Today is Earth Day, and everyone has got Mother Gaia on their minds—Mayor Bloomberg's Twitter is green, your free Starbucks coffee is "green," and some confused souls probably think it's still that other green day. But according to a recent study, not everyone is so jazzed about living sustainably. A majority, in fact, think it's downright girly.
According to the study by OgilvyEarth, 82 percent of Americans think that going green is "feminine." They found that more men identified as "Green Rejecters," and women made up the majority of the "Super Greens," the most active group of green advocates. And at the core of the problem was some sort of gender insecurity:
Our ethnographic research in the homes of mainstream Americans confirmed the finding, with the men we spoke to admitting they refrained from green activities like carrying reusable totes and even driving hybrid vehicles because they felt girly or self-conscious. Clearly sustainability marketing needs its Marlboro Man moment.
The Onion backed up their study with their own "interviews" with people-on-the-street, including one man who very reasonably said, "Well, once all of the women save the world, I intend to give them the best sex of their lives, so it all works out in the end." OgilvyEarth gave some suggestions on how marketers can woo males to go green: "These men see conquering issues of sustainability in their own lives as a personal challenge, a problem to solve, and something ordinary men don’t have the know-how or competence to handle." So...it's all about flattering them, ladies and/or corporations! Because they'll never learn to recycle without the enticement of sexual favors.
But really dudes...is there anything "feminine" about killing your girlfriend and composting her, like the co-founder of Earth Day did? Check and mate, men.
