The cafe hosted by Professor Garrick delved into a few interesting topics. We started in a some what roundabout way by examining the US car market. We looked at what mechanisms allow people to feel comfortable making such a large purchase. From test drives to access to internet/reference books, there are a multitude of things that provide a consumer the chance to explore his/her options without feeling that they are buying in the dark while insurance and warranty allow the consumer to feel secure in his/her financial investment.

Then we got to see this method applied through Garrick’s research. His project focused on the adoption of cleaner burning stoves in Africa. The current stoves cause issues that result in millions of deaths. Garrick walked us through the challenges they faced, and how they tried to overcome them. Even though they utilized a lot of things learned from the US car market, they were very unsuccessful in getting the native populations to adopt the newer stoves.

Ultimately, this is a reflection of how hard it is to change people’s behaviors. Smoking in the US is not the perfect parallel, but it does have some strikingly similarities. The US government poured countless millions into health initiatives to discourage smoking, and it took decades to have an effect. People were very reluctant to change despite knowing the health risks of smoking. Even now, it is questionable how large an effect those media campaigns had on the older generation, and whether the decrease in smoking is coming from the younger generation.

Garrick and his team didn’t face big tobacco, but they had a myriad of challenges. A more limited budget coupled with cultural differences lead to a very low rate of conversion to new stoves.