Since global warming moved onto the public agenda, social marketers have been trying to get people to use less electricity, most of which is generated by burning fossil fuels.
Although younger people with years of life ahead of them are the most likely to be affected by climate change, they are not always inclined to reduce their power use.
In fact, Monash University doctoral student Samantha Smith says members of Gen Y appear to be addicted to devices that use large amounts of electricity. Constant communication using smartphones and laptops has become part of everyday life for young people, who are likely to have televisions and computers on at the same time. For them, using less electricity would mean reduced communication with their social networks.
Ms Smith is studying messages aimed at altering energy consumption and seeking more effective ways to influence this group to reduce its considerable energy footprint.
Getting anyone to conserve power for the environment’s sake is difficult but social marketers face additional problems with Gen Y, which is considered elusive and less responsive than other groups to traditional marketing.
It is also a relatively ill-defined group, says Professor Steve Worthington from Monash University’s Department of Marketing, who is supervising Ms Smith’s research.
“Gen Y is generally considered to consist of people somewhere between 19 and 34,” Professor Worthington says. “It’s a wide range of ages and the group offers a great deal of complexity. It’s therefore difficult to pitch a message at them.”
Although Gen Ys claim to be concerned about the environment, he says, that does not always translate into action and Ms Smith’s qualitative research confirmed the ‘effort’ many of them associated with being environmentally friendly.
“For some participants, the thought of having their electricity restricted also seemed to scare them, especially when it came to not being able to access the internet,” Ms Smith says. “Gen Ys have an intensely tribal need to be constantly connected to their peers, and Facebook feeds this. Nine out of 10 surveyed had an active Facebook account and accessed it daily, many more than once.”
Although households containing Gen Ys have the highest number of multimedia devices, Ms Smith says that only Gen Ys living away from their parents use significantly more electricity than other groups: parental influence appears to help ensure switches are turned off. Her research also found that households headed by Gen Ys are least likely to choose energy-efficient appliances or turn off devices when not in use.
The key to change is understanding the best possible angles for messages, Professor Worthington says.
“It’s a matter of tapping into the way Gen Ys think. What are the trigger points that will get them to change behaviour? And there probably isn’t just one trigger point, but a range of them, and you have to experiment to see what works with various parts of this complex group.”
One possibility often raised as an electricity-saving incentive is highlighting the costs involved. Ms Smith says the Gen Ys she studied were more interested in saving money than the environment. “Tapping into this could be an incentive to encourage Gen Ys to create a new, simple, electricity-saving habit; however, getting them to conserve power for the environment’s sake still remains a big challenge.”
Once completed, her research should benefit organisations working to drive social change that will help the environment. The applications for the findings could go beyond electricity use: behaviour change approaches that work for reducing electricity could also influence young people to rethink their use of other resources, such as gas and water, which are increasingly the target of government sustainability programs.
