Title: Greenwash, show your true colours: how verbal and visual messages influence consumers' perception?

Authors: Kenny Basso; Jandir Pauli; Priscila Cerutti; Marcia Perin; Vitor Francisco Dalla Corte; Leila Dal Moro

Addresses: Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil ' Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil ' Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil ' Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil ' Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil ' Faculdade Meridional, Business School, IMED, Brazil

Abstract: There is a gap between information on green products or cleaner production presented by the companies using verbal and visual messages and the consumer's perception. In this respect, the current research aims to verify how verbal and visual messages differently influence consumers perceptions of greenwash in an advertisement. A single factor experiment was designed. The results indicate that people exposed to the text format presented a lower elaboration (M = 3.75) than the subjects exposed to the image format (M = 4.91). The communication through an image created a more suspicious and negative word of mouth about the text format. In this way, an image may require a level of cognitive effort that can harm the greenwash perception.

Keywords: cleaner production; consumers; environment; greenwash; perceptions; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2023.129891

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2023 Vol.22 No.2, pp.210 - 225

Received: 07 Apr 2021
Accepted: 30 Nov 2021
Published online: 03 Apr 2023 *

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