A Novel Perspective on Green Advertising: The Interactive Effect of Message Framing and Advertising Type on Consumer's Green Purchase Intention

ABSTRACT Grounded in Prospect Theory, Sensory Marketing Theory, and recent insights into emotion regulation and psychological comfort, this research explores how the sensory format of green advertisements—Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) versus non‐ASMR—moderates the effectiveness of message framing (positive vs. negative) on consumers' green purchase intentions. It further investigates the mediating roles of ad recall and emotional responses (positive and negative) in this interaction. Two between‐subjects experiments (total N = 600) with a 2 (ad type: ASMR vs. non‐ASMR) × 2 (message framing: positive vs. negative) design were conducted online. Moderated mediation analyses using PROCESS Model 8 with 5000 bootstrap samples revealed significant interactive effects. Specifically, ASMR advertisements enhanced green purchase intentions under positive framing, whereas non‐ASMR ads were more effective under negative framing. Positive emotions partially mediated the advantage of ASMR ads in positive framing, while negative emotions and ad recall fully mediated the advantage of non‐ASMR ads in negative framing. These findings indicate that pleasant sensory experiences boost processing fluency (ease of processing) and emotional alignment (fit between felt affect and message valence)with positively framed appeals, while moderate fear—undampened by ASMR—effectively motivates loss avoidance in negatively framed appeals. Theoretically and practically, this study refines emotion regulation accounts by showing that overly comforting sensory cues from ASMR can dilute the motivational potency of fear appeals and introduces comfort as a novel mechanism enhancing the effectiveness of gain‐framed persuasion. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the strategic alignment of sensory formats and framing approaches to maximize campaign effectiveness and highlights ad recall as a complementary cognitive pathway.