Green Marketing: Impact of Green Advertising on Consumer Purchase Intention

TLDR: In this paper, the authors explored how green advertising affects consumers' purchase intention of green products and found that consumer attitude toward green advertising significantly influences consumer's purchase intention for green products, which can be seen as any advertisement that may explicitly or implicitly address the relationship between a product and the biophysical environment.

Abstract: Indian advertising industry has dramatically developed as consumers concern over the impact of environmental degradation on their lives and interests which result in a significant sale of green products. This study aims to explore how green advertising affects consumers purchase intention of green products. The data were collected from students studying in Management Institute. The research findings reveal that consumer attitude toward green advertising significantly influences consumer purchase intention of green products.Keywords: Green Marketing, Green Advertising, Purchase Intention, Consumer Behavior, Environmental Advertising.IntroductionFrom the beginning of 1970s, a significant amount of research has been conducted on consumer purchase behavior for environmentally friendly products. Many variables were shown across the globe to drive consumer choice in regards to purchasing environmentally friendly products. The growing social and regulatory concerns for the environment lead to an increasing number of companies to consider green issues as a major source of strategic change. In the last decade, consumers have become more enlightened on environmental issues.The most effective tool that the marketers and advertisers often use to get consumers attention is advertising which helps consumers' to elaborate their knowledge about product attributes and specification.4 Zinkhan and Carlson15 defined green advertising as the appeals that try to fulfill consumers' needs and aspiration regarding environmental concern and health issues from different perspectives including ecology, sustainability and pollution-free messages. Many scholars have engaged themselves in the study of how green message can affect the audience and the organizations that are looking forward to invest more in advertising campaigns by injecting environmental claim.Green Advertising: Zinkhan and Carlson15 defined green advertising as "promotional messages that may appeal to the needs and desires of environmentally concerned consumers." Green advertising can be seen as any advertisement that may explicitly or implicitly address the relationship between a product and the biophysical environment.2 Green advertising promotes products, services, ideas or organizations' ability to help or reduce environmental harm.There are various dimensions in green advertising: One is education-focused which aims to enhance consumers understanding towards the nature and environment; another is commercial-focused which is designed to increase the sales of products or services; some concern about the improvement and enhancement of firm's green image in order to generate long-term customer loyalty.2Review of Literature* Batra and Ray3 highlighted that it is necessary to investigate the differences between consumer's affective response which is consumer's feelings from ad exposure and cognitive response which is consumer's judgments towards the advertisement.* Carlson et al5 showed that Consumers who are environmental concerned normally have generated positive attitudes towards green advertising and environmental issues.* Aaker et al1 explored the relationship between warmth and advertising responses such as liking of the ad and purchase likelihood through testing ads with warm and other execution strategies. They also test the effects of sequences of commercials on warmth responses and on the impact of the advertisement.Rationale of the StudyThis research is based on the consumer purchase intention with regards to green advertising. The research emphasizes on the how green advertising affects the buying behavior of the consumers. This research helps the green marketer to understand the kind of green marketing which can influence consumer buying behavior. As the recent advertisements are hyperbolic, here the research shows that green marketer needs to validate all the express and implied environment claims appearing in the advertisement. …