According to goodmustgrow.com, those who bought goods from a socially responsible company fell between 2013 and 2019–from 62% to 54%. However, reaching back to the 1990s, the General Social Survey (GSS) documents that the slide in conscious consumerism started since 1993. This post takes a look at the historical trajectory of conscious consumerism.
Figure 1, below, shows that those who are very willing and fairly willing to pay higher prices to help the environment fell between 1993 and 2010–from 52.43% to 46.80%.
| Figure 1. Percentage of those very willing and fairly willing to pay higher prices to help the environment | ||||
| 1993 | 1994 | 2000 | 2010 | |
| Very Willing and Fairly Willing | 52.43% | 47.42% | 44.89% | 46.80% |
Figure 2, below, shows that those who are very willing and fairly willing to pay higher taxes to help the environment fell between 1993 and 2010–from 40.24% and 33.55%.
| Figure 2. Percentage of those very willing and fairly willing to pay higher taxes to help the environment | ||||
| 1993 | 1994 | 2000 | 2010 | |
| Very Willing and Fairly Willing | 40.24% | 34.33% | 31.62% | 33.55% |
Even though people are unwilling to pay more to help the environment, a greater percentage of people think it is important to choose products for political, ethical, or environmental reasons even if they cost a bit more. Between 2004 and 2014, the percentage of those who think it is important or very important to choose products for sustainable reasons increased by 6%. However, those who boycotted or deliberately bought certain products for political, ethical, or sustainable reasons stayed flat between 2004 and 2014. Therefore, even though people think sustainability is important, their actions do not support it.
Reaching back to the 1990’s shows that those who are very willing or fairly willing to pay more for sustainable causes has declined. Even though people seem to think sustainable causes are increasingly important, their actions do not support their thinking.
Source: https://goodmustgrow.com/cms/resources/ccsi/gmg2019ccsinfographic.pdf, https://gssdataexplorer.norc.org/