Whatever People Say I Am That's What I Am: Social Labeling as a Social Marketing Tool

In this paper, we present a procedure to apply the social labeling technique as a social marketing tool. Four studies indicate that communicating a social label, following an environmentally friendly behavior that is not motivated by pro-environmental concerns, leads consumers to re-attribute that behavior as representing their own environmental concern. Subsequently, they are likely to act upon their resulting self-perception as an environmentally friendly person. Social labeling is more successful when cognitive resources are distracted, either at the moment of processing the label or at the moment of making decisions related to the content of the label. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.