What holds people back from making smarter (read “better for themselves and for the planet”) purchasing choices? It’s a question that plagues me. I’ve always assumed people adopt a “when I know better, I do better” mantra. However, a recent e-mail blast from marketing mastermind Seth Godin has shone some light on the issue:
The challenge for people trying to…highlight long-term side effects of various consumer choices is that it’s much easier to spread a story about exploding cars or hair falling out than it is to spread a story of ‘nothing bad happens’ or ‘no one got the swine flu and died’ or ‘three years from now, this section of ocean will be dead.’ We prefer the vivid anecdote to the dry and statistically useful fact, which in a complex world, is to our detriment.
I’ve been fascinated by media’s and the public’s fascination with the swine flu vaccination. And, in the midst of the maelstrom, I confess Godin’s theory struck me as likely. People are afraid of what could happen RIGHT NOW. What might or even likely will happen in the future just isn’t enough to motivate us to change.
Godin’s right. It is to our (and our children’s!) detriment.