largely has to do with the rise of social media. Today, social media is used to propagate the best version of one's identity, even if it is not entirely turn. Individuals want to appear has funny, knowledgable, and desirable to their followers; and therefore, are willing to present an image of themselves that does not reflect who they really are. They also want to belong to a community, keeping up with trends in order to do so. In regard to climate change, social media has contributed to the influence of performative activism in which individuals support causes to increase their own social capital rather to raise awareness about such issues. Therefore, while Gen Z and Millennials may advocate for climate change of social media, they are less willing to implement such practices in real life.
I think Gen Z and Millennials can be persuaded to step up and take responsibility for the damage they do to the environment if they develop the proper habits to improve climate conditions. Rather than broadcasting the importance of climate change on social media, society should implement practices within daily life that would support the environment long-term. For example, I was taught to recycle from a young age both within my household and at school. Now it is more of habit for me to recycle rather than supporting climate change simply because everyone else is doing it. If Gen Z and Millennials are placed in an environment where climate sustainability is the standard, I believe that they will be more willing to act on bettering the environment.
I think that Cialdini's persuasion techniques would help Gen Z and Millennials start to change their actions, however, I do not think it would help them to take a personal interest in climate change. Specifically, I think the principles of authority, consensus, and likability would initiate this change. By being surrounded by people (whether an authoritative figure, a crowd, or a friend) whose actions support climate change, Gen Z and Millennials can be influence to abide by the same practices.
I think most of Gen Z don’t have enough education on how to recycle. Yet they think they are very aware of the climate change by posting about climate change on social media. The root of this gap between Gen Z’s and Millennials is that most of Gen Zs don’t think they can make a difference on climate change.
I think we can definitely persuade Gen Z and Millennials to step up and take personal responsibility for the damage they do to the environment by educating them better on either social media environmental campaigns or school. We can also put how to recycle posters in the trash room of each apartment. For people who live in houses, we can deliver posters to their mailbox as well.
Cialdini’s persuasion introduces 6 principles of influence like reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity that will help you persuade others. We can make arguments out of scarcity for sure to demonstrate what the afterworld could be if we don’t enact to protect the environment. I hope we can start little by little, doing great little things to help the environment.
Kayla Xiong
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