Carrotmobs: Adding Incentives to the Consumer Arsenal

Image courtesy of woodleywonderworks (Flickr)

Consumers have extraordinary power to influence the marketplace, and this is particularly true when it comes to consumer appetites for green. For decades, environmentalists have organized boycotts: and now carrots are being added to an arsenal that previously included mostly sticks. This concept is known as the carrotmob. Where boycotts punish businesses, a carrotmob collectively rewards environmentally responsible businesses through patronage.

The business community’s concern about direct action is well warranted; these types of disincentives are making it hard for them to ignore sustainability. But businesses also need incentives to justify bold strategic decisions, and the carrotmob is a grassroots incarnation of an idea that will help to transform our economy.

Image courtesy of Zdenko Zivkovic (Flickr)

Consumers have the power to punish companies who fail to incorporate sustainable business practices, but they also have the power to reward those with a green mission. In a free market system consumers are free to decide where they spend their money, and this determines which businesses thrive and which fail. Now in an effort to reward green initiatives, groups are organizing to show support through their spending.

Time magazine quotes Brent Schulkin, the inventor of the carrotmob, as saying: “Traditional activism revolves around conflict, boycotting, protesting, lawsuits — it’s about going into attack mode. What’s unique about a carrotmob is that there are no enemies.”

In the first carrotmob, hundreds of patrons spent $9,200 at a San Francisco convenience store. Years later, the concept has global reach.

The carrotmob approach addresses an interesting caveat of the millennial mind-set. Sometimes referred to as slacktivists, these are young pseudo-activists who follow social media like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. This cohort is well informed, understands how technology can make a difference, and knows how to tap into the power of social media.

Social media is at the center of efforts to communicate the carrotmob message. Carrotmob organizers eschew traditional marketing and prefer viral and other creative PR approaches, like handing out carrots on college campuses labeled with a blog address.

Image courtesy of John-Morgan (Flickr)

But the carrotmob concept is not just for the young. Philidephia Carrotmob organizer Tony Montagnaro says older people understand the concept of the Carrotmob. “Someone 65 or 70 often gets this right away,” he says. “People my age can be slower.”

Through the proliferation of web based technologies, consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of the products they buy and the companies and retailers they buy from. Consumers are also increasingly harnessing the power of social media to organize grass roots campaigns. Technology is not only driving consumer awareness, it is also the future of consumer activism. And according to Schulkin: “What’s good for activism is also good for business.”

Carrotmobs are an important part of the new landscape: they prove that organized consumer spending can change business. In today’s marketplace businesses can be punished or rewarded for their environmental record. To avoid consumer’s ire or to benefit from carrotmobs, businesses have more reasons than ever to go green.

For more information, go to Carrotmob.org.

“Carrotmobs: Adding Incentives to the Consumer Arsenal“ republished with permission from The Green Market.

Richard

Richard Matthews is a consultant, sustainable investor, writer and owner of The Green Market a leading sustainable business blog that covers the convergence of sustainable capitalism and the global environment. The Green Market is one of the most comprehensive resources for information and tools on sustainability. Richard is a contributor to more than 50 publications, including Environmental News Network (ENN) and The Green Economy Post. Find him on Facebook and Linkedin. Follow The Green Market’s twitter feed and see the Facebook Fan Page.

Editor’s Note: Article published for information purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation or solicitation.