People are used to seeing stark warnings on tobacco products alerting them about the potentially deadly risks to health. Now a study suggests similar labelling on food could help them make wiser choices about not just their health, but the health of the planet.
The research, by academics at Durham University, found that warning labels including a graphic image – similar to those warning of impotence, heart disease or lung cancer on cigarette packets – could reduce selections of meals containing meat by 7-10%.
It is a change that could have a material impact on the future of the planet. According to a recent YouGov poll, 72% of the UK population classify themselves as meat-eaters. But the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which advises the government on its net zero goals, has said the UK needs to slash its meat consumption by 20% by 2030, and 50% by 2050, in order to meet them.
We live in a World were techniques from modern psychology are user freely in Marketing to influence people via subconscious means (have you noticed how perfumes adverts are usually about sex, car adverts about freedom and fizzy drinks adverts about “fun with friends”?)
And we all are susceptible to it, no mater how intelligent and well informed (even if only because familiarity with something makes us naturally favor it, and that applies to brands too).
(This is actually one of the ways used by the food industry to create demand beyond natural human need for food, by the way and picking up on another discussion of yours - it’s well worth it to read a book called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” on this as well as “Freakonomics” for an intro into all the “fun” ways in which humans aren’t really rational as economic agents, including as consumers)
I don’t think we can rely on “consumers” to change things exactly because humans as consumers are to a very large extent manipulated and even those who have a very high awareness of their purchase and consumption habits are but a minority that doesn’t really has much impact in the big scheme of things.
I agree with you almost entirely. There are definitely deceptive advertising practices all over by every industry. And subliminal messaging is in use everywhere. Both are getting worse all the time as people trade privacy for convenience, myself included. A quick search will reveal many results of people talking about how they’ve talked about something for the first time that they have no interest in and being shown ads for it later. Advertising has reached the point where companies can tell when a woman is pregnant before she does and start advertising accordingly.
I also agree that for most of this, consumers are the virtually powerless underdogs. The only way to truly stop it, if there even is a way to stop something like subliminal advertising, is legislation.
All that said, I do think that consumers can do more than we are. In the current world it seems like waiting for politicians that are bought and paid for by these companies to pass legislation that these companies don’t want is the wrong course of action if the goal is to decrease consumption. Nations want you to consume because that makes the economy look better.
However, educating ourselves, and more importantly each other, on these deceptive advertising practices, and taking an active stance to consciously combat said practices can make an immediate impact while we wait/hope for meaningful legislation. If we’re watching a movie or TV show with friends and see some subtle product placement, call it out. When we’re at the store take a moment to consciously think about whether we need some product, and what the consequences of buying said product are. How much energy is used, what kind of waste does it make both during production and after consumption. If it’s recyclable, how? And how much energy is used in doing so? We should all demand to know what our local recycling policies are. Not just what they accept as “recyclable” but whether they actually recycle or just send it to a dump anyway. And wherever possible opt for options that are better for our world and better yet, going without when possible. I see a lot of “keeping up with the Joneses” in the modern world, and so much waste that seems reasonable avoidable.
I think I got a bit sidetracked. I definitely don’t think we as consumers can do everything, and I think pretty much the full responsibility should fall on corporations and those in power, but currently that’s largely not the case. And I don’t think we have time to wait for that to change.
Ultimately I definitely think we largely agree; maybe slight differences in the how, but the end goal seems the same. As far as I can tell we are allies. We can and should help each other and others to advocate for personal changes and policy/legislative changes to combat the rampant over-consumption and over-production in the world today. I don’t have children but I still want a livable Earth for future generations so so much.
Can’t say I disagree with most (almost all, even) of that and would even say “educating” people to those things (well, mainly pointing it out to them and letting people think about it for themselves) is my main approach nowadays.
I do disagree on one point: I think that by the point we are alert and alerting others to the subtle manipulation going on, we’re not acting as “consumers” but more like “citizens” or just “people”, since that goes beyond merelly adjusting our purchasing choices and into actually examining and challenging the framework shaping people’s choices in general.
Maybe it’s just me, but my understanding of a “consumer” is just somebody that purchases things and people who are activelly trying to reduce the effectiveness of the mechanisms shapping people’s purchasing choices not just on themselves but also on others, are acting at a level which is more than a mere “purchaser of things”.
Hence I don’t think such observation of and alerting others about mechanisms used to shape people’s “consumer choices” is “acting as consumers to improve things” but is rather a more political level of “acting”, more like “citizens”.
That probably makes our “disagreement” mainly grammatical :)