Marketers urged to de-market in the fight against climate change

Tiếng Việt

Marketers urged to de-market in the fight against climate change

On the occasion of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), RMIT University lecturers Dr Vicki Little and Mr Nhan Nguyen analysed the role of marketing in combatting climate change, and why we need to pay more attention to “de-marketing”.

As a qualitative researcher and macro-marketer, RMIT School of Business and Management Senior Lecturer and Program Manager for Engagement Dr Vicki Little has studied sustainability-oriented innovation and the role of marketing in climate change for years.

She believes that marketers are partly responsible for the logics that drive over-consumption, leading to over-production, greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

“Marketing logic is predicated on growth – growth in revenues, growth in sales, growth in demand. Most of us in the marketing discipline are still teaching and practicing standard marketing, with very little critique of the damage it does, in direct contradiction of the Sustainable Development Goals,” she stated.

RMIT Associate Lecturer and environmental activist Nhan Nguyen pointed out that this a global problem.

“Many of the marketers in Vietnam are working for multi-national companies that are from other countries, so the marketing directives may not be coming from the Vietnam office. Additionally, this is a borderless issue as one's country's consumption and greenhouse gas emissions impact the entire planet,” he said.

“There are things we can do locally in Vietnam to help solve the overall issue. ‘Think globally, act locally’ might be clichéd, but true in this case.”

De-marketing as the way forward

Dr Little believes de-marketing to be a tool to help people survive the existential threat of climate change.

“De-marketing is about selling the idea that ‘less is best’ – less growth, less material things, less meat and dairy, and zero fossil fuels,” she said.

Dr Little co-wrote a paper titled Macro-demarketing: The Key to Unlocking Unsustainable Production and Consumption Systems? coining the term 'macro-demarketing' and capturing that idea in 2019. She has also been working on a new “net-zero carbon marketing manifesto” with Dr Sabrina Helm from the University of Arizona in the US.

“Our manifesto states that we want to create shared value with the people of the world, without destroying the planet through overproduction and overconsumption; and without destroying the fabric of society through inequality and injustice,” she said.

“We believe that the traditional logic of marketing theory supports damaging production and consumption activities; and that the emphasis should change to collaboration rather than competition, the whole rather than the parts, sufficiency rather than materialism, and collective well-being rather than individual utility.”

Mr Nhan Nguyen highlights education as a big solution to climate change.

“In Vietnam, educating the youth about climate change is an area that needs attention. In my daily work, I come across many young people who have no idea what causes climate change. Most have heard of it, but not many can explain it. So, education is important,” he said.

“NGO and public sector marketers can help by marketing educational messages to raise awareness and build the public's understanding of the issue. For private sector marketers, it’s a more difficult ask as their job is to market their products and make sales.

“Ideally, they and their companies will find a way to balance making sales with environmental impact. It will take redesigning their business model from a linear economy model to a circular economy model,” he suggested.

Dr Little is confident that marketing has a powerful toolkit and people can deploy it for degrowth rather than growth.

“It’s high time we find ways to pivot the marketing discipline away from the raison d'être of growth and to save humanity from itself,” she said.

Story: Ngoc Hoang

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RMIT University lecturers Dr Vicki Little (pictured left) and Mr Nhan Nguyen.

About the experts

Dr Vicki Little is a senior lecturer and the Program Manager for Engagement at RMIT University’s School of Business & Management. Her industry background is in advertising, corporate marketing, consulting and start-ups; and she has taught courses including entrepreneurial marketing strategy, digital marketing, and innovation management at undergraduate and postgraduate level in New Zealand, Malaysia and now Vietnam.

Mr Nhan Nguyen is an associate lecturer at RMIT University’s School of Business & Management. He teaches Marketing, Management and Entrepreneurship courses and has been championing environmental initiatives in Vietnam since 2006. He is active in the environmental/sustainability community having started a number of initiatives with his current projects being Vietnam Clean & Green and Refill, a new initiative to reduce plastic waste in Vietnam.

Business and management

08 November 2021