This editorial calls for more research on "green" or environmental advertising. It notes that while knowledge in this area has grown from previous studies and special issues, more can still be learned about encouraging pro-environmental behaviors, how companies can promote environmental practices, and how to effectively market green products. The editor highlights specific topics that would benefit from additional research, such as the impact of communicating corporate social responsibility programs on reputation. The editorial also announces the journal's annual best article and reviewer awards.
This editorial calls for more research on "green" or environmental advertising. It notes that while knowledge in this area has grown from previous studies and special issues, more can still be learned about encouraging pro-environmental behaviors, how companies can promote environmental practices, and how to effectively market green products. The editor highlights specific topics that would benefit from additional research, such as the impact of communicating corporate social responsibility programs on reputation. The editorial also announces the journal's annual best article and reviewer awards.
This editorial calls for more research on "green" or environmental advertising. It notes that while knowledge in this area has grown from previous studies and special issues, more can still be learned about encouraging pro-environmental behaviors, how companies can promote environmental practices, and how to effectively market green products. The editor highlights specific topics that would benefit from additional research, such as the impact of communicating corporate social responsibility programs on reputation. The editorial also announces the journal's annual best article and reviewer awards.
This editorial calls for more research on "green" or environmental advertising. It notes that while knowledge in this area has grown from previous studies and special issues, more can still be learned about encouraging pro-environmental behaviors, how companies can promote environmental practices, and how to effectively market green products. The editor highlights specific topics that would benefit from additional research, such as the impact of communicating corporate social responsibility programs on reputation. The editorial also announces the journal's annual best article and reviewer awards.
To cite this article: Charles R. Taylor (2015) A call for more research on ‘green’ or environmental advertising, International Journal of Advertising, 34:4, 573-575
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2015.1077572
Published online: 12 Sep 2015.
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International Journal of Advertising, 2015 Vol. 34, No. 4, 573 575, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2015.1077572
EDITORIAL A call for more research on ‘green’ or environmental advertising Charles R. Taylor
Villanova University, Department of Marketing and Business Law, Villanova, PA USA
‘Green’ advertising has received considerable attention from academics over the years and our knowledge of environmental issues and advertising has grown considerably as a result. The Journal of Advertising has published two special issues on the topic, the first Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 13:06 22 September 2015
edited by Iyer in 1995 and the second by Sheehan and Atkinson in 2013. Iyer’s article to lead off his special issue was effective in helping to better define green advertising and in emphasizing both pro-environmental behaviors on the part of both consumers and compa- nies. As noted by Kilbourne (1995) in the same issue, in order to fully understand green advertising practices, the legal and regulatory framework governing business practices needs to be factored in (Kilbourne 1995; Sheehan and Atkinson 2013). Since this time, there has been a more holistic view of green advertising and consumer response to it. Recent research on green advertising has employed rich theoretical frameworks, including regulatory focus (Kareklas, Carlson, and Muehling 2013), prospect theory (Royne et al. 2012), persuasion knowledge (Bickart and Ruth 2013), message framing (Chang, Zheng, and Xie 2015), and message assertiveness (Baek, Yoon, and Kim 2015), threat appeals and cognitive efficacy (Hartmann et al. 2014). It has also focused heavily on managerial implications of the findings, such as Hartmann et al.’s findings suggesting that appropriate threat appeals can increase responsiveness to environmental appeals and change behavioral intentions. While it is clear that advances have been made in this important area, the time is riper than ever for additional emphasis on it. For example, in an environment where many large advertisers, such as Apple, BP, and Microsoft are focused on promoting their corporate social responsibility programs, it is worthwhile to examine the degree to which advertis- ing these programs enhances the emotional dimension of corporate social responsibility. While there have been a few studies over the years aimed at analyzing the impact of com- munications about CSR programs on corporate reputation (e.g., Dean 2003), more is needed. This is especially true given recent research findings of Raithel and Schwaiger (2015) suggesting that improvements in non-financial, affective aspects of corporate repu- tation are positively correlated with stock returns more than improvements in reputation on the cognitive side. Such findings lend credibility to the idea that firms that are already viewed as highly competent in making their product may need to turn their attention to developing a reputation as a good corporate citizen. In an environment where consumers are increasingly concerned about socially respon- sible behavior and, perhaps, more prone to reward companies for it than in the past (Taylor 2014), there is clearly more to be learned about: (1) how pro-environmental behaviors can be encouraged by society at large; (2) how companies engaging in environmentally friendly practices can effectively promote themselves; and (3) how ‘green products’ can be effectively marketed. As was aptly pointed out by Sheehan and Atkinson (2013), it is also worth exploring the size of the segment of consumers that responds to green appeals
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or is willing to buy green products at a price premium. Many studies of the past have suggested that some consumers are ‘all talk’ about environmental consciousness when it comes to actually taking money out of their pockets and spending on environmentally conscious products. One would suspect that there has been at least some growth in the green segment. Perhaps more importantly, understanding when and why environmental appeals are effective is a very important topic and I hope to see more submissions to IJA on this topic. Thus, this editorial should be considered a general call for more research on green advertising. The time of year has come to announce IJA’s annual best article and best reviewer awards. Based on statistics from the review process and nominations by the associate editors, it is with much gratitude that we recognize the following individuals with the ‘Outstanding Reviewer Award’:
Mickey Belch, San Diego State University
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Steven Bellman, Murdoch University
Christian Burgers, VU University Amsterdam
Sandra Diehl, Alpen-Adria University
Sascha Raithel, Freie University of Berlin
Dongyong Sohn, Hanyang University
I would note that at IJA we view the Outstanding Reviewer Award as a lifetime achievement award as prior recipients and the individuals above have consistently provided a substantial number of high quality reviews. Reviewing is critical to the success of an academic journal and IJA benefits from the efforts of these award winners as well as other dedicated reviewers. To all of you who make the effort to review, I would like to send a sincere thank you on behalf of myself and the associate editors. Last, but certainly not the least, the best paper award recipient for 2014, as voted on by the Editorial Review Board, is Patrick Hartmann, Vanessa Apaolaza, Clare D’Souza, Jose M. Barrutia, and Carmen Echebarria (2014). Environmental threat appeals in green advertising: the role of fear arousal and coping efficacy. International Journal of Advertising, 33(4), pp. 741 765. For anyone who has not read this paper, I would encourage you do so it is a great example of the type of research that moves environmental advertising research forward.
References Baek, T.H., S. Yoon, and S. Kim. 2015. When environmental messages should be assertive: Exam- ining the moderating role of effort investment. International Journal of Advertising 34, no.1: 135 57. Bickart, B., and J.A. Ruth. 2013. Green eco-seals and advertising persuasion. Journal of Advertising 41, no. 2: 51 67. Chang, H., L. Zhang, and G.X. Xie. 2015. Message framing in green advertising: The effect of construal level and consumer environmental concern. International Journal of Advertising 34, no. 1: 158 76. Dean, D. 2003. Consumer perceptions of corporate donations: Effects of company reputation for social responsibility and type of donation. Journal of Advertising 32, no. 4: 91 102. Editorial 575
Hartmann, P., V. Apaolaza, C. D’Souza, J.M. Barrutia, and C. Echebarria. 2014. Environmental threat appeals in green advertising: The role of fear arousal and coping efficacy. International Journal of Advertising 33, no. 4: 741 65. Iyer, E.S. 1995. Three faces of green advertising. Journal of Advertising 24, no. 2: III V. Kareklas, I., J.R. Carlson, and D.D. Muehling. 2013. The role of regulatory focus and self-view in “green” advertising message framing. Journal of Advertising 41, no. 2: 25 39. Kilbourne, W.E. 1995. Green advertising: Salvation or oxymoron? Journal of Advertising 24, no. 2: 7 19. Raithel, S., and M. Schwaiger. 2005. The effects of corporate reputation perceptions of the general public on shareholder value. Strategic Management Journal 36, no. 6: 945 56. Royne, M.B., Martinez, J. Oakley, and A.K. Fox. 2012. The effectiveness of benefit type and price endings in green advertising. Journal of Advertising 41, no. 2: 85 102. Sheehan, K., and L. Atkinson. 2013. Revisiting green advertising and the reluctant consumer. Journal of Advertising 41, no.2: 5 7. Taylor, C.R. 2014. Corporate social responsibility and advertising. Does it extend to taking stances on social issues? International Journal of Advertising 33, no. 1: 11 15. Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 13:06 22 September 2015
