Not meant to be sustainable: a study with low-income Consumers in são paulo, brazil

The purpose of this paper was to examine low income classes attitudes towards sustainability. The study was justified by the importance of the theme sustainability, by the growth of the low-income segment and finally due to the shortage of scholarly work focused on low income conscious consumer. After reviewing the literature a quantitative study (survey) was conducted. A convenience sample of 410 individuals was selected considering socio-economic classification, belonging to the classes CD and residents in the city of Sao Paulo. A structured questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics. Results indicated that conscious consumption is still low for this segment and there is a gap between the declared intention and the actual behavior towards conscious consumption. Thus both Brazilian enterprises and the government need to invest in educational initiatives.