Takin It to the Mall: Consumer Activism on Global Warming

The report finds that Americans are more likely to engage in consumer activism than political activism to address global warming, though many underestimate its effectiveness. While consumers often rely on individual purchasing decisions, the text argues that public communication and bad publicity are more effective at changing corporate practices than sales decreases alone.

• Americans are more inclined to use consumer activism than political activism to fight global warming, and this trend is increasing. As of November 2016, 31% of Americans rewarded companies reducing global warming by purchasing their products multiple times in the previous year, and 21% avoided products from companies opposing climate action. In contrast, 10% or fewer contacted elected officials regarding global warming during those years.
• There is a significant gap between the actual effectiveness of consumer activism and public perception. A March 2013 survey showed 60% of respondents believed their actions affected companies "not at all" or "only a little," while only 5% believed they could influence companies "a lot."
• Corporate change is more frequently driven by reputation damage and negative publicity than by a drop in sales. Boycotts with national media attention have a success rate of approximately 25%, which increases to about 50% when public protests or demonstrations are included.
• Successful environmental consumer activism since 2000 has led to specific corporate policy changes, such as Seaworld ending orca breeding, Nestle pledging to stop deforestation for palm oil, Kimberly-Clark reducing deforestation through new paper procurement, Inditex eliminating fur from stores, and Staples increasing recycled content in paper products.

APA

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (2017). Takin It to the Mall: Consumer Activism on Global Warming. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/consumer-activism-global-warming/

Chicago

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Takin It to the Mall: Consumer Activism on Global Warming. 2017. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/consumer-activism-global-warming/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Yale Program on Climate Change Communication |title=Takin It to the Mall: Consumer Activism on Global Warming |date=10 March 2017 |url=https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/consumer-activism-global-warming/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaleprogramonclimatechangecommunication2017takin, author = {{Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}}, title = {{Takin It to the Mall: Consumer Activism on Global Warming}}, institution = {Yale Program on Climate Change Communication}, year = {2017}, month = mar, url = {https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/consumer-activism-global-warming/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }