Emotional appeal as driver of change.
A case study of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign; a campaign in the
shift towards a more sustainable cacao sector in the
Netherlands.
Luce Fernhout (6178898) University of Amsterdam Bachelor thesis Future Planet Studies, major Sustainable Agriculture & Communication for Change (WUR). Supervisor: John Grin Second reader: Jaap Rothuizen Final version: 23 December 2015
“Toutes les grandes personnes ont d’abord été des enfants. (Mais peu d’entre ells s’en souviennent.)”
-‐ Antoine de sainr-‐exupéry
Abstract
Sustainability becomes a prominent theme in our contemporary society. Current food practices are in need of transition towards a more sustainable production processes. The cacao sector is an example of such a sector. This thesis researches whether the usage of emotional appeals can contribute as a driver of change towards a more sustainable chocolate supply chain in the Netherlands.
In the years 2009 and 2010 a notable transformation within the Dutch chocolate letter market occurred. 15% of the chocolate letters was sustainable certified in 2009. However, this number rose to 95% of the letters by 2010. During this period Oxfam Novib conducted the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. The ‘Groene Sint’ might have been the triggering factor, which enabled a change in the until this point unsustainable chocolate sector.
This thesis discusses the hypothesis that emotional appeals in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign were a driver of change in the transforming processes of the Dutch chocolate letters market. Emotional appeals have a triggering function and hereby provoke behavioural change. On the basis of a single case study, the so called ‘Groene Sint’ campaign, the effect of emotional appeals is investigated.
With the use of metaphors and framing the meaning in a message in campaigns can be transmitted in a better way. In this particular case this
happened by delivering the focus (more sustainable chocolate) through a vehicle (The ’Groene Sint’) to the consumer and retailer. If this vehicle is loaded with emotional appeals the message has more impact.
By means of Plutchik’s theories on emotions, the emotional appeal and behavioural reactions in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign are analysed. Based on a theoretical framework four cases of transmitted messages and actions of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign are analysed. In preparation of these analyses data was obtained through a set of in-‐depth interviews with experts and literature studies.
On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign was a successful campaign in its aim to effectuate behaviour change with consumers and retailers and sell more sustainable
chocolate letters. Certain emotions in the campaign evoke behavioural reactions, which can lead towards a behavioural change. Especially the negative emotional appeals targeted at the retailers seem to have had a impact.
A prudent conclusion can be made that the emotional appeal made in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign had impact on its success and therefore in this case it was successfully utilized as driver for change towards a more sustainable chocolate letter sector in the Netherlands. Further research is recommended; more case studies can give a better insight on the emotional appeals in campaigns.
Keywords
emotional appeal, emotions, campaigns, driver of change, framing, metaphor, behavioural change, transforming processes, ‘Groene Sint’.
Table of content
ABSTRACT ... 3
TABLE OF CONTENT ... 4
1. CHAPTER ONE: PROBLEM STATEMENT ... 6
1.1. INTRODUCTION ... 6
1.2. CACAO ... 6
1.2.1. The need for sustainability in the cacao sector ... 7
1.2.2. Cacao in the Netherlands ... 7
1.3. TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE CHOCOLATE SECTOR IN THE NETHERLANDS ... 8
1.4. EMOTIONS ... 9
1.5. RESEARCH QUESTION ... 10
2. CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 12
2.1. INTRODUCTION TO EMOTIONS ... 12
2.2. DID THE ‘GROENE SINT’ CAMPAIGN COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD CAMPAIGN? ... 13
2.3. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE USAGE OF SINTERKLAAS IN THE ‘GROENE SINT’ CAMPAIGN? 14 2.3.1. Transferring meaning in a Campaign ... 14
2.3.2. How to investigate framing and metaphors ... 14
2.4. WHICH EMOTIONS DID OXFAM USE IN THEIR CAMPAIGN IN ORDER TO PROVOKE MORE AWARENESS WITH CONSUMERS AND/OR RETAILERS? ... 15
2.5. DO SPECIFIC EMOTIONS PROVOKE CERTAIN BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES? ... 18
2.6. FINAL RESEARCH QUESTION AND SUB-‐QUESTIONS ... 20
3. CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ... 21
3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN ... 21
3.1.1. Case study ... 21
3.2. DATA COLLECTION ... 21
3.2.1. In-‐depth interviews ... 22
3.2.2. Literature and document studies ... 22
3.2.3. Visuals ... 22
3.3. SUB-‐QUESTIONS ... 22
3.3.1. Did the ‘Groene Sint’ comply with the requirements by Rice and Atkin of a good campaign? ... 23
3.3.2. How is the ‘Groene Sint’ framed in the campaign? ... 23
3.3.3. Which emotions, classified according to Plutchik’s model, are found in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign? And in which intensity do they occur? ... 23
3.3.4. Which behavioural changes, through emotional appeal, are provoked in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign? ... 24
4. CHAPTER FOUR: THE ‘GROENE SINT’ CAMPAIGN ... 26
4.1. OVERVIEW OF THE DUTCH CHOCOLATE SECTOR ... 26
4.2. THE ‘GROENE SINT’ ... 27
5. CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSES OF THE ‘GROENE SINT’ CAMPAIGN AND ITS EMOTIONAL APPEALS ... 33
5.1. GOOD CAMPAIGN ... 33
5.1.1. Analysis ... 33
5.1.2. Summary ... 33
5.3.1. Analysis case one: Press presentation of the ‘Groene Sint’ and Tony’s
Chocolonely fair chocolate letter, 7 November 2007 ... 36
5.3.2. Analysis case two: (ranking of supermarkets in) benchmark report, November 2009 37 5.3.3. Analysis case three: Online Hyves campaign Actionheroes, 2009 ... 38
5.3.4. Analyse 4: The ‘Groene Sint’ looks back at a successful action. ... 41
5.4. ANALYSES EMOTIONS IN GRADATION ... 42
5.4.1. Table emotions of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign targeted at consumers ... 42
5.4.2. Table emotions of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign targeted at retailers ... 43
5.5. ANALYSES BEHAVIOURAL REACTIONS ... 44
5.5.1. Behavioural reaction on consumers ... 44
5.5.2. Behavioural reaction on retailers ... 45
5.6. SUMMARY OF ANALYSES OF EMOTION, INTENSITY AND BEHAVIOURAL REACTIONS ... 46
5.6.1. The ‘Groene sint’ action 2007 ... 46
5.6.2. Report Oxfam Novib, November 2009 ... 46
5.6.3. Action heroes, November 2009 ... 46
5.6.4. The ‘Groene Sint is pleased, December 2009 ... 46
6. CONCLUSION AND REFLECTIONS ... 47
6.1. CONCLUSION OF THE CASE STUDY OF THE ’GROENE SINT’ CAMPAIGN ... 47
6.2. REFLECTION ON THE CONCLUSION ... 48
7. REFERENCES ... 51
7.1. LITERATURE ... 51
7.2. FIGURES AND TABLES. ... 53
7.3. MOVIE CLIPS ... 55
7.4. INTERVIEWS ... 55
8. APPENDIX ... 56
8.1. APPENDIX A: PETER OOSTERVEER, JUNE 3, 2015 ... 56
8.2. APPENDIX B: NICO ROOZEN – NOVEMBER 3, 2015 ... 61
8.3. APPENDIX C: ROY VINK, NOVEMBER 4, 2015 ... 68
8.4. APPENDIX D: JOCHUM VEERMAN, NOVEMBER 16, 2015 ... 72
1. Chapter one: Problem statement
1.1.
Introduction
The Dutch celebrate a national festivity called Sinterklaas on the fifth of December. In preparation of this day during the month of November in 2009, Non-‐Governmental Organization (NGO) Oxfam Novib (further referred to as Oxfam) started the campaign on the sustaining thought that “all 19 million bad chocolate letters must be removed from retail stores” with ‘Groene Sint’
(translated as Green Santa) as standard bearer. With the start of this campaign 15% of the chocolate letters, which is a typical present during Sinterklaas, was certified sustainable. The following year, 2010, this number rose to 95%. The campaign of Oxfam generated media-‐attention via the traditional media but also via, at the moment relative new, social media.
This increase of 80% within a year suggests that the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign had a significant impact on this improvement of sustainable chocolate letters. Many are convinced of this impact (Cacaobarometer, 2015; Ten Napel, 2012; Oxfam, 2010) including Oxfam itself as Frank Mechielsen (lobbyist at Oxfam) described it as “a huge success” (Mechielsen, 2010). However, this direct success is difficult to determine. Transforming the chocolate sector into a sustainable supply chain, as in the Netherlands as worldwide, is a complex case containing various factors and actors.
In this thesis I focus on one of the factors that stood out in this specific campaign. In an interview I held with Peter Oosterveer (Appendix A), expert at Wageningen University in the field of food practices in transitions, he expressed his presumption that particular emotional aspects had a significant part of the campaign. The value of these emotions in transition processes (related to food) is not much researched yet according to Oosterveer. This motivated me to
research, in this thesis, if and which emotional aspects played a significant role in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. I wonder which emotions can motivate consumers and retailers to change their behaviour and patterns.
Before discussing the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign and the research questions I will give a brief outline of the cacao sector and narrow it down to the
Netherlands. In doing so I hope to demonstrate the complexity of the cacao sector becomes clear and shows why making changes towards a sustainable sector is difficult. In the Netherlands the ‘Groene Sint’ is only an element in this shifting process. Nevertheless it is notable whether this, at first sight, successful and prosperous shift to sustainable chocolate letters is not applicable on the whole cacao sector.
1.2.
Cacao
Chocolate as we know it is the very end product of a long production process. The supply chain is fragmented and divided in several stages
harvesting, fermenting and drying of the cacao bean, by small-‐scale farmers (KPMG, 2012). The second stage is the trade and transport (mostly to western countries) of the cacao bean. The third stage is processing; roasting, pressing and grinding of the beans. In the fourth stage of the supply chain, manufacturing takes place. The manufacturing industry is highly concentrated in western countries and has a central and controlling position in the cacao supply chain (Gilbert, 2008). In the fifth and final stage the retail is vested; where the final product is presented to the consumer. In every stage, a margin is taken, resulting in an uneven distribution of power in the chain (WorldCacaofoundation, 2014; Cacaobarometer, 2015).
1.2.1. The need for sustainability in the cacao sector
The cacao sector is an example of an industry that is in need of transition towards a more sustainable production process. Due to the complexity of the fragmented and non-‐transparent supply chain and the fact that every link in the chain wants to gain maximum profit, the pressure on the cacao farmers is disproportionally high. In this environment cacao producers get suppressed to increase their yields for lower prices. This fosters unsustainable production and declines the incentive to innovate in the (sustainable) production process (Clay, 2004).
The cacao sector involves many malpractices and negative side effects; deforestation, depletion of soils, violation of women’s rights, slavery and child labour (WorldCacaofoundation, 2014; Cacaobarometer, 2015). These
malpractice and negative side effects are a result of consumption and
manufacturing of western countries. In combination with the low prices and the problems stated above, the younger generations and their families cannot simply live from the cacao production, which causes the younger generation to leave the
cacao farming. (CacaoBarometer, 2015) Additionally, the demand for cacao is
increasing and it is expected that it will be difficult to create sufficient supply in the future. Interventions are needed in order to increase the productivity and improve the quality of the process. (KPMG, 2012). All in all, the cacao sector is in need of transition towards more sustainability.
1.2.2. Cacao in the Netherlands
Internationally, the Dutch cacao sector plays a major role. While the consumption in the Netherlands is roughly 4.5 kg per person per year, which is an average worldwide consumption (Amstel, Pijl & Spaargaren, 2012), the harbour of Amsterdam imports 700.000 tonnes (which is 20% of the global cacao production) of cacao per year. This cacao gets stored, processed or exported (Oxfam, 2009) in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is responsible for 25% of global cacao processing (KPMG, 2014) which makes it one of the largest manufacturing and trading cacao countries in the world. The worldwide largest manufacturers ADM and Cargill process 50% of their products in factories in the Zaanstreek. The factory of Mars in Veghel processes 280.000 tonnes of end product per year (Oxfam, 2009). Thus the Netherlands is a significant link in the supply chain of the cacao sector. This might be an opportunity for the
1.3.
Towards a more sustainable chocolate sector in the
Netherlands
In the last decade the cacao sector in the Netherlands faced heavy criticism by NGOs and media. The industry was accused of benefitting of slave and child labour, deplorable working conditions and keeping international market prices low (Ten Napel, 2012). Some research (Cacaobarometer, 2015; Ten Napel; 2012; Oxfam, 2010) shows that this was the motivation for the industry to transform their business. In response to these acquisitions chocolate manufactures started buying certified cacao, like Fairtrade, UTZ and Rainforest alliance.
In 2010 the awareness for the need of a sustainable chocolate supply chain really set in. In March that year the Dutch government signed, together with the private sector players, NGOs and development organizations, a letter of intent with the objective to have 100% sustainable and certified chocolate consumption in 2025 (Cacaobarometer, 2015).
In the coffee and bananas sector, certification had already been widely introduced with Max Havelaar in the lead (Roozen, 2015; Veerman, 2015). Attempts of Max Havelaar to gain a marketshare in fairtrade cacao has failed (Roozen, 2015).
In the research of Hendrik ten Napel (2012) is elaborated on which processes had an influence on this change in the cacao sector. He analysed 315 articles on the pressures and responses of the cacao industry in Dutch
newspapers in the period between January 2007 and December 2011.
Figure 1-‐1 shows the 315 articles distributed over time. The number of articles indicates how much media attention a certain event captured. This does not necessarily indicate the amount of pressure, which is exerted, on the cacao sector.
This figure clearly shows a peak of media attention in October till
In response, CBL (the branch organization for supermarkets and
foodservices) announces that all chocolate letters in Dutch supermarkets will be made of sustainable cacao by 2012. By the period of Sinterklaas 2010, all
retailers targeted by ‘de Groene Sint’ campaign have taken steps towards sustainability. Of the 23 million chocolate letters, 22 million are ‘fair’; made of sustainable or partly sustainable produced chocolate. In addition the overall market figures on chocolate show that in 2009 only 3% was certified sustainable and that by 2010 this percentage tripled (Oxfam, 2010).
This indicates that ‘Groene Sint’ had significant impact on this transformation of sustainable chocolate letter market and thus that the campaign was a success. This makes me wonder why this campaign was
successful and why this campaign was able to reach the mainstream consumers. It suggests that something in this campaign of the ‘Groene Sint’ triggered
consumers.
1.4.
Emotions
In an interview with Peter Oosterveer (Appendix A), I discussed the possible aspects that could have played a role in this switch that took place during the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. He stressed that food consumption is part of broader social practices. Food consumption must be understood within the settings in which that food is used; the transition therein differs from, for example, the transition in energy. Food involves cultural and social aspects.
An important aspect is that consumers do have certain values, but do not always act accordingly. Therefore a current thought, to influence people to consume more sustainable, is by making the ‘good’ choice easy, for example by means of nudging1. Oosterveer does not agree with this assumption. With this
strategy there will be no fundamental change. The consumers’ capacity and their guiding power get ignored.
According to Oosterveer at the core of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign’s
success was that it was directed at the consumers. It had been focused on a niche audience but rather on the mainstream. In the campaign people were not only addressed to the rational arguments against malpractices in the cacao supply chain, but also on emotional aspects. The combination of the messages of fair chocolate letters and the association with the special festive occasion gained much attention of the public.
Oosterveer expressed the presumption that the emotional aspect in this campaign may have contributed to the success of it and arising therefrom to the success of the more sustainable chocolate letter chain. Oosterveer emphasized the emotional aspects are still insufficiently researched. This makes it interesting to look further into the emotions that played a role in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign.
1 Nudging is steering people in the wanted direction/behaviour, but always leaves open the
option to choose another course, so it is not manipulation (Thaler&Sunstein, 2008).
1.5.
Research Question
The ‘Groene Sint’ campaign is an interesting example, which can provide more insight on the processes, and how to influence these processes, during a shift towards more sustainable food sectors. Sustainability is a theme, which becomes of increasingly importance to our society. The awareness that sustainable production is essential to our legitimacy is rising with producers, retailers and also consumers. The report of Sus-‐chain (2002) appoints four drivers of change, using a PEST-‐framework, which affect the food supply chain. The following factors are driving factors of change; Political factors, economical factors, social factors and technical factors. Some scholars (such as Roozen indicated in a conducted interview, Appendix B) state that the only successful driver of change is the economical factor with in addition corporate social responsibility2. However, hereby the power of the consumer is highly neglected
(Spaargaren, Oosterveer & Loeber, 2012).
The power relation in the food chains is turning; where it used to be ‘farm to fork’ is now turning into ’fork to farm’. The consumerist turn3 indicates that
consumers are gaining more ‘proactive’ influence over the development of food production (Spaargaren et al., 2012). In this age consumers are more
environmentally conscious and are much more empowered through social media to express their concerns (KPMG, 2014). With the rising of political
consumerism4 consumers can enforce sustainable products through for example
buycotting5 or boycotting (Spaargaren et al., 2012). In this process, towards
more sustainable industries, several dimensions and actors play an important influential role.
The ‘Groene Sint’ might be one of those actors that triggered change in the unsustainable chocolate sector. This makes it an interesting case to look closer at.
2 CSR:Corporate Social Responsibility indicates companies integrate responsibility in their core of
doing business according to People, Planet, Profit concept. This means corporations take responsibility for society and environment and besides improve performance and awareness (Oosterveer &
Sonneveld, 2012). In modern society it is important to companies to be perceived as respectable and as socially responsible organizations to gain legitimacy with their stakeholders (Morsing, Schultz & Nielsen, 2008).
3 consumerist turn: the post-‐war period food provisioning was top-‐down based. It started with
production and retailers pass the food to consumers who are happy to utilize them as provided. Nowadays the power relations are differently framed between producers, retailers and
consumers resulting in different emphases; the consumers are taken as main starting point. “Their willingness to pay more and their emerging concerns (…) of food products become the
guiding principles for the design, production and provision of food.” (Spaargaren et al., 2012:18-‐19)
4 political consumerism: Consumers feel conventional politics are not capable of effective
governing food. Political consumerism is defined by Micheletti (2003) as “consumers’
individualistic collective action”. Political consumerism mostly stress non-‐economic values
beyond the direct, economic self-‐interest of consumers (Klintman & Boström, 2011).
It is beyond the order of this thesis to research whether the shift towards more sustainable chocolate (letters) in the Netherlands can be fully attributed to the Oxfam ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. However the fact is that the ‘Groen Sint’ campaign was very active in 2009. The share of sustainable chocolate letters rose from 15% in 2009 up to 95% in 2010, and the percentage of sustainable certified chocolate has tripled in 2010. From these facts I can assume that the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign may have had influence in this matter.
Due to these facts, and the presumption of Peter Oosterveer that the emotional aspects might had a role in it, I found it interesting to research the emotional appeal as a driver for change in food supply chains. My tentative research is the following:
Did the use of emotions in the campaign of the ‘Groene Sint’ by Oxfam Novib contribute to a drive of change at consumers and/or retailers towards a more sustainable chocolate sector in the Netherlands?
In the following chapters I will elaborate on theory (chapter 2) and methodology (chapter 3), which will enable me to answer this by analysing the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign in chapter 4 and 5. The final chapter will sum up the main findings, as well as a reflection on their practical and academic implications.
2. Chapter two: theoretical framework
In order to answer my tentative research question whether the usage of emotions in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign can contribute as driver of change towards a more sustainable chocolate supply chain in the Netherlands, I firstly want to explore the currents theories of emotions. By introducing what they are, how they are defined and what concepts are involved when investigating the emotions in campaigns. I further elaborate in this chapter on theories, which help me to answer my tentative research question. From these theories I will reflect on the casus and hereby gradually develop the tentative sub-‐questions by means of the following subjects. In section 2.2 I will elaborate on campaigning. Thereafter I will focus on the aspects of the case study of the ‘Groene Sint’; such as the meaning of the phenomena Sinterklaas during the campaign in section 2.3, in 2.4 on identifying emotions and in 2.5 on the use of emotions as driver of change. After discussing the theories that enable me to answer my tentative sub-‐ questions, I can formulate my final sub-‐questions. This will be elaborated per sub-‐question.
2.1.
Introduction to emotions
Frijda (1987) as cited in Ten Houten (2006) defines emotions as follows:
“Emotions are tendencies to establish, maintain or disrupt a relationship with the environment (so that) emotions might be defined as action readiness in response to emergencies or interruptions”. (Ten Houten, 2006:2)
Ten Houten (2006) notes that this definition of Frijda suggests “emotions are
ways in which individuals deal with the people and events they encounter in the social world, as they react to complex social situations.” (Ten Houten, 2006:2)
Verhoeven and Duyvendak (2015), in an article on emotions in policymaking, argue that emotional appeals may provide emotional energy. They cite Marcus et al. (2000) who demonstrates that emotional appeals may have a triggering function and may disrupt behaviour. With these emotional appeals people can be persuaded to change behaviour and attitudes changes.
The aim of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign was to effectuate behaviour and attitude change with consumers and retailers in order to consume and sell more sustainable chocolate letters. For this reason it is of interest of my thesis to further look into this persuasion (with emotional appeals).
Perloff (2010) defines persuasion in his book ‘dynamics of persuasion’ as follows: “A symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people
to change their own attitudes or behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free choice.” (Perloff, 2010:17)
These theories discuss that emotions can lead to behaviour and attitude change. These suggest a presumption that if there is an emotional appeal made to consumers, than this has a triggering function and may disrupt routine behaviour. In order to use this campaign, it is first of all important to determine
not be able justify my research with this casus in this context. Therefore in the following section I will contemplate the theory of good campaigns by means of the following sub-‐question:
2.2.
Did the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign comply with the
requirements of a good campaign?
In order to investigate whether the campaign of ‘Groene Sint’ had an adequate overall set-‐up I will use theories by Perloff (2014). He remarks that campaigns can change institutions through a combination of persuasion and protest (Perloff, 2014: 423). Rice and Atkin (2009) have stated a set of aspects of which good communication consists of:
“Communication campaigns: • Persuasive attempts
• To inform, persuade, or motivate behavior changes, • In a relatively well-‐defined audience,
• Generally for noncommercial benefits to the individuals and/or society at
large,
• Typically within a given time period,
• By means of organized communication activities involving mass media and
Internet,
• Often complemented by interpersonal support.” (adapted from Rice & Atkin, 2009:436, cited in Perloff, 2014:423)
Perloff (2014) indicates persuasion is not only constituted of hard-‐sell appeals6, but it is also of importance to transmit a message with an emotional
appeal. These emotions are part of two of the set of requirements by Rice and Atkin (2009), namely persuasive attempts and motivate behavioural change.
Thus there are several components that make a campaign an effective,
persuasive campaign. Now that I know how I can recognize a good campaign and what it consists of, I can analyse whether the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign complies with these requirements in order to be of use as researchable casus in my thesis. I can rephrase my sub-‐question more precisely to:
Did the Groene Sint comply with the requirements formulated by
Rice and Atkin for a good campaign?
In order to investigate the tentative research question I will proceed by focussing on the content of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. Oxfam used Sinterklaas as a bearer of their message. They utilized an existing phenomenon to transmit a message to the public. This makes me wonder whether this usage of Sinterklaas could have attributed to the success of this campaign. Did this have any added value to the success of the campaign? This brings me to the following sub-‐ question:
2.3.
What is the meaning of the usage of Sinterklaas in the
‘Groene Sint’ campaign?
I wonder whether there is a link between the use of Sinterklaas in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign and the message Oxfam wants to convey, namely “eat sustainable chocolate letters." Does it have a meaning that Sinterklaas is used for this purpose and does this enhance the impact of the message of Oxfam?
Following I will discuss the theories concerning transferring meaning in a campaign and how to investigate this.
2.3.1. Transferring meaning in a Campaign
Perloff (2014) emphasizes the importance of the use of metaphors in communication to transmit a meaning. Using metaphors in communication messages provoke more behavioural change in comparison of messages without metaphors. Metaphors help people to have better access to the arguments of the transmitted messages (Sopory & Dillard, 2002). “They evoke strong semantic
associations; these in turn produce a tighter mental organization of the persuasive arguments” (Perloff, 2014: 284). This makes metaphors an effective tool to
enclose meaning in a message.
Another concept that indicates the added value of using a familiar
phenomenon, like Sinterklaas, as communicative power in a campaign is framing. A frame makes a particular perspective on a subject accessible. Entman (1993) defines framing as follows: “to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation”. (Entman, 1993: 52 cited in Perloff, 2014: 276).
Perloff (2014) states that a message with similar facts but with a different frame vary in impact on attitudes and behaviour.
Thus, framing is the act that is conducted when you want to insert meaning in your message and you can accomplish this by means of using a metaphor. Metaphors consist of content, which makes metaphors a concept that becomes analysable in order to reconstruct meaning. Therefore metaphors and framing are two concepts that are of importance when you want to transmit meaning in the message of a campaign.
2.3.2. How to investigate framing and metaphors
When researching meaning, framing and metaphors are important concepts. Verhoeven and Duyvendak (2015) elaborate on framing in a case, comparable to mine, where I can follow their framework. They state that it is important that the message, transmitted by its sender, need to resonate. They use the theories of Williams (2002, cited in Verhoeven&Duyvendak, 2015) which implies that there is a need of alignment between what you want to change and what the receiver already knows, feels or has experienced (such as Sinterklaas in the case of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign). If you want to establish such an
In order to investigate meaning they have applied the theory of (1993). Yanow states that cultural artefacts can be bearers of meaning. They constitute symbolic relationships, meaning concrete references stand for abstract values. For example a dove stands for peace, the flag is a symbol of nationhood. She argues that metaphors find similarity between two seemingly unlike things. Also actions and language may be symbolic. She differentiates:
• Symbolic objects, physical and programmatic symbols. • Symbolic language, organizational names and metaphors • Symbolic acts, myths and rituals. (Yanow, 1993:47-‐48)
When analysing the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign these indicators of metaphors should be kept in mind. How can be investigated which meanings are embodied in a metaphor? Yanow illustrates this by means of an insightful example: the (in Israel relatively unknown phenomena of) Community Centres, who were created in the seventies in Israel to implement social and educational policies. As a metaphor these community centres were indicated as ‘supermarkets’. Clients were to come into the centre with ‘shopping lists’, to ‘consume centre offerings’ and the staff would ‘sell’ programs. The term ‘supermarket’ was communicated as a vehicle for the ideals of the staff. This is one of the artefacts through which policy meanings were communicated. By making use of the word supermarket it sounded familiar to the audience.
Thus by making use of the phenomena Sinterklaas the campaign may frame a message to the audience. In order to unravel which emotions are used in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign I need to know how the message is framed. Hence hereafter, I can reformulate this sub-‐question to:
How is the “Groene Sint” framed in the campaign?
Knowing how important it is to use a metaphor and how to frame, when transmitting a message -‐because this can be a vehicle for emotional appeals-‐ I can further elaborate on emotions. In order to recognize emotions it is
necessary to differentiate emotions. Therefore it is of importance to gain insight in the theories concerning the various emotions. This is further elaborated by means of the third sub-‐question:
2.4.
Which emotions did Oxfam use in their campaign in
order to provoke more awareness with consumers and/or
retailers?
In order to designate the specific emotions used in the campaign of the ‘Groene Sint’ and to also classify them I used the theory of Ten Houten (2006). He applies in his book ‘Psychoevolutionary theories of primary and secondary emotions’ the classification of psychologist Plutchik (1980).
Following a brief summary of Ten Houten’s paraphrase will be described. Plutchik defines emotions as ‘adaptive reactions to basic problems of life’. He shows that primary emotions come in pairs of opposites, for each elementary problem of life. Figure 2-‐1 shows these primary emotions. The letter C
represents the idea of conflict resulting from the mixtures of two emotions or more.
He explains that there are four problems of life: identity, temporality, (reproduction), hierarchy and territoriality.
These 4 problems are associated with eight primary emotions: • Identity: acceptance (trust) versus rejection (disgust) • Temporality: happiness (joy) versus distress (sadness) • Hierarchy: anger versus fear
• Territoriality: exploration (anticipation) versus orientation ( surprise)
Plutchik counts acceptance (trust), happiness (joy), anger and exploration (anticipation) as positive emotions. Rejection (disgust), distress (sadness), fear and orientation (surprise) are negative emotions (Ten Houten, 2006:15-‐17)
“There are always two primary emotions, one for adopting to a positive
situation, an opportunity and one for a negative, problematic situation, a obstacle.”
(Ten houten, 2006:18)
Beyond the eight primary emotions all other emotions are a mixture of the primary emotions, this mixture of emotions Plutchik calls dyads. He differentiates primary, secondary and tertiary dyads. Primary dyads are two adjacent emotions in the circle (Plutchik, 1980:162) as shown in Figure 2-‐1. For example: shame is a tertiary dyad, which exist of a mixture of the primary
emotions fear and disgust. Table 2-‐1 shows an example of several other primary, secondary and tertiary dyads.
He also described terms for each of the eight primary emotions, arranged by increasing levels for intensity (see Figure 2-‐2). For example for fear: terror, panic, fright, fear, apprehension, dismay, wariness and timidity (Plutchik,1980: 158).
Table 2-‐1 Emotion components of primary, secondary and tertiary dyads. Source: Plutchik (1980): 162.
I can use these theories in my analysis of the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign. Therefore I can reformulate this sub-‐question as follows:
Which emotions, classified according to Plutchik’s model, are found in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign? And in which intensity do they occur?
Specific emotions may provoke certain behaviour. Considering this is the case, as a campaign maker could consciously insert the emotions that direct certain behaviour in his campaign. Or in other words make an appeal to emotions that provoke a driver of change. This raises the fourth sub-‐question:
2.5.
Do specific emotions provoke certain behavioural
changes?
In order to know which emotions can be drivers of change to enable a shift towards a more sustainable chocolate sector I discuss Plutchik insight on relations between evoked emotions and the behavioural changes they may induce.
Plutchik describes the basic emotions in a subjective, a behavioural and in a functional language (see Table 2-‐2). The subjective language is the inner-‐feeling state (such as fear) of a person. The behavioural language is the reaction on a subjective language. On fear the reaction will be ‘escape’ and the third step is the functional language. If you escape, the function will be to get safety.
As illustrated in Figure 2-‐3 Plutchik has elaborated this into a sequence of events, forming an emotional reaction:
Stimulus event ! cognitive appraisal ! subjective reaction ! behavioural reaction ! function.
Table 2-‐3 illustrates this sequence for the primary emotions (in this table referred to as feeling).
Perloff (2014) mentions that the emotions Fear and Guilt have a specific appeal to behavioural change. He does not give –strangely enough-‐ the other emotions much attention. Fear, especially, is a powerful emotion. “A fear appeal
is a persuasive communication that tries to scare people into changing their attitudes by conjuring up negative consequences that will occur if they do not comply with the message recommendations”( Perloff, 2014: 299)
Perloff (2014) states that fear is a necessary condition for messages to succeed, however fear alone is not enough. There must be a constructive direction included in the message. People should be capable to avert the threat by undertaking the recommended action. They should cope with the problem: danger control. Thus only if a solution is offered the emotion fear can be used effectively.
The emotions fear and guilt may play an important role in persuasive campaigns. When performing my analyses it is interesting to investigate whether these specific emotions also play an important role in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign.
Using these insights I can derive what behavioural reaction is likely to be evoked by a particular emotional appeal. For example when fear is involved, this may provoke escape. In that sense different emotions provoke different
behavioural reactions. If you are aware of which emotions you provoke in your campaign you might attain a specific behavioural change. This could suggest opting for specific emotions in a campaign is a successful driver of change. Subsequently I can formulate the final sub-‐question:
Which behavioural changes, through emotional appeal, are provoked in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign?
2.6.
Final research question and sub-‐questions
The theories discussed above enabled me to sharpen my tentative research question and sub-‐questions. By means of the theories I am able to use concepts in my questions, which enable me to investigate my problem statement.
Hereunder I sum up the gradually developed sub-‐questions:
• Did the ‘Groene Sint’ comply with the requirements formulated by Rice and Atkin for a good campaign?
• How is the ‘Groene Sint’ framed in the campaign?
• Which emotions, classified according to Plutchik’s model, are found in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign? And in which intensity do they occur? • Which behavioural changes, through emotional appeal, are provoked
in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign?
These sub-‐questions resulted in the following final research question:
Did emotional appeals in the campaign of the ‘Groene Sint’, by Oxfam Novib, contribute to a drive of change with consumers and/or retailers towards a more sustainable chocolate sector in the Netherlands?
The following chapter will elaborate on methodology, that forms the basis for the analyses of the emotions applied in the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign.
3. Chapter three: Methodology
3.1.
Research design
This study is designed according to mixed methods research (Bryman, 2008) in order to answer the research question: ‘Did the use of emotional appeals in the campaign of the ‘Groene Sint’ by Oxfam Novib contribute to a drive of change at consumers and/or retailers towards a more sustainable chocolate sector in the Netherlands?’ I first of all do explorative research in a narrative and descriptive form by means of a case study. Furthermore my analyses will be based on more quantitative research methods.
In this chapter I will take the methodology of Verhoeven and Duyvendak (2015) in their article: ‘Enter emotions. Appealing to anxiety and anger in a
process of municipal amalgation’ as a guideline in order to address my research
question.
The next sections display the methodologies applied in the research in the following format. First I will describe the design for the research, namely a single case study. Section 3.2 will address my methods of data collection. Section 3.3 will elaborate the methods conducted per sub-‐question.
3.1.1. Case study
As introduced in earlier chapters I have conducted a single case study for my research. I first formulated an explorative, tentative, research question with a hypothesis that, emotions have an influential role towards consumers and/or retailers as a driver for change. So far, as Oosterveer observed, there has been little research conducted on this subject.
In earlier research conducted while studying Future Planet Studies as well as during working experiences I gained knowledge on sustainable food chains and also specific on the cacao supply chain. For that reason it was a logical decision to focus on chocolate in this thesis. When reflecting on the last decade of the chocolate landscape, some events stand out considering the transformation of the system into a more sustainable one. This includes the ‘Groene Sint’ campaign.
This campaign received considerable media attention and because of this a lot of data is accessible. Moreover (as we currently all know) the festive event Sinterklaas involves a lot of emotions. This makes this campaign interesting to use as case study for the purpose to research emotional appeal as driver for change. Because it is a single case study I can do thorough research and describe the casus in depth.
When conducting a single case study I have to consider that I cannot make overall conclusions of the chocolate supply chain in the Netherlands as a whole
3.2.
Data collection
In order to collect data I will conduct fieldwork. The following qualitative methods of data collection are adopted in this thesis:
• In-‐depth interviews
• Literature and document review/studies • Visuals
