Mobilizing consumer demand for sustainable development

A lot of innovation effort is aimed at increased sustainable consumption, while at the same time actual sustainable consumption is not meeting the expectations raised by the positive public attitudes towards sustainability. This is indicative of a gap between attitudes and behaviors in sustainable consumption explained by social dilemma theory, value orientations, construal level and multiple selves theories. To bridge this gap, the social marketing approach utilizes techniques from commercial marketing to promote sustainability. Social marketing of sustainability is based on the voluntary increase in consumer motivation, opportunity and ability towards behaving sustainably. This chapter reviews evidence from ongoing TransForum research that has adopted this approach and concludes that mobilizing consumer demand for sustainable product is an essential prerequisite for growth in sustainable consumption. It also concludes that commitment of all partners in sustainable marketing chains is required to fulfill the potential of social marketing approaches in mobilizing sustainable consumption