As cities around the world roll out bans on single-use plastics, an award-winning study published in the Journal of Marketing calls for a shift in how we think about sustainability efforts.
Titled “How Do I Carry All This Now? Understanding Consumer Resistance to Sustainability Interventions”, the study—recognised with the 2024 AMA-EBSCO Responsible Research in Marketing Award—finds that while governments and organisations increasingly introduce sustainability interventions to encourage individual behaviour change, prevalent behavioural approaches can often trigger unintended consumer resistance, ultimately undermining their effectiveness.
Drawing on Chile’s 2019 nationwide plastic bag ban, the study finds that resistance doesn’t come from apathy but from emotional overload and disruption to daily routines.
“We found that bans like these don’t just change what people do—they unsettle how they feel,” said Dr Claudia Gonzalez-Arcos, lead author and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Queensland. “When people are made to feel overwhelmed, blamed or unsupported, they resist—even if they support the cause.”
The study identifies three core ways in which sustainability interventions can unintentionally provoke consumer resistance:
- First, through responsibilisation battles, where consumers feel unfairly tasked with solving systemic environmental problems, bearing the weight of change without adequate support.
- Second, interventions often trigger unsettling emotionality, eliciting feelings such as frustration, shame and guilt as consumers struggle to adjust their routines.
- Finally, these interventions disrupt linked practices—the interconnected, everyday activities like shopping, carrying groceries or waste disposal—which creates friction not just in logistics but also in how consumers make sense of their day-to-day lives.
While the case study is set in Chile, the authors assert that the findings have global relevance, especially as countries around the world implement or revive bans on single-use plastics, carbon-intensive products or excessive packaging.
“Just look at what’s happening this year alone,” said Dr Daiane Scaraboto, co-author and professor at the University of Melbourne. “In the US, New York is banning hotel toiletries, Oregon is mandating recycled paper bags and Connecticut is phasing out polystyrene food containers and plastic utensils. In Australia, NSW is cracking down on plastic packaging, while South Australia is banning soy sauce fish containers and produce stickers. Bali is also tightening its island-wide plastic ban. These are not just policy updates; they are real shifts in people’s daily routines. And in places like Connecticut, even schools and businesses are warning that these changes could negatively impact them and their customers. That’s the kind of resistance that our research helps explain.”
The authors see that changing consumer practices is necessary but complicated.
“Interventions are needed, but policymakers need to go beyond in their efforts and connect with consumers with more empathy and consider linked practices, the social context of everyday routines, and the shared responsibility between individuals, businesses and institutions. Considering this, we build not just initiatives, but a lasting and trusted system for sustainable change,” Gonzalez-Arcos explained.
On the back of these findings, the study is available online via the Journal of Marketing.
Read also: New report shows the huge impact of philanthropy-enabled climate action
Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.
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