Next time you pop into your local cafe or corner shop, don’t be alarmed to find a crowd of people browsing the shelves or buying coffees… dressed as carrots. You’ve probably stumbled across another carrotmob.
A close relative of smart mobs (when a crowd gathers to advocate for a common cause), flash mobs (when a crowd gathers for a trivial, yet entertaining performance) and the most recent addition to the family, cash mobs (when a crowd gathers at a small business and spends up big), carrotmobs are all about the environment.
Businesses are encouraged to improve their sustainable business practices by having a carrot dangled in front of them in the form of a cash-wielding mob. Dressing up as the vegetable is entirely optional.
The first carrotmob was in San Francisco in 2008. Consumer activist Brent Schulkin visited 23 convenience stores and promised to bring a mob of customers to whichever business was willing to reinvest the largest sum into energy-saving measures. Hundreds of people descended on the winning business, spending more than $9000 in one visit, and the business used nearly a quarter of the revenue to install a greener lighting system.
Schulkin likens the carrotmob vibe to a party. “The mobbers are happy, the business is happy [and] that’s what makes this model exciting,” he says. “Some people really want more influence in the world, [which is] often difficult to achieve on your own, but can be easily achieved as part of a mob.”
The idea took root around the world, with hundreds of carrotmobs cropping up everywhere from Mexico City to Bangkok – and in late 2010, Brunswick West. Albion Budget Supermarket was carrotmobbed by more than 100 shoppers, who bought groceries they needed anyway (the movement doesn’t encourage unnecessary consumerism).
Owner Medhat Ghaly then used the $700 raised to invest in energy-efficient light bulbs, matching it with $700 of his own money to convert the shop’s entire lighting system.
This was the second of five Melbourne carrotmobs Thornbury’s Helen Barclay has been involved in. The 27-year-old co-founded Carrotmob Melbourne with Ying Hu after stumbling across the not-for-profit, grassroots organisation through a separate social movement.
“I wanted to get involved in the community from a sustainability perspective and this was bringing together business with sustainability; it completely married what I’m passionate about,” says Barclay, a business operations manager at Cesar, which undertakes research and consultation for Australia’s wildlife conservation and agricultural sector.
Despite their best efforts, Barclay and fellow Carrotmob Melbourne campaign organiser Ashlee Brady work with limited resources and the number of carrotmobs held in Melbourne since it began in April 2010 can be counted on one hand. The pair is now keen to spread the word and encourage like-minded people to carrotmob other Melbourne businesses.
Brady came on board for the third carrotmob, contacting Barclay after reading about Carrotmob Melbourne in a magazine. “It appealed because of its simplicity,” the economics student says. “It doesn’t go against business practices and principals; it harnesses the fact that business responds to financial incentives and harnesses that for good rather than profits alone.”
In May, a marketing lecturer at Melbourne University posted a message on the Carrotmob Melbourne website, suggesting they organise a carrotmob on campus with his students acting as the “mob”. “Having his class as the basis for the mob meant it could be fast-tracked,” Brady says. She approached three businesses at the university, gathered ideas for improving their energy practices, and pitched them to the marketing class, which voted on the winning business, Crepes a la Carte.
The student owners of this tiny crepe stand were eager to develop Australia’s first biodegradable crepe cone and after about 200 people chowed down crepes for two hours, they had raised more than half the money needed to develop a prototype. “What I noticed mostly was the enthusiasm of academic and office staff within the university,” Brady says. “The idea of using carrotmobs for profit does speak to a variety of age groups.”
The most recent carrotmob was in June at Elgin Street’s Cafe Lua. Impressed by the October 2011 mob at Federation Square’s Il Pomodoro (where staff pledged to plough profits into an on-site herb garden), the City of Melbourne joined forces with Carrotmob Melbourne to run the Carlton Carrotmob Challenge.
It’s a chance for people to support change by exercising their spending power, says City of Melbourne’s manager of sustainability, Krista Milne. “By supporting the mob movement, local government can coordinate bringing together those like-minded members of the community to harness their collective voice to create positive change.”
The council supported five Carlton businesses, including Cafe Lua, to undergo an environmental assessment, which identified ways each business could lessen its environmental impact. “Part of what’s important to us is also educating the businesses,” Barclay says. “If they didn’t win the carrotmob, they still got to learn what they could do to reduce their impact on the environment.”
Cafe Lua owner Angus Giles wasn’t familiar with the carrotmob movement, but having already introduced sustainable elements into his business, such as recycling coffee grounds and selling reusable KeepCups, thought it was another wise move. “Being rewarded for environmental practices that are sensible and conserve the environment sets a leadership agenda,” he says. “I think it’s the beginning of a consumer-driven wave, where you actually bless people with your hip pocket for the things they’re doing in a small way. It’s a really nice, simple idea and it’s effective.”
Cafe Lua promoted that for one week, 50 cents from every coffee sold would go towards the installation of solar panels. When the $1000 raised wasn’t enough to cover the cost, Giles instead spent the money replacing their decrepit air-conditioner with a new, energy-efficient model. “You don’t have to do much to express your environmental concern economically,” Giles says. “It’s customer power – instead of boycotting, you’re blessing. I’d definitely encourage other businesses to do it.”
Both Barclay and Brady echo that sentiment. “Our goal is to get more people running carrotmobs in Melbourne – we just want to be a body that people can come to if they want advice,” Barclay says.
Taking part is as simple as turning up at a carrotmob with your wallet. Says Brady: “We’ve never wanted it to be a hierarchical thing that just we organised. The point of a carrotmob is anyone can do it. If you’re involved in your community and think that businesses might respond to this, then have a chat to them. Speak to people in the council, or the local pub, or milk bar and see if they’re interested. The more mobs we have, the better each one is.” n
Details: carrotmobmelbourne.wordpress.com.
