Can evoking nature in advertising mislead consumers? The power of ‘executional greenwashing'

Béatrice Parguel (), Florence Benoît-Moreau and Cristel Russell
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Béatrice Parguel: DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Florence Benoît-Moreau: DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This paper examines the ‘executional greenwashing' effect, defined as the use of nature-evoking elements in advertisements to artificially enhance a brand's ecological image. Using classic models of information processing and persuasion, the research tests whether ‘executional greenwashing' differs as a function of consumer knowledge about environmental issues in the product category and whether environmental performance information can counterbalance the effect by helping consumers form an accurate evaluation of the brand's ecological image. Three experiments with French consumers reveal that evoking nature does mislead consumers in their evaluation of a brand's ecological image, especially if they have low knowledge of environmental issues. Two indicators of environmental performance, based on current international policies, are tested to counteract ‘executional greenwashing'. Whereas a raw figure is not sufficient to help non-expert consumers revise their judgment, accompanying the figure with a traffic-light label eliminates ‘executional greenwashing' amongst both experts and non-experts. Theoretical and regulatory implications are discussed.

Keywords: Greenwashing; Advertising execution; Environmental labelling; Environmental policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published in International Journal of Advertising, 2015, 34 (1), ⟨10.1080/02650487.2014.996116⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01463025

DOI: 10.1080/02650487.2014.996116

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