Analysing emotions through a communication action on plastic cups' disposal and use

Abstract

The prevention of waste generation, especially single-use plastics, is currently a critical issue. The main objective of this paper is to analyze students' perceptions regarding different advertisements aimed at promoting proenvironmental behavior based on different emotional appeals. To reach it, the students were exposed to the proposed pieces, and later data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. The results show that environmental concern is the most appealing and sensitizing factor for most students. Besides respondents' age and area of knowledge of the respondents' course showed to influence their choice. This research concluded that acting directly on the aspects of emotion and intention is an essential step for the induction of more environmental behaviors. Its contributions recur in the area of environmental psychology, with applications in the area of marketing and consumer behavior, being contextualized in theoretical frameworks that suggest several paths for future research.