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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ responses to emotional and normative communication in comparison with traditional informational campaigns promoting pro-environmental behavior in the context of biodiversity. By adopting the approach of likeability of the communication, the paper identifies which type of communication strategy is liked by consumers’ and which dimensions define likeability in the context of biodiversity. The goal is to improve the effectiveness of communication messages delivered by social marketers or public policy makers through a better understanding of consumers’ responses to different communication strategies. Design/methodology/approach – To investigate which communications strategies are perceived as likeable in the context of promoting biodiversity and to explore the dimensions that underlie likeability of the communication a qualitative study was conducted. First, the information design with the different communication strategies has been developed. Second, focused interviews with 25 individuals have been conducted. Findings – Results indicate that communication strategies using positive emotions led to most favorable responses. Further, findings suggest that informational strategies seem to result in positive attitudes when they tap on procedural knowledge. Favorable judgments are linked with communication strategies that create awareness or which are relevant and informative. Research limitations/implications – Further empirical research is suggested exploring consumers’ responses to communication strategies that combine emotions and facts. Practical implications – Based on the findings of this study, social marketers and public policy makers are recommended to use a combination of communication strategies that evoke positive emotions and provide consumers with the facts necessary to take action. Originality/value – The paper allows for an integrated view and contributes to an increased understanding of responses to communication strategies and provides valuable practical implications for social marketers and public policy makers.

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While much research has focused on the linguistic expression of emotion, especially in the advertising industry, little attention has been paid to the linguistic evocation of emotion. This study attempts to redress this issue by employing methods of empirical social research to measure the evocation of emotionality and rationality in recipients. The data was collected online through representative samples (n=3,030) across four countries (US, UK, Germany, Switzerland) using comparative text modules embedded in tourism brochures promoting sustainable hotel stays. On the one hand the results show that theories of the linguistic evocation of emotionality are not borne out in practice. On the other, our findings suggest that linguistic evocation of emotionality and rationality varies across cultures even if the language in which the evocation is triggered is shared (i.e.UK and US).

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