Leiden University Student Repository

Bree, Pien de (2020)

Online green advertisements: The effects of functional and emotional appeals in green advertisements on consumer click behavior

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

This study examines whether green advertisements clickability is influenced by the type of green marketing communication messages displayed on the advertisement, and whether this effect is moderated by consumers’ level of environmental involvement. A sample of N = 128.830 consumers was exposed to four types of green advertisements for sustainable vegetables: one promoting a personal benefit of purchasing the product, one promoting an environmental benefit, an advertisement that combined both the emotional and functional strategies, and one typical advertisement for the product. The findings reveal that consumers’ level of environmental involvement moderate the effects of functional and emotional appeals. Consumers with higher levels of environmental involvement showed clicked more often compared to low environmentally involved consumers on the functional appeal advertisement. Highly environmentally involved consumers also click more frequently on a functional appeal advertisement,...Show moreThis study examines whether green advertisements clickability is influenced by the type of green marketing communication messages displayed on the advertisement, and whether this effect is moderated by consumers’ level of environmental involvement. A sample of N = 128.830 consumers was exposed to four types of green advertisements for sustainable vegetables: one promoting a personal benefit of purchasing the product, one promoting an environmental benefit, an advertisement that combined both the emotional and functional strategies, and one typical advertisement for the product. The findings reveal that consumers’ level of environmental involvement moderate the effects of functional and emotional appeals. Consumers with higher levels of environmental involvement showed clicked more often compared to low environmentally involved consumers on the functional appeal advertisement. Highly environmentally involved consumers also click more frequently on a functional appeal advertisement, compared to an emotional or combined appeal advertisement. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.Show less

Author

Bree, Pien de

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors

Dillen, L. van
Scheepers, D.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en