Program on the Environment

Consumers across nations, gender, and generations demand sustainability. However, when consumers are forced to make trade-offs between product attributes or helping the environment, the environment never wins. This is due to the value-action gap, where people act in a manner that is inconsistent with their personal values. Without addressing this problem that the majority of consumers face, this would make it difficult from promoting sustainable consumption. To address this issue, this study focuses on identifying the factors that cause the value-action gap and finding possible green marketing strategies to overcome those challenges. To accomplish this task, I worked with Enweave, an e-commerce company that sells sustainable products, to identify the root problem of the value-action gap in sustainable consumption, and have found few marketing strategies that can mitigate this gap through my independent research. I then implemented these strategies into multiple marketing tools, such as social media and advertising, and primarily into my storyboard that will be used as a backbone for Enweave’s launch on Kickstarter. Through my independent research, I was able to find that information deficit, credibility, price and value contributes significantly to the value-action gap. By formulating an effective green marketing strategy that incorporates these components, this can act as a powerful catalyst to close the gap where both consumers and producers can advance towards sustainability.