Making Ecology Desirable: How to Change the Way We Talk About It?

Source: French to English Tester   Published on: 2026-05-11

Source: The Conversation – in French– By Adeline Ochs, Professor, Marketing Department, Audencia

Ecology struggles to attract crowds. What if provoking positive emotions instead of issuing guilt-inducing injunctions, embodying stories through a character other than the polar bear, or feeling concerned with examples close to us could make us change our minds? Because everyone starts from their own reality before considering that of the world.

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“A yogurt in a pot of hair,trop“The communication campaign of Polyvia, the national union of plastics industries, reinforces among consumers certain dominant representations of a“Integralist” and “extremist” ecologyand contributes to its discredit.

Thanks to their communication, companies – these“imaginactors”– participate in building collective imaginaries more or less favorable to the ecological and social transition. At present, theirstoriesmainly promote imaginations that are not very compatible with theplanetary boundariesÂ: association of happiness with (over) material consumption, domination of nature by Man, etc. However, these dominant collective representations shape our behaviors.

Opposite, some companies are trying to change these collective imaginaries in the direction of ecological and social transition, but struggle to attract.low share of voicecompared to traditional actors can be explained, just like speeches perceived as moralizing, distant from reality, or evenmanipulators.

What if the stories about the ecological transition do not suffer from a lack of solutions, but rather from a lack of desire? What are the spices that could transform more virtuous models into desirable narratives, capable of giving us the appetite for change?

This is what we are trying to analyze in the chapter “What ingredients to build new desirable narratives?” ofbook Consume without destroying.

Foster positive emotions

A ten-kilometer journey by gasoline car emits 2.18 kg of CO₂while it emits zero during use phase with a mechanical bicycle and0.04 in meters. This data enlightens our reason, but it does not make us mount a bicycle. Numeric evidence is not enough. Evoking emotions encourages taking action.

So what kinds of emotions?

We would tend to buy more when thefear of death is activated collectively. Communications that generate pride or joy, for their part, elicit greater support. The success of“Dry January”participates in a collective challenge that generates a sense of pride, more effective than simply highlighting the harms of alcohol. Too much complacency, however, risks underestimating the importance of the changes to be implemented.

Individuals may believe that the problem can be solved without them, and no longer see the point of acting personally. To circumvent these behaviors, researchers recommend optimistic messages that emphasize the feasibility and importance of the behavior. For example, the campaign the“newly rich”, supported by companies like Getaround, Blablacar, Lokki, or HomeExchange, uses humor and positive emotions to highlight simple individual actions – renting, sharing, exchanging.

Proximity bias

The ecological discourse was based on the figure of thepolar bearprisoner on the ice floe. Although this image remains a powerful symbol, it may have contributed to embedding the idea that the environmental crisis was a distant reality, disconnected from our daily experiences. On the contrary, narratives anchored in familiar frameworks facilitate citizens’ ability to relate to them.

The more an individual perceives aproximity – both geographical and temporal –With the described situations, the more the story seems accessible to him and is likely to concretely influence his behaviors. In one of his advertising campaigns,Renaultinvited individuals to give up using their car on certain trips. To do this, it showed the daily life of several households which, while activating positive emotions, favored walking or biking on daily journeys.

Personify your story

Stories without characters leave little impact. Mentioning the effects of global warming on marine biodiversity remains abstract, but giving a voice to a fisherman whose activity is declining strikes more deeply. Personification reduces psychological distance and activates empathy. Stories need to be embodied.

Several questions arise. Who are the main characters of the story to portray? What values and symbolism do they convey? Are they desirable to the audience?

While responsible consumers are associated withdifferent stereotypes– killjoys, hermits, hipsters, etc. – this last question is key. This logic also applies to public figures.

Fear of being excluded from the group

Nearly 19% of French people say they are afraid of being excluded from a group if they change their way of consuming; this figure even rises to34% among 18-34 year olds. Social norms are key and can be expressed in stories through what the protagonists do and value: sharing a happy moment with family in a non-commercial environment or giving a unique intangible gift at Christmas.

The dominant narratives accompanying mass consumption are perceived as desirable by a large part of consumers. Despite thescandals, ultrafast-fashion brands, like Temu andShein, continue to thrive, especially among young people. In Western societies, the narratives are based onindividualistic values, which prioritize personal interests (financial, statutory, health) over the collective interest.

How then to make the shift between these “egocentric” collective imaginations and the narratives of ecological and social transition?

Reconciling individual and collective interests

A gradual approach, enabling individual and collective interests to coexist in narratives, can serve as a way to connect the imaginaries of “mass consumption” with those of the transition. For example, in Western societies, marked by individualistic values, thestrengthening of emotionslike pride, oriented towards oneself, could have a stronger effect than wonder, oriented towards others.

In aform of a “battle of imaginations”, the transition narratives will be confronted with others. The frequency of broadcasting is an important parameter regarding exposure biases (the more an individual is exposed to information, the higher the probability that they will have a positive feeling towards it).

There is no single type of narrative, but several possible narratives, each offering spaces of freedom that encourage their appropriation. It appears essential to prevent the risk of a new dogmatic imaginary.

The authors do not work for, do not advise, do not hold shares in, and do not receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and have declared no affiliation other than their research institution.

–ref. Making ecology desirable: how to change the way we talk about it?https://theconversation.com/making-ecology-desirable-how-to-change-the-way-we-talk-about-it-277758