Tillmann Prüfer is a member of the editor-in-chief of “Zeit-Magazin”.
I read that we consumers are a problem. Because of the way we consume. Not just because we are constantly using energy and exhaling carbon dioxide and producing waste. Not just because we eat too much of everything, especially fat and sugar.
But even if we were given the opportunity to produce a little less waste, use a little less energy and eat a little less sugar – then we don’t want it. I read in the “Welt am Sonntag” that the biggest obstacle to sensible innovations is the consumer. Simply because he doesn’t want any innovations. He doesn’t buy them.
Whenever we learn that something is “new,” we distrust it because we assume that something new is never a good thing for us. We were actually happy with the way it was. For example, when a detergent has a new formula, one that washes just as well while protecting the environment, consumers often react critically. They assume that the product does not wash as well because it is better for the environment. Therefore, not only the environmentally friendly product is always offered, the old detergent stays on the supermarket shelf. A so-called fallback strategy.
Customers are reluctant to change their learned behavior. You should keep that in mind when you call for the consumer with his consumer behavior to push the industry to develop new and more future-oriented consumer products. If the industry then tries to make a product palatable to consumers, the proverbial comparison with the sour beer on offer is quickly at hand.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
More columns by Tillmann Prüfer
This has already led to some manufacturers secretly introducing innovations. When food manufacturer Kraft once replaced artificial flavors and preservatives with natural ingredients in a popular product, it did so quietly. It was feared that the consumer would otherwise complain that everything didn’t taste the same as before, and condemn the renewed – and seen in this way: better – product. So we only accept improvements if we are betrayed.
Of course, it’s a bit of a shame when the world has to end because we don’t want to get used to a different detergent. And I’d like to say that I’m completely different, but of course that’s not true. I would hold onto my old scouring powder until my hands are etched away. I still have a stash of old lightbulbs that I bought in a panic when filaments were banned. You have to take things from me by force.
In this sense, I am for the introduction of the dictatorship, at least as far as how I am treated is concerned. But nobody will introduce a dictatorship just because of me. Would be an exaggeration, probably. Just steal the lightbulbs from me when I’m not at home, they’re in a box in the hall closet.
More: Be kinder at work – just a little, please