Unilever released a groundbreaking study on the influence of influencer content on sustainable decisions in collaboration with eco-friendly influencers and behavioural experts.
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), the world’s first government institution dedicated to applying behavioural science, assisted with this project. By assessing the subsequent behaviour change, BIT constructed a simulated social platform to measure the impact of activist influencer material on 6,000 customers from the UK, US, and Canada.
The study indicated that 78% of participants agreed that influencers influence people’s sustainable decisions the most. This was more powerful than TV documentaries (48%), news stories (37%), and government campaigns (20%).
Social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram were deemed helpful by 83% of participants, with those aged 18-34 placing a higher value on sustainable living. Unilever’s Dove and Hellmann’s brands collaborated with experts to promote two important behaviours: using less plastic and wasting less food.
The study content tested was created to be either:
- Pragmatic – characterised by an emphasis on the scale of the problem behaviour, expansive and far-away consequences, and heavy use of data and statistics, or
- Optimistic – characterised by practical demonstrations of how to live sustainably, emphasis on the benefits to the individual, and a surprising, often humorous tone
According to the study, both pragmatic and optimistic content styles successfully persuade people to adopt sustainable behaviours. According to the findings, 75% of participants indicated the content encouraged them to engage in sustainable behaviours such as saving and reusing plastic, purchasing refillable products, and freezing and reusing leftovers.
According to the study, individuals value both facts and practical guidance. For example, those who viewed ‘pragmatic’ content were 69% more likely to attempt something new to minimise their plastic or food waste, while those who saw ‘optimistic’ content were 61% more likely to take action.
Branded material was discovered to be just as engaging, authentic, and informative as unbranded content. In addition, participants supported social media creators that create sponsored sustainable material, with 77% supporting creators who encourage their audience to behave in an environmentally responsible manner and 72% supporting creators who sell sustainable items or services.
According to the survey, 76% of participants were encouraged to act after viewing Dove’s plastic reuse material, whereas 82% were inspired after viewing Hellmann’s food waste reduction information.
Conny Braams, Unilever’s Chief Digital & Commercial Officer, said: “People are finding it hard to make sustainable choices due to a lack of simple, immediate and trustworthy information. Our ambition is to continue to collaborate with our partners to improve the sustainability content produced by our brands and support the creators we work with. Together, we are learning what is all likes and no action versus content that makes sustainable choices simple and preferred.”
Professor David Halpern, Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team, said: “This study is a world-first of its kind and the largest online controlled trial to test the effect of different styles of social media content. The behaviour change potential of social media is clear and the results show that there’s huge opportunity, providing fertile ground for further exploration in this space.”