HOW CAN WE SUPPORT KEY INFLUENCERS TO BECOME ROLE MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES?

The Issue
We live in a consumerist world in which we are constantly told that the more we purchase, the happier we are. Our success is judged by material possessions, promoted by celebrity lifestyle trends and product advertisement.

However, excessive consumption is not compatible with living sustainably and caring for our planet. Climate change solutions directly conflict with the decisions made and lifestyles led by key societal influencers: celebrities, sports heroes, wealthy business owners, politicians etc. For example, Molly-Mae Hague who gained fame on Love Island, recently become a Creative Director at fast fashion brand Pretty Little Things. This encourages her many millions of social media followers to spend more on unsustainable and exploitative fashion.

Can you help us to reimagine the narrative around consumerism and success, and support people of influence to become better environmental role models?

Potential for Change
The influence of people on our TV, social media channels, radio etc. is enormous and create really positive change. We’ve seen English footballer Marcus Rashford successfully using his profile to alleviate child food poverty, and even simple actions such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s removal of Coca Cola bottles at a Euro 2020 press conference was followed by $4 billion being knocked off the Coca Cola’s market value.

The influence of people in the spotlight is very real and powerful, and we know that they can be an incredible force for good. Now we want to make sure that they have all the support, tools and resources needed to make smarter, fairer choices for the planet which encourage better sustainable behaviour from their mass audiences.

Our Support
The Dixon Foundation want to hear from you about how we can support influencers to take on greater climate responsibilities and become advocates of a nature-friendly world. By doing so, we hope to inspire positive environmental behaviour change in those outside of our typical echo chamber. We are also keen to investigate the different ways for tracking and measuring the impact of this influence. We’ll leave the solutions down to you!