LEARNING TO SPOT DECEPTION IN GREEN ADVERTISING: TESTING A LITERACY INTERVENTION TO COMBAT GREENWASHING

Greenwashing has become a major advertising setback which has negative implications for consumers, the green products' market and the environment. This paper argues that ordinary consumers cannot distinguish effectively between acceptable and deceptive environmental claims and that this deficie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online) p. 161
Main Authors Fernandes, Juliana, Segev, Sigal, Leopold, Joy K
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Lubbock American Academy of Advertising 01.01.2017
Subjects
Advertising
Consumers
Deception
False information
Green products
Literacy
Studies
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Summary:Greenwashing has become a major advertising setback which has negative implications for consumers, the green products' market and the environment. This paper argues that ordinary consumers cannot distinguish effectively between acceptable and deceptive environmental claims and that this deficiency can be corrected through an advertising literacy intervention. Results from study 1 confirm the need to educate consumers about environmental claims. Study 2 demonstrates that an intervention instrument that combines textual and creative elements of acceptable vs. deceptive green claims help consumers better understand the nature of these claims and respond to them more effectively in terms of attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, ad reliability, and spotting deception in general. Implications for consumers, advertisers, policy makers and researchers are further discussed.
ISSN:0883-2404