Prompting a Consumer Behavior for Pollution Control

Studied the relative effectiveness of different prompting procedures for increasing the probability that customers entering a grocery store would select their soft drinks in returnable rather than nonreturnable containers. 6 different 2-hr experimental conditions during which bottle purchases were recorded were (a) no prompt (i.e., control), (b) giving incoming customers a handbill urging the purchase of soft drinks in returnable bottles, (c) distribution of the handbill by 1 student and public charting of each customer's bottle purchases by another student, (d) handbill distribution and charting by a 5-member group, and (e) handbill distribution and purchase charting by 3 females. The prompting techniques were equally effective and in general increased the percentage of returnable-bottle customers by an average of 25%.