Bitter or sweet? The interactive impact of message framing and environmental attitude on the effectiveness of green advertising

Abstract

This study explores the external stimulus and internal psychological characteristics that influence green advertising’s effectiveness while considering the interactive effect of message framing and environmental attitudes and the mediating role of process fluency. The results showed that if a consumer has a strong environmental attitude, gain-framed green advertising more significantly impacts their attitudes toward green advertising and products and their pro-environmental behavior intentions than loss-framed advertising. Conversely, if the consumer has a weak environmental attitude, loss-framed green advertising more significantly impacts their attitudes toward green advertising and products than gain-framed messaging but does not affect their pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, it was found that process fluency mediates the interactive effect of message framing and environmental attitudes on the effectiveness of green advertising.