| dc.description.abstract | Increasing pressures on preserving the bio-physical environment have motivated many firms to use advertising as a means to communicate an eco-friendly image and/or address specific ecological problems. However, a growing skepticism about green advertisements calls for a thorough investigation of the environmental claims made. This is particularly crucial in the context of industrial and international markets, where research on the subject is virtually absent. By employing legitimacy theory, this paper develops research hypotheses linking various dimensions of environmental claims (i.e., focal points, evaluation areas, leverage aspects, driving forces) with the level of advertising greenness (i.e., shallow, moderate, deep). It then tests these hypotheses with data obtained from a content analysis of 383 green magazine advertisements by multinational firms producing industrial goods. As predicted by legitimacy theory, the results indicate that all dimensions of environmental claims made by these firms do indeed differ in accordance with the degree of advertising greenness. Specifically, it appears that the deeper the greenness of the advertisement, the greater the use of focal points related to product, processes, image, and facts, the stronger, more specific, substantive, and acceptable the claims made, the higher the employment of rational, emotional, and moral points to leverage environmental matters, and the sharper the driving forces to the planet and its flora, fauna, and human entities. This implies that, as opposed to firms using shallow green advertisements, those adopting a deep perspective in their advertising campaigns convey green messages in a more detailed, authentic, and responsible way. Given that green advertising is an indispensable part of the multinational firm’s overall environmental marketing strategy, it is important to embark on proactive deep green communication strategies, rather than reacting in a shallow way to various ecological matters. In doing so, it is crucial to adopt an integrative approach that would successfully link together focal points, evaluation areas, leverage aspects, and driving forces of the firm’s advertising campaign relating to environmental claims. The fact that the international business environment is highly volatile, multifarious and complex with regard to green issues implies that eco-friendly advertising strategies should be constantly re-adjusted to accommodate these issues. | en |
