|
6 July 2007
Mumbai, India
With 28 percent Indian respondents voting for both Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, they are the most influential people to champion the cause of global warming for Indians. Former United Nations head, Kofi Annan (26%) bagged the third place in India, followed by Oprah Winfrey (20%) and actress and UNICEF ambassador Angelina Jolie (19%).
Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Becham, Bono of music band U2, Leonardo Di Caprio, Richard Branson, and Salma Hayek, are amongst others who Indian respondents think will be influential in championing the cause of global warming.
Former US vice-president and recent environmental celebrity Al Gore topped the 47-country Internet survey conducted by The Nielsen Company and Oxford University. A ‘dream ticket’ for climate ambassadors would include Al Gore and Kofi Annan, who polled as first or second choices in most countries, together covering 34 of the 47 countries in Nielsen’s Internet survey.
While Al Gore and Kofi Annan won the overall global vote, there were some notable differences between regions and countries. Moreover, among global respondents under age 25, actress Angelina Jolie (14%) joined Oprah (15%) and Kofi (16%) as the most influential globally.
“Consumers in India seem to relate to international personalities who have been in the news. Further, many of these are identities they admire and are familiar with. Our survey identified potential spokespeople from actresses to sports stars that would make effective global warming champions,” commented Sarang Panchal, Executive Director, Client Solutions, South Asia, The Nielsen Company.
The online Nielsen survey, the largest of its kind to be conducted globally on the topic of consumer attitudes to climate change, was conducted in April 2007 in conjunction with the Environmental Change Institute of Oxford University and polled 26,486 internet users across 47 countries in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
The survey also found that the film, An Inconvenient Truth, had had a significant influence on those that have seen it - in their awareness of the issues and their stated changes in habits and behaviours.
“An Inconvenient Truth has pushed Al Gore and the message of concern for climate change up the public agenda. Gore's persuasive argument is that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization,” said Panchal.
“Live Earth - the 24-hour, seven-continent concert series taking place on 7th July - represents an opportunity for a broader group of people to hear about the issue of climate change, and this study was a chance to identify who might be an effective messenger. The challenge that remains is to determine which messages move people from concern to positive action,” said Timmons Roberts, James Martin Fellow at the University of Oxford.
Not surprisingly, nearly half of South Africans choose Nelson Mandela (49%) as their top choice to champion the cause of global warming, which also leads the top 10 countries where Nelson Mandela got the maximum votes, India is second on the list. In Asia Pacific, Kofi Annan was clearly consumers’ leading choice with 21 percent of votes, followed by Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
7 percent of Indian consumers polled at the end of April this year said they had seen Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. 64 percent of viewers who claimed to have seen An Inconvenient Truth said the film had “changed their mind” about global warming and 82 percent said watching the movie made them more aware of the problem. More importantly, 61 percent viewers said that they changed some of their habits as a result of seeing the film.
“When consumers are impacted enough to actually change or claim to change their daily habits as a result of watching a film, it is definitely an indication that the message has cut through the clutter,” said Panchal.
About ACNielsen
ACNielsen, a division of The Nielsen Company, is the world's leading marketing information provider. Offering services in more than 100 countries, the unit provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behaviour. Clients rely on ACNielsen's market research, proprietary products, analytical tools and professional service to understand competitive performance, to uncover new opportunities and to raise the profitability of their marketing and sales campaigns. To learn more, visit www.acnielsen.co.in.
About The Nielsen Company
The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and New York, USA. For more information, please visit,www.nielsen.com.
About Environmental Change Institute:
www.eci.ox.ac.uk
Environmental Change Institute (ECI) plays a leading role in the UK Government's three main climate research initiatives. ECI hosts the internationally-acclaimed UK Climate Impacts Programme; is a core partner in the national Tyndall Centre for Climate Change; and a lead player in the UK Energy Research Centre. It runs a world-class Masters in Environmental Change & Management with students from all over the world. Oxford University has over 150 climate researchers covering all aspects of climate science, including hosting the world's largest climate computer modelling experiment across 150 countries [www.climateprediction.net]
47 Markets Covered:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, US and Vietnam.
Margin of error - +/- 4% for n=500 and +/- 3% for n=1000.
Chart: Impact of An Inconvenient Truth on Viewers’ Attitudes
For a copy of the larger report, please visit www.nielsen.com or www.eci.ox.ac.uk
Back to Top
|
