Energy Hog is the worst possible mascot for energy conservation

brainshrub

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Tue Oct-04-05 01:55 PM
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Energy Hog is the worst possible mascot for energy conservation

Edited on Tue Oct-04-05 02:29 PM by brainshrub

www.brainshrub.com/energyhog.

Once again, a Bush Administration appointee is clearly unqualified for the job. This time, the person isn't real... he's an anthropomorphic mascot.

US govt unveils "Energy Hog" to promote conservation
With U.S. heating bills expected to hit record highs this winter, the Bush administration on Monday launched a conservation campaign featuring a cartoon mascot "Energy Hog," which critics said does little to discourage energy use.

Behold! The new face of energy conservation:

Does this character make you want to conserve fuel, or drive away screaming in your SUV?

Clearly, the Energy Hog ties into the conservative world-view that the best non-violent way to alter public behavior is with shame. "You don't want to be like the Energy Hog, would you?" is what this campaign is trying to convey.

The problem with this shame-based approach is that it simply doesn't work. The most successful mascots engender positive qualities that people want to enhance in their own lives. Characters like Smokey the Bear, Woodsy the Owl and McGruff the Crime Dog convey the message that if you change your behavior, you develop traits that the mascot represents.

Imagine how effective a "fight forest-fires" campaign would have worked out if the Forest Service had used "Charley, the severely burned Chipmunk"? Or how about an anti-littering campaign featuring "Maggy, the polluting maggot"? And while we're at it, let's picture a mascot to teach kids about crime prevention with "Wally, the thieving weasel."

The problem with the Energy Hog, for all the animal's positive real-world qualities, is that he represents wastefulness, filth and sloth in the American psyche. This is exactly what you don't want to use for a campaign to show Americans that conserving energy is a positive social value.

"But wait," defenders of the Energy Hog will say, "we are trying to use the pig as an example of what we don't want Americans to be. The Energy Hog is not a positive, or sympathetic, character!"

That's precisely the problem.

Ask any rookie advertising executive: Positive role models are significantly better at altering consumer behavior than negative ones. The entire celebrity-endorsement industry is based on this observation of human psychology.

You don't motivate citizens to patriotism with images of Benedict Arnold, you use George Washington; You don't motivate people to buy skimpy swimsuits with Barbara Bush, you use Pamela Anderson. Therefore, you certainly aren't going to change deep-seated habits of American wastefulness with a filthy pig.

A negative role-model is not only a disaster for the message you are trying to convey, but the character itself becomes nothing more than a target for satire.

I suspect the Energy Hog, like most unqualified characters who get appointed to high-profile government jobs these days, must have close ties to the Bush Administration. Sure enough, after a quick Google search (And a touch of PhotoShop) I found this picture of the Energy Hog at a Republican pro-war rally.

www.brainshrub.com/energyhog