A few weeks ago over a hundred people gathered outside a convenience store below my apartment here in San Francisco with the goal of buying everything inside. In return, the store agreed to invest 22% of the day’s profits into improving its energy efficiency by replacing outdated refrigerators, light-bulbs, and more. This was the first action of “Carrotmob,” a small group with a compelling idea they think could change consumer advocacy and, well, redefine capitalism in the process.
It’s the anti-boycott: organize groups of consumers to agree to reward companies who make environmentally friendly choices.
Check out the video above to learn more about Carrotmob’s inaugural action and some of the thinking behind the project.
I’ve never been a huge fan of consumer advocacy. I’m typically more of the mind that the best sort of consumer advocacy is to stop buying more things in general, not start buying more of the “green” version of your choice product.
But something strikes me as different about Carrotmob’s approach. First off, is the collaborative nature of it all. Traditional consumer advocacy often seems to be an individual act. While you certainly hope others are making the same choices as you do, there are rarely ways to guarantee it. Carrotmob is just the opposite. The whole point is to purchase as a group: no one buys until everyone buys. It’s a communal act. And they want you to be a part of the discussion: check out their website to take part in deciding what the group does next.
Second is the carrot approach, hence the name “Carrotmob.” In general, the grassroots climate movement tends to be a bit more “stick” oriented when it comes to dealing with corporations. And with good reason. Green-washing abounds, now more so than ever, and it seems like the majority of corporate efforts to combat global warming are more PR stunts than genuine attempts to confront the crisis. I think folks are rightfully wary when corporations like Clorox partner with major greens like the Sierra Club to release supposedly environmentally friendly products.
But Carrotmob got me thinking that the majority of “carrots” being offered to businesses (be they your local convenience store or major corporations) are coming from the board rooms and marketing firms, not from the grassroots. And the scale is usually wrong. There’s only so far Clorox is going to budge – whatever number of people we get on our side, it’ll probably still represent a small part of their profits. But on the smaller scale, a few hundred or a few thousand people could have a major impact.
I’m curious to see what others think of the Carrotmob approach, and excited to see if it catches on anywhere else. IGHIH has readers around the country, many of you active in your own communities. Could you pull something off like what Carotmob did here in San Francisco?
Okay, I hate consumerism with a passion, but this is awesome. Fantastic grassroots organizing for real change. Keep this up and keep it growing. I could see this hitting all the major cities with force.
This is bloody brilliant! You guys based in San Fran? I’m on my way to move to Berkley in June. Would love to connect over beers about this concept and where it’s heading. Rock on,
Jesse Jenkins
It’s videos. I love the videos. I think you can do anything with them. They’re so juicy and terrific. Get a decent concept and put it on some film. Seriously, I think this carrotmob business is spicy good. The catch is that we are in this mess because of our intense thirst to consume more than we need. So, we’re never going to buy our way out of the problem. But, if anyone were going to give it a real shot, it’s these carrotmobbers. Maybe at the next mob the shoppers can go on a shopping binge at the business, but then all not shop for the next full day to make up for it. That way, the business wins, the planet wins, but the concept of reducing shopaholism wins too. I like the win win win. Anyway, good times.
I don’t like it. Perhaps this is because I don’t understand it. i don’t have speakers on this computer so i didn’t watch the video. maybe the video wil clear things up for me. I did read carrotmob’s executive summary and their plan of action seems to go like this: let an industry know that whichever company therein comes up with the best environmental inovation will be rewarded with a shopping spree and the carrotmob-endorsed claim of being the greenest company in said industry. I don’t see any explanation of what will be considered legitimate environmental practices. how are we sure that carrotmob is not celebrating greenwashing and token projects?
my biggest issue here is that carrotmob is encouraging consumerism. climate change is a consequence of capitalism. capitalism thrives on consumerism.
give me a good old-fashioned boycott.
willie
i’m with willie on this. this is just symbol rearranging to make people feel good about doing something harmful — buying shit. hell, at least exxon is upfront about their hate of all things good, but this sort of thing seems even more damaging to any progress in ecological mvoements. it’s a magic trick, sleight of hand. look where the magician doesn’t want you to.
This is fantastic. Now could we do the same thing, say, for the US automakers? Send them the names and commitments of so many people (100.000 – to start with), saying we will buy a car that will run say on 100m/g for up to $18.000 (something like that) as soon as it comes out. Your idea is so right on – the consumer IS king after all! If you like the idea, and want to work on it together, go to my blog on thesunnyway.com.
Uli, PlugInPartners.org is working on that idea for the auto industry, collecting “soft commitments” for bulk fleet purchases and individual purchases of plug-in hybrid cars. Check out http://www.PlugInPartners.org.
I’d have to agree with Willie on this one. By buying up all the products you increase demand which increases production which means more resource use. Granted on the small scale such as this one store it may not have that much effect but if it expands then your just increasing consumerism and consumption.
I’m totally anti-consumerism, too, but there are just some things you can’t avoid consuming. Take a toothbrush. Even if you use the same toothbrush for a year or more, eventually it’s going to crap out & you’ll have to get a new one. Maybe it will be a free one (if you get it from your dentist, or steal it from the hospital), but it’s still a consumer good that takes resources to make. Food is another great example. We all need food. Even if we grow good food ourselves & shop only locally, we are still putting our dollars at work for what we do buy. Why not put those dollars at work incentivizing companies to improve their ecological footprints, thus bettering the state of the world?
I think this is a fabulous idea for buying things we would buy anyway. I look forward to taking part (perhaps even organizing) the first Carrotmob in Austin, TX. =)
Rock on!
Just FYI, a vast majority of the Carrotmobbers were buying food to donate to the food bank.
The store used that 22% to redo their lighting and refrigerators/freezers.
The carrotmobbers hopefully weren’t going out to buy inessential items like designer bags or anything. They were just buying food (much of which was given to the needy). I don’t know. It sounds like win win win to me…
Kansas City is doing the next Carrotmob event: http://carrotmobkc.com