Media Release: 25 November 2009
Just who is littering their butts….and why? That’s the question that the Butt Littering Trust set out to answer in a major piece of behavioural research undertaken to coincide with its re-branding as Butt Free Australia.
Currently, nearly one in two of all items found in the litter stream are cigarette butts (according the Keep Australia Beautiful National Litter Index) and the research ‘Understanding attitudes & behaviour behind cigarette butt littering’ was commissioned to help Butt Free Australia reduce this number.
The national research, which was undertaken by Millward Brown, was released this week to coincide with the launch of the Trust’s new brand, ButtFREE Australia and website www.buttfree.org.au which goes live 1 December, 2009.
The research suggests that there are three key segments amongst butt litterers, who can be grouped into “apologists”, “rationalists” and “defensives”. It suggests it will be easier to change the behaviour of the “apologists” (labelled because of their apologetic attitude to the problem), who are often married females, aged between 35-44, often mothers of young children than it will the “defensives”.
“Defensives” most often are older, degree-educated men and labelled the defensives because of their very hardened attitude to social responsibility and unwillingness to take any measures to minimise their impact on the environment generally.
In between these groups are the “rationalists”, who make up 54% of butt litterers, (compared with 39% “apologists” and 6% “defensives”) whose littering behaviour is largely unconscious. The research found that this group, which is most often comprised of young, single, employed men, aged between 18 and 24 years, is surprised by the frequency of their littering.
The research revealed that the same key messages that resonated with all three groups – understanding that butts can cause bushfires; being appalled at the idea of a small child putting a butt in their mouth; having concerns about butts being washed into waterways; and being dismayed learning that butts can be found in the stomachs of birds and wildlife were all motivating to change butt littering behaviour.
Under the newly launched Butt Free Australia brand, the Trust will use these findings to launch a national awareness raising campaign in early 2010 that will highlight the environmental impact of cigarette butt littering and encourage people to ‘butt it then bin it’.
Known for its projects such as Butt Free City and support for campaigns such as the Victorian Government’s Don’t be a Tosser licensed premises initiative, the Trust is now placing greater emphasis on raising broader awareness of the butt littering issue in a move to coincide with its rebranding to Butt Free Australia.
According to Butt Free Australia’s Executive Director, Wendy Jones, the rebranding provides the organization with the ideal opportunity to move the butt littering issue – both the problem and the solutions – to a whole new level.
“Maintaining the status quo is not going to bring about the positive and sustained behaviour change that is needed to make Australia butt free,” Ms Jones said.
Butt Free Australia’s new website www.buttfree.org.au has a host of information to help put solutions in place to address butt littering. The new site goes live on 1 December, 2009.
About Butt Free Australia:
Butt Free Australia is the trading name of the Butt Littering Trust. The Trust is an independent product stewardship organisation that was established in 2003. Since that time, the Trust has developed into Australia’s leading organisation on butt littering reduction and provider of Butt Free Solutions.
Butt Free Australia is exclusively concerned with product stewardship; addressing the environmental problems caused by cigarette butt littering. With that in mind, Butt Free Australia openly receives funding from the tobacco industry and its founding partner – British American Tobacco Australia – continues to be its major contributor.
ENDS
Prepared by Connecting Images Marketing Communications, for Butt Free Australia.
More media information from Michele Eckersley,
t 03 9819 2566 e
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
m 0422 726344
or
Wendy Jones, at Butt Free Australia
t 03 9898 0087 e
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m 0418 172 400
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