The skeptical green consumer revisited: Testing the relationship between green consumerism and skepticism toward advertising
- Author(s)
- Jörg Matthes, Anke Wonneberger
- Abstract
This article revisits the widely believed notion of the skeptical green consumer, in other words, that green consumers tend to distrust green advertising. Study 1, a survey of U.S. consumers, found no positive relationship between green consumerism and general ad skepticism. However, green consumerism was negatively related to green advertising skepticism. Study 2, a survey of Austrian consumers, addressed the underlying mechanism of this negative relationship in a mediation analysis. It was shown that green consumers saw more informational utility in green ads than nongreen consumers did. This, in turn, decreased their green advertising skepticism. The emotional appeal of green ads, however, had no impact on green advertising skepticism. Findings suggest that the "dilemma for marketers who desire to target the green consumer" (Zinkhan and Carlson 1995, p. 5) is far less serious than previously thought.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- External organisation(s)
- University of Amsterdam (UvA)
- Journal
- Journal of Advertising
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 115-127
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 0091-3367
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2013.834804
- Publication date
- 2014
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication, Marketing, Business and International Management
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/889dd1c7-6a6e-4f8f-aba6-42e846c34ab0