If there’s one thing that the quick service restaurant sector excels at, it’s delivering a sense of instant gratification to diners. From daily routines to feel-good rituals, QSRs have mastered the art of making people feel good fast—and often.
But when it comes to sustainability, good intentions don’t always lead to good behavior. Most of us want to do the right thing—but in environments where we’re hungry, hurried, or on autopilot, our best-laid plans often fall apart.
Our new survey of 2,000 US consumers shows just how big that gap can be. It reveals that 72 percent of people believe they’re responsible for clearing and sorting their trash in cafes and quick-service restaurants, like McDonald’s or Starbucks—but only 29 percent actually do so.
The reason for this is that when people are in a QSR environment, they tend to be in a “hot state”—hungry, task-focused and time-pressured.
This is when the subconscious mind takes over our decision-making, and overrides our better intentions.
Clearing up after ourselves and sorting out waste is at odds with the QSR experience as a whole, which centers on ease and indulgence. So consumers will avoid the extra work and responsibility, often without realizing it. No wonder nearly six in 10 consumers (57 percent) believe sustainability shouldn’t come at the expense of their personal experience. For the industry, that presents a clear design challenge – and a powerful opportunity.
QSRs need to take consumer behavior into consideration and rethink their sustainability practices to make their customers feel that doing the right thing is fun, rewarding and, crucially, effortless.
Here’s how QSR brands can inspire consumers to live up to their environmental ideals and make sustainability an aspirational and enjoyable part of eating out.
Make recycling a rewarding experience
Sustainability systems, like recycling bins, need to be appealing and user-friendly.
Right now many of them are so badly designed they have the opposite effect. A typical recycling bin resembles a rubbish bin and is next to the rubbish bin in QSR environments. Bins signify waste, and offering a black hole to put recyclables in signals the death of the product.
Also when the tray return area gets overloaded, it can unconsciously trigger negative connotations of sinks piled up with dishes. People will resist negative experiences or tasks that feel like work. Neuroscience shows that we subconsciously rebel when we feel forced to do something.
So recycling should be about renewal and regeneration, rather than disposal and decay.
Introduce alternatives that make people want to take action. These could include activations like a reverse vending machine, which allows users to recycle bottles and cans in exchange for a reward, such as a cash refund or a voucher. Because this sort of activation plays on an established behavior, people using it will instinctively understand what they have to do, as well as enjoy getting rewarded for it.
A bottle crusher is also an effective way of making recycling fun, rather than a chore. Another example is a coin-spinning donation box, which makes the act of giving away money a pleasurable activity—the philanthropy part is incidental. Nudging techniques like these have great potential to influence pro-environmental behavior.
Guide consumers to do the right thing, but don’t preach to them
Marketing and comms around sustainable products and behaviors tend to be preachy and coded in the bureaucratic messaging of authoritative guilt. Consumers are also increasingly skeptical about eco claims made by brands as a result of widespread greenwashing.
Instead, brands should introduce nudge tactics to inspire consumers to do the right thing. Subtle prompts influence customer behavior, guiding people towards desired outcomes while preserving their sense of autonomy. Nudges can move behavior in the short term, and, for the long term, combine nudges with non-authoritative communications.
British health and beauty retailer Boots, owned by Walgreens, has an in-store recycling scheme that focuses on the benefits of taking action, inviting consumers to “turn empties into opportunities”. Meanwhile, alternative milk brand Oatly’s cups feature messaging saying they can be “recycled as paper carton or upcycled into a party hat… or a house for a really small pet”. Both examples embed the sustainability effort as part of an experience that’s worth taking part in.
Sustainable packaging design should spark joy, not guilt
Eco-led design, featuring utilitarian packaging and earnest messaging, prioritizes ethics over appetite. This pared-back, functional design takes a lot of the joy out of the experience and makes products feel more like a compromise than an exciting choice.
Sustainable design should move beyond functional to desirable.
Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of the people we surveyed said they love innovative brands that invest in product development and deliver pride and excitement. When it comes to sustainable design, think eco-hedonism, not eco-consciousness. Dull colors, materials and finishes are antithetical to the codes of hedonism. Offer instead sustainable packaging that’s modern-looking, innovative, eye-catching and fun to interact with.
Smart products, like Larq’s self-cleaning bottles, take care of the burden of sustainability, while delivering on pleasure and innovation. Toilet paper brand Who Gives A Crap is all about being eco-friendly, but features bright, attractive packaging that reflects its upbeat brand messaging.
Sustainability shouldn’t be a burden that gets passed on to the consumer. To change behavior, eco-friendly practices and systems have got to feel effortless and tap into the pleasure principle.
Sustainability efforts need to lean into the abundance and hedonism that’s ingrained in the culture of QSRs. This will boost a brand’s customer base as well as their sustainability efforts. After all, who could resist indulging in a spot of guilt-free hedonism?
Tania Wendt has been in the marketing business for over 20 years, driven by the belief that the power of an insightful story can move businesses and hearts. She spent the first part of her career as a business lead across multiple product and service categories, focusing on branding/integrated marketing, shopper and retail experience. Tania joined tms in 2016. She is currently SVP of Strategy and Engagement. Tania’s mission is to continue to create emotionally impactful ideas and content fueled by insights and strategies that bring effective results for clients and create brand love in consumers.
