Increase the Incentive For Consumers to Pay Attention to DPP's

Two weeks ago (9 October) we discussed how digital product passports might change work for people in marketing and sales.

A key background factor in that piece was that consumers aren't really walking their talk, according to Johan Anselmsson, Professor in Marketing and Branding at Lund University School of Economics & Management. They say they are prepared to reduce consumption or change their buying behaviour to help protect our environment, but at the point of sale, research shows that the wallet has the final say. It doesn't take a great price difference to the detriment of environmentally superior products for consumers to stick to their old ways.

Personal Safety Trumps Environmental Awareness

We learn from Johan Anselmsson that consumers are more consistent when it comes to product safety, though. This is is well in line with the results of an EUIPO report from 2022 regarding young Europeans and counterfeit products. A main conclusion of the report was that the arguments able to sway those who intentionally bought counterfeit products were egocentric.

The fact that counterfeiters are notorious for exploiting workers and not caring about health & safety or environmental regulation in production, appeared at the bottom of the list, way behind the risk of credit cards data being hijacked and similar arguments.

Different topic, similar dynamics.

Disturbing Results for Toys

Add to that, the recent report by Toy Industries of Europe, released on 17 October.

They bought over 100 toys from third-party vendors (dropshippers) from both within and outside the EU on ten different online marketplaces.

80% of those toys failed to meet the EU safety standards!

Independent laboratory tests show that these toys pose serious health risks for children, including choking hazards, toxic chemicals, perforation of the intestines and affecting reproductive health.

The toys were bought at Allegro, AliExpress, Amazon Marketplace, Bol, Cdiscount, Fruugo, Light In The Box, Shein, Teemu and Wish. Six of whom have signed the EU Product Safety Pledge, a voluntary commitment to stop the sale of unsafe products on their platforms.

Read the full release by Toy Industries of Europe here

How About Including Health & Safety Certificates in DPP?

In April 2024, we published "Digital Product Passport "In Your Face" to Nudge The Uninterested Towards a More Circular Mindset?". Maybe product safety could be a means to the same end?

An alternative, or supplement, might be to actually expand the scope of DPP's? To add health & safety certificates to the DPP.

"Scan here to check out which verified health & safety certificates are available for this product. Which tests have been conducted to ensure the absence of dangerous chemicals?" Get the environmental information as a bonus.

As we have pointed out earlier, in Digital Product Passport – Expanding What Is Your Product for example, once you have the DPP infrastructure as a mechanism for handling data, imagination will be the only limit for what you may use it for. Health and safety certifications should be top of that list, we think.

Would the chances increase of you scanning the DPP if you knew it would also provide verified health & safety certificates for those toys?

Image by Anna Solovei on iStock