A narrative approach for overcoming the message credibility problem in green advertising

Companies are going green, both to benefit the planet and to make their brands more appealing. But some green initiatives have a twofold nature: they require cooperative behaviors by consumers, but save costs for the company. In such situations, companies advertising green initiatives have to overcome a message credibility problem, because people suspect the initiatives are primarily designed to save company costs. This research examines different approaches for making green advertising more credible. Study 1 shows that a narrative (vs. non-narrative) message style is more credible and yields better green evaluations; further, these effects are amplified when the message has two-sided (vs. one-sided) claims. Study 2 confirms the positive effects of narrative (vs. non-narrative) messages and demonstrates the advantage of using messages with specific (vs. general) information about the green initiatives. Results also support the theorizing that the effects of the message variables on green evaluations are mediated by message credibility.