Paradoxical side effects of green advertising: how purchasing green products may instigate licensing effects for consumers with a weak environmental identity

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Abstract

Research into green advertising has mainly investigated how green appeals can enhance product attitudes, sales, and brand image. But what happens after people have purchased a ‘green’ product advertised in a green ad? In two experiments, we show that purchasing a green product may have paradoxical post-purchase effects, such that it may lower intentions to engage in subsequent environmentally friendly behaviour (a so-called licensing effect). Importantly, our results show that these post-purchase effects are moderated by environmental identity: only people with a weak environmental identity show these paradoxical post-purchase licensing effects, people with a strong environmental identity are more likely to continue behaving in an environmentally friendly way.

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Meijers, M. H. C., Noordewier, M. K., Verlegh, P. W. J., Willems, W., & Smit, E. G. (2019). Paradoxical side effects of green advertising: how purchasing green products may instigate licensing effects for consumers with a weak environmental identity. International Journal of Advertising, 38(8), 1202–1223. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2019.1607450

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