BRANDING: Going green is for girls, but branding can make men eco-friendly
Marketers used more masculine fonts and colors in packaging and hired very masculine spokesmen, explicitly stating that the product was for men only. It worked. Marketers changed their phrasing to 'zero-calorie' drinks. Pepsi Max stated that it was the 'first diet cola for men'. Going green is for girls, but branding can make men eco-friendly " Shoppers who engage in green behaviors are stereotyped by others as more feminine and also see themselves as more feminine ." Studies show that men are not as environmentally friendly as women. But could men be persuaded to go green? New research indicates the answer is yes — and it’s all about branding. The study "Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption," forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research by James Wilkie, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, provides evidence that shoppers ...