When Descriptive Norm Cues Fail As Persuasion Agents in Green Supermarket Advertising

Abstract

This article examines the effectiveness of descriptive norm cues in the context of green advertising for large grocery chains through the lens of the persuasion knowledge model. Across two experiments with real brands, the authors demonstrate that descriptive norms in green advertising can activate consumers' perceptions of deceptive intent on the part of the marketer, resulting in negative attitudes and less compliant green buying intentions. The results suggest that green advertising might be more productive if retailers frame their messages without descriptive norm cues and reliance on whether they are seen as “green” (e.g., Whole Foods) or “non green” (Wal-Mart).

KEYWORDS:

• descriptive norms
• green marketing
• persuasion
• skepticism

Notes

1. We also measured brand attitude across each group, as this could have influenced green intentions. We did not find any main effect, nor any moderation effect related to brand attitude toward Kroger. We elected to remove this from the body of the article to be as concise as possible. We tested the same measure in Experiment 2 with the same results.

2. These effects were observed even when a separate two-way ANCOVA analysis was conducted with skepticism toward green advertising and environmental concerns entered as two covariates.