Current Issue Summary
December 2022 (Vol. 62, Issue 4)
Are Consumers Moved by a Crying Tree or a Smiling Forest? Effects of Anthropomorphic Valence and Cause Acuteness in Green Advertising
This research by Chun-Tuan Chang and Yu-Kang Lee (both at National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan), and Hsiao-Ching Lee (National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan), provides understanding of how green advertising can be done more effectively. One method used in environmental-related advertising is anthropomorphizing images in nature such as forests, lakes and oceans—in other words featuring them with human characteristics. Prior advertising research has focused on comparisons between anthropomorphism and nonanthropomorphism. This trio of scholars proposed two types of anthropomorphism based on whether characters—like a smiling forest or a crying tree—evoke positive or negative emotions that shape behaviors toward the environment.
The three-part study focused on cause acuteness, in other words: How do consumers react to either positive or negative anthropomorphic valence when the situation shown is about a sudden disaster versus an ongoing tragedy? The authors proposed that consumers’ “connectedness to nature” serves as the underlying mechanism in this messaging. Environmental psychology research has suggested connectedness to nature “as a prerequisite for pro-environmental behaviors,” the authors write. According to that body of work, “Taking the anthropomorphized object’s perspective, such as that of the Earth, sea or forest, is expected to make one feel closer to the green issue, and such feelings will strengthen one’s connection to nature.”
Chang and team’s work builds on that premise, finding evidence that “cause acuteness influences connectedness to nature in addition to anthropomorphic valence.” Among their findings:
- “When the environmental issue is considered a sudden disaster, negative anthropomorphism is more persuasive.
- “By contrast, when the environmental issue is viewed as an ongoing tragedy, positive anthropomorphism results in a more favorable attitude, higher willingness to pay and more money being donated.”
- If the level of connectedness to nature is low, “nonprofit organizations and companies must alter these perceptions by choosing a more appropriate anthropomorphic valence and cause acuteness in their green advertising.
- “Green campaigners can take advantage of media types and choose the appropriate presentation…(using) visual or verbal anthropomorphism” in print, TV, digital and radio ads.