Investigating the Portrayal and Influence of Sustainability Claims in an Environmental Advertising Context

Abstract

The ability of consumer judges to identify sustainable messages in environmental advertising and the effect of these messages is explored. A content analysis provides insight into these judges’ perceptions of the depth of environmental advertising messages. An experiment investigates the influence of sustainable messages and includes collection of cognitive response data to evaluate the cognitive dimension of sustainability messages. Content analysis results suggest that sustainability messages may influence how environmental advertisements are perceived. These findings are supported by the cognitive response data, which shows cognitive differences across advertisements, and the experimental manipulation that suggests sustainable ads may be more involving to consumers.

Deception in cosmetics advertising: Examining cosmetics advertising claims in fashion magazine ads

“…typology was developed from multiple sources (i.e. Aaker & Myers, 1987;Gardner & Leonard, 1990); it was recently adapted by Cummins, Reilly, Carlson, Grove, and Dorsch (2014). Similar to previous research , a fifth category (Acceptable) was also included, to avoid our judges perceiving the implication that every claim must fall into one of the misleading categories.…”

“…Carlson et al, 1993;Cummins et al, 2014). For instance, all three judges were given verbal and written descriptions/training on each typology prior to evaluating the claims.…”

“…In order to ensure objectivity, the judges were allowed to code the claims into the categories of outright lie, omission, vague and acceptable (e.g. Cummins et al, 2014;Kangun, Carlson, & Grove, 1991). By allowing the judges to assign claims to the "acceptable" category, bias can be minimized.…”

How electricity providers communicate price increases – A qualitative analysis of notification letters

“…Content analysis is used in several contexts (Krippendorff, 2013), particularly in general advertising (Al-Olayan and Karande, 2000;Carlson et al, 1993;Dowling, 1980;Healey and Kassarjian, 1983;Resnik and Stern, 1977;Weinberger and Spotts, 1989), environmental advertising (Cummins et al, 2014), and in online marketing for green energy (Herbes and Ramme, 2014).…”

Sustainability marketing at the farmers’ market: An ethnographic analysis of ambiguous communication

“…Because farmers’ market products represent an alternative to industrially produced food, this research offers a case study for looking at how consumer values such as sustainability are marketed to customers during a direct exchange. This research aims to examine the sustainable communication (McDonagh, ) and environmental messaging (Cummins, Reilly, Carlson, Grove, & Dorsch, ; Kilbourne, ; Ottman, ) that occurs between farmers and customers at the farmers’ market to provide insights into how the sustainability idea is manifested in this space.…”