Re: Biomimicry for the wider consumer market
Fiona van Iersel
MSc Marketing — King's College London
Module: Marketing Sustainability and Ethics (7QQMO509X)
Date: 8 February 2026
https://keats.kcl.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=802898#p1753472

Re: Biomimicry for the wider consumer market
Submitted: 8 February 2026 9:16 PM

Anastacia separates high-centrality and high-dependency consumers, which shows a strong understanding of the study by Gershoff and Frels (2015). Her explanation captures the key insight that consumers do not all interpret “green” in the same way, and that motivation plays a major role in how sustainability messages are received. That foundation is solid and well aligned with the research.

What could help strengthen the response even further, and potentially bring it to full marks, is making the link to how the biomimicry product would actually be communicated in practice a bit more explicit. The question asks about understanding consumer attitudes, and about how that understanding changes communication decisions. Adding one or two concrete examples tied to a specific biomimicry feature would make that connection clearer.

For instance, biomimicry often works by translating a natural process into improved performance (Benyus, 1997). Highlighting how the same nature-inspired feature could be introduced differently depending on the audience would build nicely on Anastacia’s point. High-centrality consumers might be engaged by starting with the natural system that inspired the design and the long-term environmental impact of that choice, while high-dependency consumers could be reached by leading with the functional benefit that same biomimetic feature provides, such as durability, efficiency, or health outcomes. Adjusting message framing in this way helps sustainability communication resonate with different motivations (White, Habib, & Hardisty, 2019).



References

Benyus, J. M. (1997). Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. HarperCollins.

Gershoff, A. D., & Frels, J. K. (2015). What makes it green? The role of centrality of green attributes in evaluations of the greenness of products. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1509/

White, K., Habib, R., & Hardisty, D. J. (2019). How to shift consumer behaviors to be more sustainable: A literature review and guiding framework. Journal of Marketing, 83(3), 22–49. https://doi.org/