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Barriers

There is a story that says that the Chevy Nova, a wildly successful automobile in North America, was a complete flop when introduced in spanish speaking countries. The reason? “No va” is spanish for “Doesn’t go.” Quite a barrier to sales.

Whether true or not, the story illustrates the importance of identifying barriers to adopting a behaviour. In that case, the desired behaviour was the purchase of the car. By not checking with customers, Chevy was faced with a tremendous barrier to car sales.

Imagine a barrier for a waste management program. Some municipalities have fallen into the trap of placing recycling drop-off depots in places that were not accessible to many people, reducing their usefulness. In one case many years ago, the launch of a blue bag recycling program was hindered by the unavailability of blue bags in stores. People wanted to use the program but simply could not.

The Canadian Province of Nova Scotia, where I live, is currently planning to ban the use and sale of cosmetic lawn pesticides and herbicides, citing the availability of gluten-based alternatives.Pesticide Pledge (http://www NULL.beyondattitude NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/PesticidePledge NULL.jpg) That sounds great, but my little bit of searching around has not uncovered any gluten-based products to purchase in the stores near where I live. In fact, the people in the stores I spoke with had never heard of gluten-based products. Unavailability is a significant barrier to using them. Before the pesticide ban goes into effect, the government will be well-advised to engage retailers to ensure the preferred alternative is available in stores (something I am told they plan to do).

In order to foster sustainable behaviour, Community-based Social Marketing (http://www NULL.cbsm NULL.com) program designers always research the barriers to behaviour adoption and develop strategies to remove them. It is a critical step to success.

In the next few posts, I will examine barrier identification and removal, using real examples from my experience developing CBSM programs in many different communities.

Beyond Attitude Consulting acknowledges we operate in Mi’kma’ki – the unceded territory and ancestral homeland of the Mi’kmaq First Nation. Our relationship is based on a series of Peace and Friendship treaties between the Mi’kmaq First Nation and the Crown, dating from 1725 to 1779. In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada, in R v Marshall, upheld the 1752 treaty “which promised Indigenous Peoples the right to hunt and fish their lands and establish trade.” 

We also acknowledge that we work and play in many unceded territories and ancestral homelands of Indigenous Peoples across North America, and respect the rights and traditions of the many First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples therein.

We are all Treaty People.

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