Too close to trust: Message features, resistance, and greenwashing in green advertising.

= 1,617), we found that messages that contained two low-construal features (psychological distance of consequences: proximal, and verb modality: definite) produced the most resistance to persuasion. Motivated resistance to persuasion was found to increase perceptions of greenwashing, while perceptions of greenwashing were found to reduce purchase intentions. The experiment additionally found that the combination of proximal consequences and definite language reduced purchase intentions through serial mechanisms of increased motivated resistance to persuasion and perceptions of greenwashing. These findings enrich the growing understanding of green messaging and carry both practical and theoretical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).