Humour as a driver of Behaviour Change

Take a look at our "Greener, All Purpose Cleaner" video:
www.youtube.com/ecologywa

Posted in late August -- it's had 4,165 views already.

Mariann Cook Andrews
Washington Dept. of Ecology
United States

Thanks Mariann. Cute.

Better chemical management is one area that we have done some work on, and its one the list of to dos to convert it into a video. Your video is incentive...it's a good blend of how to with the practical aspects, the kind of data needed by small business, and in a compact manner. I might challenge the 15 cents a little..you have to buy the whole container of the various ingredients so the true cost is larger, but still completely within the budgets for even really small businesses.

Here would be one question from a compliance perspective for a small business. Are there situations where another department within your government would disallow the use of this concoction as a cleaning product? If so, why? Or, do you need to focus a little behaviour change magic within the rank and file?

Our focus on chemistry so far has on the frequently mispoken statement that products are 'chemical-free'. The day we released our three part document we received an annoucement from a major financial institution about their rewards program, which featured three green criteria. You got it - one was 'chemical-free'.

It is our bugaboo. So we hired Dr. Joe Schwarcz from University of McGill's Office of Science and Society to be a speaker at the launch of the Eureka Exchange. This is one of our program streams that focuses on greening innovation for small business. Dr. Joe did a great job for us and successfully blended fact with funny.

Thanks again for your link.
L
BTW
We developed the character of Mother Nature in a different way in 1996...she needs a little updating on the hair and the clothes, but she might be out this spring...

Lynn Johannson
Head of the Collaboration
goingforthegreen.net and GFTG TV
Canada
www.goingforthegreen.net

Your commercial is interesting but is the cleaner really greener? Too often we promote things that seem greener because they come from natural or more familiar products. See below for borax toxicity information.

A reassessment of boric acid/borax by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs found potential developmental toxicity (especially effects on the testes).[15] Boric acid solutions used as an eye wash or on abraded skin are known to be particularly toxic to infants, especially after repeated use, because of the slow elimination rate.[16]

At a recent European Diagnostics Manufacturing Association (EDMA) meeting, several new additions to the Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) candidate list in relation to the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals Regulations 2007 (REACH) were discussed. The registration and review completed as part of REACH has changed the classification of Sodium Tetraborate CAS 1303-96-4 to: Highly Toxic [17]

15 http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/boric_acid_tred.pdf
16 Goodman and Gillman's: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 6th edition, chapter on Antiseptics and Disinfectants, page 971
17 http://echa.europa.eu/doc/candidate_list/svhc_supdoc_disodium_tetraborate_anhydrous_publication.pdf

Gary Fish
Manager, Pesticide Programs
Maine Board of Pesticides Control
United States
http://www.YardScaping.org

Hi Gary:

An excellent point; thank you. The issue that not all things created by Mother Nature are safe was a point that Dr. Schwarcz made in his presentation at the Eureka Exchange, which is now available on GFTG TV. He gave several examples and was able to do so by being both seriously funny and humourously serious.

I note that science iteracy, which includes chemical literacy is not common in the marketplace. We read one fairly report from the US which pointed it to be less than 5%; ouch. An older report from a Canadian Univeristy was a little more generous - it pegged it at about 13%; perhaps that number would be lwoer now, I don't know. The point being neither is stellar.

When we wrote a QUICK TIP on better chemical management, the chemical industry advised us to tread carefully for it is important to treat ANY chemical with respect:
"Any element, even oxygen, in the wrong place at the wrong time, either in too small a quantity or too much, can cause problems. Experts in the chemical
industry tell us that there are no good chemicals for this reason." This Quick Tip is available on the goingforthegreen website for free.

This brings me back to my challenge - to help small business green their productivity. I am still looking for case studies where humour is helping. I will have a chat with Dr. Joe about the clip Mariann supplied and with the data you supplied Gary and see what he says. THANKS!

Lynn Johannson
Head of the Collaboration
goingforthegreen.net and GFTG TV
Canada
www.goingforthegreen.net

Lynn,

We successfully incorporated humor into our litter campaign for several years. A lot of people didn't get it - but our target audience did. And we found humor to be a more successful approach - as opposed to themes of pride or shame. Note although the ads were meant to be funny, we incorporated messaging that focus groups indicated was the most persuasive - enforcement. Humor was used to get attention and get people talking. The enforcement message helped to change behavior. Over the course of the campaign we measured a 25% reduction in the overall amount of roadside litter statewide. You can watch the ads and see some of the materials at:

www.litter.wa.gov (watch the secured load spot).

Then at http://www.litter.wa.gov/c_media.html - be sure to watch the ads from 2002 - by far the most edgy - and funniest in my book (in a Monty Python sort of way).

See campaign materials at http://www.litter.wa.gov/campaign_mat.html - the bottle of urine got the most attention.

Good luck. I'm all for messaging on the lighter side.

Megan Warfield




Megan Warfield
WA State Dept. of Ecology
United States