TY - JOUR AU - Majláth, Melinda PY - 2017/10/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Effect of Greenwashing Information on Ad Evaluation JF - European Journal of Sustainable Development JA - EJSD VL - 6 IS - 3 SE - DO - 10.14207/ejsd.2017.v6n3p92 UR - https://www.ecsdev.org/ojs/index.php/ejsd/article/view/504 SP - 92 AB - <p>Thesis statement: Greenwashing based on the intention of the companies to mislead customers and<br />partners in order to show up themselves or their own products more environmental-friendly than<br />they really are. The purpose of this paper is to examine how additional greenwashing information<br />can change the evaluation of ads of H&amp;M and The Body Shop for the consumers and whether the<br />extent of change is influenced by the general skepticism toward ads or by the environmental concern<br />of the respondents.<br />Methodology: This quantitative survey is based on online questionnaire, in which respondents<br />evaluated the ads of H&amp;M and The Body Shop before and after giving additional greenwashing info<br />in connection with the companies. Besides that, the moderating effect of environmental concern and<br />skepticism toward ads (in general) were examined.<br />Results: The first hypothesis tested the worsening evaluation of ads (both self- and objective<br />referential items). Surprisingly, the lower ad skepticism didn’t mean higher change in ad evaluation.<br />It was explored that respondents showing higher environmental concern showed higher change in<br />ad evaluation but only for H&amp;M ad.<br />Conclusions and Implications: Results show that unfolded greenwashing actions influence the<br />evaluation of ads negatively – not only for those who have high environmental concern.</p><p><br />Keywords: greenwashing, ad evaluation, ad skepticism, H&amp;M, The Body Shop</p> ER -