10.3b4 Alternative Movement

Alternative movements focus on changing a single norm, such as anti-smoking movements. The Keep America Beautiful campaign began in the 1950s as an anti-litter campaign focused on changing a single norm: littering. Coca-Cola®, Dixie®, and other corporations founded Keep America Beautiful (Plumer, 2006). After World War II, companies began encouraging consumers through marketing and planned obsolescence to replace items before they wore out. Companies need people to keep buying things to grow their profits. However, buying more things leads to more garbage. The Keep America Great campaign focused on reducing consumer litter. This focus placed the responsibility on consumers to protect the environment and left corporations off the hook for producing the stuff in the first place.

Photo 10.11

Phone Companies Used to Not Standardize Their Chargers So Consumers Would Have to Keep Buying New Accessories for Their New Phones