The French equivalent of the Environmental Protection Agency–Ministère de l’environment, de l’énergie et de la mer–created an interesting PSA in 2016. Their goal was to reduce the amount of food spoilage and waste by encouraging consumers to make a grocery list and to buy only what they need. This ad was very successful because it was different, making it a memorable experience for the consumer. By introducing the egg, it also created a habit trigger for consumers: every time they think of going to the grocery store, they will remember the shaking eggs in the fridge and will remember to create a list. Most importantly though, the PSA did not directly attack the consumer. If the consumer were directly attacked and shamed, they might feel defensive and just ignore the ad.
Regardless of how well thought out an ad is, there will always be consumers who take it a bit too personally. A quick glance through the comments shows that people are angry with the agency for implying that it’s consumer waste that needs to be solved instead of business waste. The comments also include anger at the ad due to the fact that the woman is keeping the fridge door open, which wastes energy and is clearly not good for the environment.
All in all, though, I think that this is a good PSA signaling one thing that consumers could do to help protect the planet. What about you? Are you convinced by this PSA? What could be done to prevent some of the backlash against the ad?