Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Did Americans stop smoking because of all the government ads pointing out their dangers? Or because when a few people stopped, it made it easier for the people around them to stop? Probably both factors were involved.
And peer pressure continues to exert force, leading us to do things like buy and build bigger houses and drive bigger and heavier cars. Neither of which is helpful to a warming planet.
Economist Robert Frank writes about putting peer pressure to work for positive change, like saving the planet, in his book . The author visits with examples of how demonstration leads to emulation.