“Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the greenest of them all?” the impact of green advertising cues on generational cohorts

Abstract

Global warming is one of the top environmental concerns in the U.S, yet little is known about the effects of green advertising on different generational cohorts – Gen-Z, Gen-Y, Gen-X, and Baby Boomers. Specifically, environmental values (egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric) were assessed for differentially impacting ad attitudes and behavioral intentions across the four cohorts. Study-1 (n = 613) found the biospheric ad (plants and animals) to be more persuasive for Gen-Z and Gen-Y, with no preference shown for Gen-X and Baby Boomers, and no differences between the self (egoistic) and community (altruistic) focused ads. Based on these findings, Study 2 (n = 634) merged the four cohorts into two, Gen-ZY and Gen-XB, focused only on egoistic and biospheric, while introducing informativeness and task difficulty to better understand messaging preferences on attitudes and intentions to act. The findings revealed that Gen-ZY preferred to donate money for a biospheric ad with low information, while being motivated to volunteer their time when presented with a high information biospheric ad. Irrespective of ad appeal (egoistic or biospheric), Gen-XB had stronger intentions to donate for an advertisement with high information content (vs. low). Theoretical and advertiser implications are discussed along with future research avenues.