| This study explored the content of green advertisements, using a two-stage research design that examined the relationship between green advertising appeals, attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the product, and purchase intention. Stage-1 included content analysis, examining the nature of green advertising appeals and matching the appeals with green advertisements. Stage-2 included appeal rating responses as well as attitudinal variables indicating the attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the product, and purchase intention of green products or organizational support. Content analyses of actual print advertisements resulted in fifteen appeals in eight advertisements for further analyses. Results demonstrated a significant and positive correlation between positive appeals – humor, colorful, cute – with attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the product/organization. Surprisingly, for negative appeals – fear, shocking, sad – although weakly, were significantly and positively correlated with attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the product/organization. There were statistically significant relationships found between attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the product/organization, as well as attitude toward the product/organization and purchase intention. The study's findings confirmed a domino effect in green advertising, demonstrating that appeals influenced buyers to have a positive attitude toward the ad and to like the product/organization, and to intend to purchase the product or to support the organization. |
