When does green advertising work? The moderating role of product type

Using environmental appeals to promote products is a popular marketing technique. However, little is known about how the effectiveness of green appeals varies across different product categories. The purpose of this study is to examine whether and to what extent green appeals in advertising are effective and how that effectiveness differs between products with more versus less environmental impact. Using the theoretical frameworks of ad-product fit hypothesis, our two product types (more harmful vs. less harmful) × two appeal types (green appeal vs. non-green appeal) experiment shows that ads with a green appeal are more effective for more-harmful products, whereas for less-harmful products, there is no significant difference between a green and a non-green appeal. Furthermore, cognitive response was found to mediate the interaction effect of green appeal and product type on ad persuasiveness. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.