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More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Will advertising be the solution? : The effects of ambient advertising on attitudes and recycling behavior.

Jong, F.J. de (2018) More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Will advertising be the solution? : The effects of ambient advertising on attitudes and recycling behavior.

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Abstract:The amount of waste is an ever-growing problem. Advertising can be used to make people aware of this problem. Creative advertisements that are incongruent with people’s expectations can help advertisers in drawing consumers’ attention and further enhancing their attitudes towards the advertisement. Ambient advertising, with its surprising nature, would therefore be a useful tool. However, academic research on the impact of ambient advertising is still rare. This study focused on the role of ambient advertising on attitudes towards the advertisement, attitudes towards recycling, and eventually recycling behavior. The level of involvement towards environmental issues, processing fluency and the amount of attention given to the advertisement were expected to play an important role. To study the impact of incongruity in advertising, this research had a 2 (regular vs ambient advertising) x 2 (low vs high involvement) between-subjects design (n=80). An experiment was conducted to measure the behavioral consequences of the (in)congruent advertisements. The attitudes of the participants were measured using a questionnaire for various combinations of (in)congruency and involvement. This study adds value to academic research on ambient advertising as it gave evidence that the advertisement was perceived as more incongruent compared to regular advertisements. Surprisingly, the ambient advertisement appeared to be easier to process, and evoked more environmentally-related thoughts. In addition, participants in the ambient condition perceived recycling as being more hygienic. Furthermore, people’s attitude towards waste recycling was positively influenced. However, no effects have been found on recycling behavior, which validates the existence of an attitude-behavior gap. These insights can be useful for marketers who want to get a better understanding of how to design effective advertisements, and, for example, want to set up a campaign regarding the environment and plastic waste.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Unknown organization, Enschede
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/76676
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