The KFC wooden spoon has been criticized in hot searches. Why do people become less interested in “environmental protection”?

Because of a spoon, KFC was listed on the hot search on Weibo and was complained on the hot search.

After the plastic restriction order was officially implemented this year, KFC replaced the soup spoon with a new environmentally friendly wooden spoon. The problem of this change came out. Because the arc of the spoon was too small, it could not hold much soup, only a few drops each time.

In addition, the spoon is not coated, and the soup is easy to seep into the spoon. The consumer experience is not a little worse.

Rome was not built in a day. People's suspicion about environmental protection does not stop with the KFC environmental protection wooden spoon. Too many companies have staged a "wolf is coming" in environmental protection, saying that environmental protection is actually marketing.

The story of the wolf is still playing

Environmental protection or sustainable development strategies have been on fire for several years. In terms of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, we can see many companies and organizations claiming to be committed to environmental protection and have introduced various measures, including service adjustments and product adjustments.

There are also reasons to promote sales. Market research agency Nielsen once issued a report stating that 2/3 of consumers worldwide (including 73% of the post-80s and post-90s) are willing to pay more for sustainable brands.

But there are many cases of actual rollovers.

McDonald’s was once exposed to paper straws that were used for environmental protection. In fact, they could not be recycled. The reason was that the paper straws were too thick and could only be treated as general garbage. In the end, McDonald’s stated that it would work with garbage disposal companies to study solutions together.

It sounds like a joke, but it does happen. It does not mean that the recycling can be completed by changing the paper material. Transcend Packaging, the manufacturer of McDonald’s paper straws, said it needs the support of local enterprises and local authorities’ infrastructure to coordinate various organizations. Complete recovery.

We have also mentioned in previous articles that some so-called biodegradable plastic bags have not been degraded after being buried in the ground for three years. On the contrary, they can continue to be used and even contain 2.3 kilograms of debris. Affected.

Obviously, companies have used so-called "biodegradable plastic bags" for exaggerated publicity and even misled consumers. The ultimate goal is marketing or a public relations method to enhance their image in the public mind.

The fast fashion industry is one of the key industries that have been widely questioned. Compared with other brands, fast fashion brands such as H&M and Zara operate in rapid iteration, rapid innovation, and even have the goal of "new products every week".

This has led to a sharp increase in the number of products, but the recycling rate has not kept up. The second is that fast fashion brands use coupons to guide consumers to recycle, but in fact they are also guiding consumers to buy the next piece of clothing. Environmental protection has become a digital game, only promoting the reduction without looking at the overall increase.

There are also companies that provide environmental protection services on the market. Baopu Recycling is a company that has independent plastic recycling. They can recycle plastic bottles for companies at designated points and use them as raw materials to produce brand-customized peripheral products, such as environmental protection bags. , Schoolbags, clothes, etc. The partners are also large companies such as Starbucks and Pepsi.

Although Baopu Recycling provides services for environmental protection, it will inevitably be used by some companies as a marketing method. Environmentally-friendly peripheral products may only be marketing materials for companies.

People even established a special vocabulary-Greenwashing, to specifically describe those institutions and organizations that only use environmental protection as a marketing or public relations method, and use environmental protection for exaggerated publicity.

There are more and more such things, just like the "wolf is coming" story, time and time again, the patience of consumers will be polished, and it is inevitable that they will be suspicious of the environmental protection measures introduced by companies Up.

What's more, some measures have seriously reduced the consumer experience.

Environmental protection should not be the reason for the reduced experience

For most people, they are willing to support environmental protection. The reason for the existence of a large amount of resistance is that in addition to corporate marketing, more importantly, some of the company’s environmental protection measures reduce the consumer experience and fail to provide products of equal value. Replacement products and services come.

KFC, which has been scolded in the hot search, although it is also due to limited plastic orders, but a simple spoon arc design problem can pass the internal audit of KFC, one of the leading catering companies, and formally deliver it to consumers. Obviously, the company does not care. .

In the end, KFC also announced that it would negotiate with suppliers to make further improvements to the wooden spoon, but it is still unknown when it can be improved.

The same is true for the previous paper straws instead of plastic straws. Compared with plastic straws, paper straws have lower hardness and are easy to melt when exposed to water. This has led to brands such as McDonald’s having to make paper straws thicker, but it is still recommended for consumers to quickly Finish drinking.

Compared with the previous cup of milk tea that can be drunk for a long time, because the environmentally friendly replacement paper straws do not bring the same experience.

The high-end flagship phones mentioned above are also not equipped with chargers. Because there are relatively more fast charging protocols for Android camp chargers, Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, vivo, etc. are all developing their own fast charging protocols. High-speed charging power such as 120W and 65W is often All need to cooperate with their own chargers to achieve, and distinguishing the complicated charging protocol is itself an additional choice cost for consumers.

Environmental protection itself is not a problem, but when the charger is removed from the package, it is more hoped that manufacturers can come up with the same solution as the previous experience, or return the choice to users.

While pursuing environmental protection, it is obviously necessary to adjust according to the actual situation. The reason why the Swedish "environmental girl" Greta Tumberg caused some resistance is because some of her behaviors involve excessive environmental protection, such as the "flying shame" incident, because of the plane. Flying with high carbon emissions, she chose to take a sailboat that relies on solar and wind energy to cross the Atlantic Ocean for half a month to reach her destination.

But compared to the carbon emissions of airplanes, building sailboats also requires about 3 tons of carbon fiber. In addition, she also participated in the helicopter live broadcast, which also has a lot of carbon emissions. In comparison, it takes half a month to spend and cost. Not low, it can be said that it is a typical case of demolishing the east wall to supplement the west wall.

Nike also emphasizes environmental protection measures, is committed to sustainable development, and has launched a variety of clothing and shoes made of "trash" and recycled materials, but the difference is that most of the shoes and clothing developed by Nike have reached the same level as before. In the experience, the visual difference between recycled materials and ordinary materials after processing is relatively small, and many people can't see it.

In addition to making shoes from recycled materials, Nike has also tried to create a new fashion style by fusing with garbage. The "Space Hippie" that triggered a lot of discussion in mid-2020 is a typical case.

Good products can always attract loyal consumers, and products and services with environmental protection attributes can only reach the same level of experience, or even better, so that consumers can actively pay for them instead of kidnapping consumption through the concept of environmental protection. Not in line with human nature.

Environmental protection is a long-term business

The continuous growth of garbage has basically become a consensus. The documentary "Fashion Price" pointed out that the world produces about 80 billion pieces of clothing each year, which is four times the number 20 years ago, and more clothing is discarded. According to the "Global E-waste Monitoring 2020" data report released by the United Nations, the amount of e-waste generated in 2019 reached 53.6 million tons, which is another record high.

It is indeed important to deal with the increase in waste, but this is not completely solved by using recyclable materials. Products such as recyclable plastics are not enough to meet the needs of fast fashion brands. FastCompany once stated that "in the United States, there are less than 30 % Of plastic bottles are recycled . In Europe, 58% of bottles are recycled. In developing countries without good waste management systems, the waste disposal rate is much lower."

In the commercial field, environmental protection should not be just a measure of a company that can have immediate effects. Obviously, it requires the cooperation of the entire industry chain. Large companies such as Apple and Nike will use financial advantages to transform the supplier chain. At the source of the product Establish an environmentally friendly production mechanism.

Moreover, Apple and Nike basically release corresponding data reports, and Nike releases the "Impact Report" every year, disclosing relevant environmental protection data, how far is it from the target each year.

Large companies such as Microsoft, Nike, and Starbucks have also established an emission reduction alliance to promote environmental protection by sharing information on reducing emissions, investing in carbon emission reduction technologies, and coordinating public policy goals, and it is also a reference for other companies.

After all, compared with large companies, the development of small, medium and micro enterprises is far more urgent than environmental protection, and they tend to prefer development over environmental protection. At this time, the experience provided by companies such as Nike is very meaningful.

Here is also a reference method to identify whether a company uses environmentally friendly marketing. If a company has long-term disclosure of its own product recycling data, supply chain transformation data, and how far away the target is from the standard every year, then it has a great possibility It's really pursuing environmental protection reforms, and if it's just a shot to change places, then it's questionable.

Really promoting environmental protection requires the joint participation of enterprises, industrial chains, laws, and consumers. As an emerging social transformation, there is obviously no mature experience to refer to. This is a long-term undertaking.

The use of environmental protection for marketing or exaggerated publicity, and the use of environmental protection to reduce the user experience are all detours on the road of development, contrary to people's nature to pursue good products and good services, how can sustainable development be achieved.

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