A Quest for Green: An Analysis of Environmental and Other Appeals in Pakistani Ads

Abstract

With the emergence of Climate Change as a grave issue across the globe, media houses are using the environmental appeal in advertisements frequently and hence the media advertisements are major contributor towards public awareness about the significance of green lifestyle by highlighting aspects of climate change communication. In underdeveloped countries with low literacy rate, environmental appeal in ads is still not very common and the consumers’ awareness about the environmental issues is slim. This study offers a content analysis of advertisements of automobiles and housing schemes appeared in Pakistani Media exploring the frequency and kind of appeals (Green or Non-Green), the style in which they have been appeared and also the depth of green appeal specifically used in these ads during the past one year. Both categories (Automobiles and Housing Schemes) were selected carefully with an understanding that auto industry is a major pollutant and housing schemes are growing on the expense of forests and agricultural land and with the new wave of urbanization in Pakistan both of these sectors are touching new heights of production and expansion. Results offer a depiction of how shallow and deceptive the use of environmental appeal in Pakistani advertisements which resulted in inadequate climate change communication. Also the slender use of climate change communication in ads, when compared to the pressing need of communication about the subject, the results offer nothing as promising. The final outcome is a consumer mind-set who has little or no clue about the grave issue of climate change Pakistan has been facing for years.