Negative labelling helps consumers make sustainable choices

To achieve beneficial long-term targets, you must appeal to important short-term motives. This is the conclusion reached by Ynte van Dam in his research into sustainable consumption and marketing, for which he was awarded a PhD.
In practical terms, Van Dam’s research means that negative labelling is a good way of persuading consumers to make more sustainable choices: ‘This is not fair-trade produced’ on a pack of cacao works better than the positive message ‘This is a fair trade product’. Van Dam: “By giving the least sustainable alternative a negative label, you can shift consumer preference to a more sustainable product” (News Item Wageningen UR, 9 March 2016).
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