Green Advertisement with Sustainability Claims -Message Credibility and Design Trendiness-

Abstract

Sustainability is a significant change that fashion industry has undergone. Marketers and brands are looking for guidance in green advertising to most effectively motivate consumers to purchase sustainable fashion products. This study aims to reveal environmental and cultural sustainability claims on message credibility and purchase intention regarding product trendiness. We performed mediation and moderation analyses, using a 2 (sustainability message: environmental and cultural) x 2 (product design: classic vs. trendy) between-subjects experimental design. The PROCESS MACRO was used for the analysis. Results indicate that environmental claim must appear credible to consumers to motivate them to purchase a product. On the other hand, cultural claim, with and without credibility, affected consumer’s purchase intention. Moreover, cultural claim and trendy design together influenced message credibility and purchase intention, showing a moderated mediation effect. The study indicates that brands should broaden their perspective regarding sustainability by considering cultural factors when providing sustainability claims. Environmental claim should be clear and transparent to avoid green skepticism. Also, it is important to focus on product’s design aspect: making trendy designs. It is difficult to change consumer behavior based only on sustainability value. Thus, brands must coney their consideration of design trends. Theoretical and managerial implications also are discussed.