Dense is not green: How visual density influences greenness evaluation on environmentally friendly products

Abstract

IntroductionThe visual design of environmentally friendly products has a strong influence on consumer decisions. The study offers a novel insight, suggesting that consumers' perceptions of environmentally friendly products may be affected by the visual density design.MethodsFour experiments tested the effect of visual density on the perceived greenness of environmentally friendly products.ResultsStudy 1 showed that perceived greenness was higher for environmentally friendly products with low visual density design. Study 2 repeatedly confirmed this impact and found that perceived production cost acted as a mediating factor. Study 3 and 4 found two boundary conditions for this effect. Study 3 showed that the effect of visual density design attenuated for consumers with weak holistic thinking. Study 4 further revealed that when emphasizing the use of environment-friendly materials, the effect of visual density design was also attenuated.DiscussionThe findings enrich the discussion on the visual design of green products, extend the effect of visual density on consumer attitudes, and provide practical implications for marketers to choose the appropriate appearance for environmentally friendly products.

Beauty May Not Be Effective: The Effects of Imaginative Display on Green Product Evaluation

“…Previous research has shown that displaying green products influences consumer attitudes and behaviors. For instance, in terms of display forms, Wang et al (2020) found that when consumers are psychologically distant from environmental issues, upward displays of eco-friendly products can improve their processing fluency of product information, resulting in more favorable product evaluations and higher purchase intentions (Xiao et al, 2023) showed that perceived greenness was higher for environmentally friendly products with low visual density design. In addition, regarding the display environment, Yao (2023) demonstrates that displaying products with green attributes renders green products more recognizable to the consumer, thereby inducing green choices among the consideration sets.…”