Can marketing reinvent consumerism?

Rhiannon Davies Shah of WWF-UK explores marketing’s biggest challenge in the decade ahead. Can marketing re-invent itself, encourage people to buy less, and help the planet recover?

Brands show people a brave new world of what’s possible.

It’s been the same since the first ads sold Hoovers and washing machines to housewives in the 1950s . These early ads showcased bold new products and sold new ‘modern’ lifestyles to millions. They also ushered in a wave of consumerism that many argue got us into the pickle that we’re in now. Now it’s these modern lifestyles that have become a risk to our own survival. It’s our consumption patterns that are fuelling the devastation. Recent studies show the richest 10% of the world’s population are responsible for 52% of the cumulative carbon emissions. Marketing can come to the rescue.

We need to work to a different brief

Faced with a planetary emergency of this magnitude, marketing departments all over the world need to work to a different brief. Otherwise the risk is being seen as anachronistic...