TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Appenfeller, Dennis T1 - A social marketing approach to voluntary simplicity BT - communicating to consume less JF - Sustainability N2 - Higher eco-efficiency will not be enough to slow global warming caused by climate change. To keep global warming to 2 degrees, people also need to reduce their consumption. At present, however, many who would be able to do so seem unwilling to comply. Given the threats of a runaway climate change, urgent measures are needed to promote less personal consumption. This study, therefore, examines whether social marketing consume-less appeals can be used to encourage consumers to voluntarily abstain from consumption. As part of an online experiment with nearly 2000 randomly sampled users of an online platform for sustainable consumption, we tested the effectiveness of five different “consume-less” appeals based on traditional advertising formats (including emotional, informational, and social claims). The study shows that consume-less appeals are capable of limiting personal desire to buy. However, significant differences in the effectiveness of the appeal formats used in this study were observed. In addition, we found evidence of rebound effects, which leads us to critically evaluate the overall potential of social marketing to promote more resource-conserving lifestyles. While commercial consumer-free appeals have previously been studied (e.g., Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacked”), this study on the effectiveness of non-commercial consume-free appeals is novel and provides new insights. KW - social marketing KW - voluntary simplicity KW - spending patterns KW - donation behavior KW - sustainability KW - randomized trial KW - rebound-effect Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032302 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 15 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Hoffmann, Stefan T1 - The Effectiveness of consume-less appeals in social marketing JF - Journal of macromarketing N2 - Consume-less appeals in social marketing can help reduce the lavish consumption in wealthy countries, which poses a major threat to the climate. This study experimentally examines the effectiveness of three different types of consume-less appeals (informative, social normative, and emotional appeals) on participants’ actual spending levels during a real shopping trip compared to a control group (no appeal). In addition, the study tests whether these appeals evoke negative rebounds (in terms of post-purchase climate donation) or positive rebounds (in terms of accepting post-purchase material giveaways). A field experiment in a grocery store in Germany with 170 participants shows that social normative and the emotional appeals reduce actual shopping spending. Informative and social normative appeals increase donations, and emotional appeals reduce the items of taken giveaways. The findings further support certain indirect impacts of the consume-less appeals on rebounds in terms of spending levels. KW - consume-less appeals KW - emotional appeals KW - rebound effects KW - social marketing social norms Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/02761467231205448 SN - 0276-1467 SN - 1552-6534 PB - Sage CY - Thousand Oaks, Calif. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Hoffmann, Stefan A1 - Hüttel, Alexandra T1 - How empowerment and materialism contribute to anti-consumers’ well-being JF - European journal of marketing N2 - Purpose Because steadily growing consumption is not beneficial for nature and climate and is not the same as increasing well-being, an anti-consumerism movement has formed worldwide. The renouncement of dispensable consumption will, however, only establish itself as a significant lifestyle if consumers do not perceive reduced consumption as a personal sacrifice. Since prior research has not yielded a consistent understanding of the relationship between anti-consumption and personal well-being, this paper aims to examine three factors about which theory implies that they may moderate this relationship: decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and the value of materialism. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on data from a large-scale, representative online survey (N = 1,398). Structural equation modelling with latent interaction effects is used to test how three moderators (decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and materialism) affect the relationship amongst four types of anti-consumption (e.g. voluntary simplicity) and three different well-being states (e.g. subjective well-being). Findings While both dimensions of empowerment almost always directly promote consumer well-being, significant moderation effects are present in only a few but meaningful cases. Although the materialism value tends to reduce consumers’ well-being, it improves the well-being effect of two anti-consumption styles. Research limitations/implications Using only one sample from a wealthy country is a limitation of the study. Researchers should replicate the findings in different nations and cultures. Practical implications Consumer affairs practitioners and commercial marketing for sustainably produced, high-quality and long-lasting goods can benefit greatly from these findings. Social implications This paper shows that sustainable marketing campaigns can more easily motivate consumers to voluntarily reduce their consumption for the benefit of society and the environment if a high level of market-control empowerment can be communicated to them. Originality/value This study provides differentiated new insights into the roles of consumer empowerment, i.e. both decision-control empowerment and market-control empowerment, and the value of materialism to frame specific relationships between different anti-consumption types and various well-being states. KW - sustainable consumption KW - anti-consumption KW - consumer well-being KW - materialism KW - consumer empowerment Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-04-2020-0284 SN - 0309-0566 SN - 1758-7123 VL - 57 IS - 4 SP - 1186 EP - 1218 PB - Emerald CY - Bradford ER -