Consumer Behavior Social

Marketing Task

Yadavanand Das PGP/13/184

2010

Excessive Use and Improper Disposal of Plastic Bags

 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR EXERCISE

Social Issue: Excessive Use and Improper Disposal of Plastic Bags

Overview:

Each year, the amount of plastic bags used worldwide stands at around 500 billion (500,000,000,000).
That would come out to be somewhere around one million bags used every minute. The problem with
such high usage of plastic is the chemicals used to manufacture plastic bags are highly toxic and such
irresponsible usage and disposal of these bags is damaging the environment that we live in.

India's plastics consumption is one of the highest in the world. Yet, very little has been done to recycle,
re-use and dispose of plastic waste. Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle and most end up on
landfill sites where they take more than 300 years to photo degrade. They break down into tiny toxic
particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally
ingest them. The cows, buffaloes and other milking animals accidently eat the plastic which causes
medical problems for them due to the presence of toxic chemicals. This in turn may get passed on to us
also as the milk that we are consuming gets toxic. However, the problems surrounding waste plastic
bags starts long before they photo degrade.

Used plastic bags that are generally used for grocery shopping are notorious for choking sewer, open
drainage system spoiling sanitation and creating an overall unaesthetic view of the environment. The
practice of burning them on street sides at dump sites produces dioxins and furans, which are highly
toxic as well as carcinogenic and are excessively and extensively being inhaled by human beings. Due to
their extreme toxicity to human system, they are responsible for producing serious diseases. Under
universally accepted international requirements, dioxins and furans are required to be absolutely absent
in air. The non-degradable nature of polyethylene, the raw material used for manufacturing plastic,
makes it remain present in the environment for hundreds of decades and contribute their undesirable
impact for a much extended period. Since they are extensively used in cities, these adverse impacts are
extremely visible in urban areas.

Plastic bags are favored for a number of their desirable properties such as low weight, durability, and for
a number of their other end uses like convenience in packing food stuff and other multifarious items
besides being of virtually no cost to the end user that is, the customer. Where the very characteristics of
the plastic bag cause tremendous rise in their use in day to day life, there, at the same time unethical
disposal of the used shopping bags adds to the entire problem in totality. The situation has now
deteriorated as a menace to the environment in the form of polluting the soil, choking of sewage that
results in oozing out of the dirty sewage water on streets. Such clogged water makes the perfect
breeding grounds for a number of vectors of diseases like flies and mosquitoes. These vectors spread
diseases like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis B and diarrhea while the clogged water can contaminate the
drinking water basin, create foul odor in the air and spoil the sanitation system in the bigger cities of
India.

Selection of Target Market

The target market for the social marketing task would comprise of both the urban as well as the rural
consumers with disposable income and access to television.

The campaign would be based on the following framework of Consumer Behavior:

1. Interpretivism

Analysis

a. Mental content is judgment dependant and the interpretation of one consumer differs
from another.
b. In this case, where the target market has been divided into two segments, namely,
urban and rural, we have to understand that the thinking of an urban consumer differs
from that of a rural consumer.
c. There is a need for a campaign which will have equal appeal for the urban as well as
the rural consumer.
d. The television commercial would however need to stress to all its viewers the social
issue of irresponsible disposal and excess use of plastic bags.
2. Behavioral Learning

Analysis

a. Instrumental Conditioning
– Positive v/s Negative Reinforcement
– The objective of the campaign is to make the consumer/viewer think about
the consequences of their actions.
– Since the emphasis is on the damage of the environment as a result of the use
of plastic bags, I believe, the campaign should have a message that induces a
negative reinforcement amongst its viewers.
b. FCB Grid
– High Involvement-Think v/s Feel
– Learn -> Feel -> Do v/s Feel -> Learn -> Do
– The campaign has to be able to provide motivation for the consumer at both
emotional and cognitive levels so as to make them think over their actions and
also feel for the environment.

– If we take the Freudian Theory into account, then the aim of the campaign
should be to target the ‘Superego’ in the consumers.
– People generally tend to have high moral and societal values
– A behavior such as littering and irresponsible disposal of plastic bags becomes
a habit that needs to, and can be altered by stimulating the superego.

3. Attitude and Personality

Analysis

a. Attitude is a learned predisposition whereas personality is a more deeply ingrained

part of an individual.
b. However, attitude can be influenced by external factors and thus produce a change in
the way an individual perceives an object or an event
c. The campaign should be designed so as to bring in an attitudinal change in the
consumer regarding his/her use of the plastic bags
d. The cognitive and the affective components of an individual’s attitude have to be
stimulated by the television commercial and it should have sufficient content so as to
invoke action from the verbalizers as well as the visualizers amongst the target
consumers.
 4. Reference Groups
Analysis

a. I believe that people tend to retain things and get influenced by events or people with
whom they can identify easily.
b. Hence, for my campaign, I’d portray a situation that has a normative influence on the
consumers
c. The aim of my campaign would ultimately be to create an expectation from each
individual in the society to behave in a responsible way when it comes to usage and
disposal of plastic bags and then conform to it.

Television Commercial
Campaign Objective: To make the target consumers reflect upon the message and hence cause a change
in their attitude towards excessive usage and improper disposal of Plastic bags.

Storyboard
Scene 1 (Approximate Scene Duration: 10 seconds)

A village scene with dark, gloomy clouds. People

are shown with a sad and helpless expression on
their face.

(Camera zooms)

An old shopkeeper looks from his shop across the

street and sees the whole street submerged in
murky, knee-deep water.
Scene 2 (Approximate Scene Duration: 7 seconds)

(Camera view traverses along the street)

Shown from a bird’s eye view, it is revealed that

the village has suffered from a terrible flood and
the water seems to be dirty drain water.

Scene 3 (Approximate Scene Duration: 10 seconds)

(Camera zooms to show a young school girl)

The girl is seen stranded in the middle of the water

clogged road and while she takes some time to
rest, she notices a torn plastic bag skims across her
towards the drain and gets stuck there.

Scene 4 (Approximate Scene Duration: 15 seconds)

The girl wades toward the spot and reaches for the
piece of plastic bag. But, as she tugs, she pulls free
many such pieces of plastic bags that have formed a
bundle.

At once, the water starts to drain from the nearby

area and reveals a nasty sight.
Scene 5 (Approximate Scene Duration: 15 seconds)

A huge mound of plastic bags that have choked the

drainage system of the village completely.

Slowly, again, the murky water begins to rise while the

following line is displayed in a fading screen:

“Plastic Bags: Break this habit, Build the future”

Insights
The Scene 1 sets a gloomy and dark image for the ad to capture the viewer’s attention and arouse his
curiosity regarding what lies ahead.

Scene 2 finally reveals the sad picture of the flood and answers the viewer’s first query while raising a
second one.

Scene 3 then continues with where Scene 2 had ended and further makes him wonder when a vague
object like the plastic bag is shown floating past the main character.

Scene 4 then begins answering all of the viewer’s queries and makes him guess what is going to come up
next.

Scene 5 ends the ad by creating an image inside the viewer’s mind that makes him to think both
rationally and at an emotional level and then leaves him with a surprise where the flood water further
begins to rise as the message of the campaign is displayed.

CONCLUSION
The inspiration for the commercial was taken from the real-life incident of the Mumbai floods which
took place in 2005. The main culprit causing the flood by clogging the drain water was the irresponsible
disposal of the plastic bags. Hence, this ad was an attempt to educate the viewer one of the major
hazards of plastic bags. This is just one of the ads for the campaign among a list of others that include
messages that tell the viewer about the various other environmental hazards like, release of toxic
chemicals and pollution of the ground water basin by plastic bags.
References
1. “Consumer Behavior”, Michael R. Solomon
2. http://www.greenindiatrust.org/?page_id=10
3. http://www.environment.gov.pk/PRO_PDF/PositionPaper/Ban%20on%20use%20of%20plastic%
20shopping%20bags.pdf
4. http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/comcom/plasticbags.htm
5. http://www.boloji.com/perspective/126.htm
6. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-192438179.html
7. Class Notes