Heuristic processing of green advertising: Review and policy implications

Green advertising aims to communicate pro-environmental dimensions of products to achieve an increase in sales. Within a general advertising framework, we organize studies of green advertising to examine the psychological processes it triggers and how it influences consumers. We analyze (1) the information typically conveyed in green advertising through verbal and non-verbal cues, (2) the moderating variables of consumers' attention, and (3) the cognitive and emotional responses to green advertising. We describe the latter through the prism of heuristics, i.e. simple rules of thumb that consumers use to analyze cues. We find that five main heuristics drive consumer responses to green advertising. We discuss how these heuristics can create psychological barriers for required changes in consumption to reduce emissions, and what policies can overcome adverse, and promote beneficial effects of green advertising.