The Effect of Misleading Environmental Claims on Consumer Perceptions of Advertisements

Abstract

This study investigates whether consumers who are exposed to an ad containing a deceptive environmental claim have significantly different attitudes about the ad than those consumers exposed to a similar non-deceptive ad. As hypothesized, higher levels of perceived deception were associated with lower levels of perceived corporate credibility, less favorable attitudes toward the ad, less favorable attitudes toward the advertised brand, and decreased purchase intentions toward the product in the ad. In addition, the study found that the perception of deception was enough to create negative feelings toward the ad, whether the ad was objectively misleading or not. Consequently, marketing and advertising managers need to proceed with caution when developing environmentally focused ad campaigns.