Environmental claims in Indian print advertising: an empirical study and policy recommendation

Abstract

Purpose Environmental claims in advertising (green ads) provide competitive advantage to firms. This study aims to understand what kinds of environmental claims advertisers make in a developing nation like India. Further, implications for policymakers and advertisers are discussed. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of 279 green print advertisements was conducted using a comprehensive list of claim categories identified from the advertising literature. These categories included advertiser profile; ad promotions – type, sector, appeal; claim – nature, type, focus, validity, emphasis; executional elements – illustration setting, presenter, format/structure and environmental issue, identified from past studies and practitioner interviews. Findings The findings suggest that majority of the advertisers using green ads are manufacturers. Consumer durables, real estate and power sector together constitute one-third of the total green ads. Further, most of the green ads are aimed at influencing consumer behaviour. Though most of the ads contain strong emphasis on environmental attributes, they are ambiguous. A large proportion of claims are credence in nature and lack product identification through environmental certifications. This study also identifies areas of concern including interpretation of the term green, use of multiple certifications, greenwashing and advertisers showing environmental responsiveness through event-based green advertising. Policy recommendations are made based on green advertising regulations governing them across developed and other developing countries. Research limitations/implications The content analysis of the green advertisements in this study was limited to newspaper advertisements within the print media. Future studies may use advertisements from different media types, such as the internet ads and television commercials, to examine the effect of media type on the nature of green advertisements. It would also be interesting to examine the role of regulations as a moderator, influencing the claims made in green advertisements. Practical implications The findings of this study provide a comprehensive overview of the nature of green advertisements in India. Marketers may use these insights to design effective green advertising strategies. Originality/value Most of the extant literature has examined environmental claims in the context of developed nations, where regulations are well established. Very few studies have examined this issue in the context of developing countries. In addition, most of the previous studies have focused on specific issues like greenwashing, appeals and execution elements. The present study contributes to green advertising by examining environmental claims in case of a developing nation like India using a comprehensive list of claim categories. This study also identifies areas of concern and suggests recommendations for policymakers and advertisers.

Trust in Green Advertising: Mediating Role of Environmental Involvement

“…Consumer responses to advertising are influenced by the claims provided in an advertisement (Belch & Belch, 2021;Gangadharbatla et al, 2020). Research results show that advertising claim affects consumer responses to advertising (Prasad et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2020). Despite the fact that environmental advertising has been the subject of much research, the green advertising claim itself has rarely been probed.…”

Towards green product consumption: Effect of green marketing stimuli and perceived environmental knowledge in Indian consumer market

“…In addition, the literature reports that firms mostly adopted broader advertising via broadcast and print media in the emerging economies including India (Chan, 2004;Prasad et al, 2017;Wei et al, 2017). Similarly, Ozaki (2011) claims that television and magazines are still effective communication tools of green marketing especially for the consumption of green electricity in the UK.…”

“…Similarly, Ozaki (2011) claims that television and magazines are still effective communication tools of green marketing especially for the consumption of green electricity in the UK. However, most marketers or Ad agencies attempted to emphasize on pro-environmental corporate image rather than its related attributes of their offerings into the target market, and thus a very few ads markedly communicated the ecological benefits of a product or discussed with the specific environmental actions of a firm (Banerjee et al, 1995;Chan, 2004;Prasad et al, 2017;Muralidharan et al, 2017).…”

“…This finding may be reasoned with the low credibility of green advertisements via broadcast and print media, as it lacks "Green Unique Selling Proposition" (GUSP) with useful information about environmental benefits and attributes (Davis, 1993;Chan, 2004). Therefore, effective communication campaigns with highlighted green attributes can stimulate consumers in the formation of a more favourable perception of green brands and eco-label eventually can be transformed Indian green consumer market into actual green purchasing decisions (Prasad et al, 2017;Jaiswal et al, 2021a;Kumar et al, 2021). Thirdly, environmental advertising campaigns using new media sources along with television and print media can foster consumers' favourable green image for green labels and green brands and consequently, it would encourage them to purchase decision-making of such products (Wei et al, 2017).…”

“…In a similar vein, environmental advertisement is an important green marketing tool capable of promoting green products and green consumerism, consequently enabling consumers in making an informed purchasing decision for such products (Chin et al, 2018;Davis, 1993;Pham et al, 2018). However, most marketers or advertisement agencies attempted to focus on green image rather than environmental benefits, subsequently, only a few advertisements distinctly communicate the ecological benefits of products or discuss specific environmental actions of firms in the target market (Banerjee et al, 1995;Chan, 2004;Prasad et al, 2017). In addition, the cognitive measure of environmental knowledge guides consumers with informed purchase decision-making about labels and branding of green products (Haron et al, 2005; SBR 17,1 Jaiswal et al, 2021a;Taufique et al, 2017) that can further directly and indirectly influence their buying decisions of these products (Mostafa, 2006;Lee, 2008;.…”