No abstract

This longitudinal retrospective case study describes the sponsors, ad types, frames and message factors in green advertising over three decades in National Geographic magazine, the bellwether nature publication in the USA. In addition to providing a clearer picture of the extent and nature of environmental strategic messaging over three decades, results provide empirical support for theoretical relationships between the level of green advertising and economic indicators. After providing historical and theoretical context, detailed results are presented for both overall and longitudinal analysis. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Health messages can be either informative or descriptive, and can emphasize either potential losses or gains. This study, guided by message framing theory and exemplification theory, specifically investigated the combined effects of messages with loss-gain frames mixed with statistics or exemplar appeals. The findings revealed a series of main effects and interactions for loss-gain frames and statistics-exemplar appeals on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) prevention intention, intention to know more, perceived severity, perceived fear, perceived external efficacy, and perceived internal efficacy. The gain-statistics appeal showed an advantage in promoting perceived efficacy toward FASD, while the loss-exemplar appeal revealed an advantage in increasing prevention intention, perceived severity, and perceived fear toward FASD. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

This paper examines the impact of using narratives to frame a political issue on individuals’ attitudes. In an experiment, we asked participants to read either narrative or informational news articles that emphasized the potential economic benefits or environmental consequences associated with shale gas drilling. Results indicated both news formats (narrative vs. informational) and frames (environmental vs. economic) had significant immediate effects on issue attitudes and other responses; narrative environmental news had a significantly greater impact than informational environmental news. Cognitive responses and empathy were significant partial mediators of narrative impact. Environmental narratives also had a more significant impact on individuals’ delayed issue attitudes.

Important theories related to the social development of environmental concern and attitudes ascribe different roles to the media. Inglehart's materialist–postmaterialist value shift thesis sees the development of a more advance media system as promoting pro‐environmental values. Gerbner's cultivation theory, on the other hand, sees the media as promoting consumerist tendencies, which run counter to environmental concern. This study examines the effect of media system development on postmaterialist values and environmental concern at the national and individual levels. Controlling for other factors known to impact the emergence of environmental concern, the overall effect of media system development is largely negative. However, this result should be considered in light of interactions within and among other key variables. Hierarchical linear modeling is employed to examine the impact of media system development on environmental concern considering individual‐ and country‐level predictors. Results indicate media system development uniquely explains a small but significant amount of variation in individual‐level environmental concern. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of country‐level predictors of environmental concern.