Environmental Messages in Fashion Advertisements:

Impact on Consumer Responses

Youn-Kyung Kim
Judith Forney
Elizabeth Arnold

Abstract
This study examined if consumers’ environmental concerns influence their responses to fashion advertise-
ments. Photographs of models wearing fashionable casual apparel, either in nature or non-nature settings, were
combined with environmental or fashion advertising claims and were reproduced as slides. Independent variables
were advertising message (environmental vs. non-environmental) and environmental concern (high vs. low); the
dependent variable was the affective response to advertisements. Female college students (N 120), enrolled in =

merchandising classes, recorded affective responses while viewing stimulus advertising slides. Environmentally-
concerned subjects reacted more positively to fashion advertisements than did non-environmentally-concerned
subjects, regardless of advertising message. As an interaction effect, environmentally-concerned subjects reacted
more positively to the fashion advertisements with an environmental message; subjects who were not environmen-
tally concerned reacted more positively to fashion advertisements without an environmental message. These
findings demonstrate the importance of consumers’ environmental concerns as a mediator of affective response to
fashion advertisements, and suggest the need for further research.

Kim, Y-K, Forney, J. & Arnold, E. (1997). Environmental messages in fashion advertisements: Impact on consumer
responses. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 15
(3), 147-154. Key Words: environmental advertising.

marketing environmentally-friendly products (Davis, 1993).

Introduction
&dquo;Green&dquo; consumers are those individuals who exhibit
environmental concern in purchase behavior (Shrum,
McCarty, & Lowrey, 1995). Among some of those con-
sumers, this concern is an agent for social change (i.e.,
green movement) in the United States (Banerjee, Gulus, &
Iyer, 1995; Davis, 1993). Eight in 10 Americans consider
themselves environmentalists (Gutfeld, 1991), and express
environmental concern through environmental actions such
as recycling, paying more for environmentally-friendly prod-
ucts, and boycotting products that have a bad environmen-
tal record (Levin, 1990; Stisser, 1994).
Environmental concern is evident among consumers of
fashion products. According to Tyler (1993), 25 to 50% of
U.S. consumers purchase environmentally-linked products,
and about 30% of this group buy environmentally-safe
apparel when color, fashion, and price factors are equal. In
response to this trend, fashion marketers have implemented
green marketing strategies that are aimed at producing and
Authors’ Address: School of Merchandising and Hospitality Manage-
ment, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203-0248.
For example, U.S. fiber and fabric manufacturers found a
new market niche for ecologically-correct apparel (Griffin,
1993/1994). More specifically, Esprit initiated an ecologi-
cally-minded Ecollection sportswear line through catalogs
and selected stores (Rowlands, 1993), L. L. Bean established
vendor relationships based on the vendor company’s envi-
ronmental soundness (Maycumber, 1994), and VF Corpora-
tion entered the market with an 0 Wear collection produced
exclusively from organic cotton (Schoonover, 1993). These
green marketing efforts are illustrated further by the U.S.
Eco Expo trade show, where green fashion products are the
fastest-growing product segment with a 25 to 50% annual
increase since the show began in 1989 (Schoonover, 1993).
The environmental responsibility of a business has
emerged as a critical element in economic success
(LoMenzo, 1993). Stisser (1994) argued that offering envi-
ronmentally friendly products and services can help a busi-
ness retain its competitive position and eventually improve
public attitudes toward that business through substantial
long-term environmental commitments.
In addressing current environmental problems, Gigliotti
(1992) contended that solutions require changing the basic
values on which society was built. Solheim and Hill (1994)
stressed the importance of integrating environmental re-
sponsibility into consumers’ personal values, as well as

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 societal value systems. They further suggested that human
ecology research focus ongreen products and green adver-
tising addressing environmental problems and environmen-
tal improvements at individual and social levels.
Baldwin (1993) suggested that environmental adver-
tising, or green advertising, is a potential medium for
shaping consumer values which then can be channeled into
socially responsible consumption. Bober (1993), in par-
ticular, identified the fashion industry’s ability to shape
public tastes and aesthetics with its green marketing strat-
egies. Thus, fashion advertising that delivers environmen-
tal messages may be useful in developing or reinforcing
consumer values associated with environmentally-related
products and behaviors.
This study was designed to examine the effectiveness
of environmental advertising on fashion consumers. The
scope of this study was not limited to the examination of
-
green consumers’ responses to environmental messages,
but it was extended to explore advertising message effec-
tiveness targeting both green and non-green consumers.
’ ’
.
Background
Environmental Values, Attitudes, and Behavior
A national study conducted by the Wall Street Journal
revealed that almost half of the Americans polled held
strong environmental values, but that their behavior did not
reflect those values (Gutfeld, 1991). This incongruence
between values and behavior suggests the need to take a
closer look at this association and, specifically, to assess the
extent to which socially responsible values can be reflected
in environmental actions.
Values are standards that are, to a large extent, derived
and learned from society and its institutions and internal-
ized by individuals (Rokeach, 1979). As such, consumers’
values motivate and guide their decision making and con-
sumption behavior. Therefore, values represent an impor-
tant concept, not only for human ecological theory and
practice (Sontag & Schlater, 1995), but for marketers of
fashion products (Goldsmith, Heitmeyer, & Freiden, 1991).
Rokeach (1968) contended that values are differenti-
ated from, yet interrelated with, attitudes and behavior. He
conceptualized values and attitudes as representing a
person’s belief; however, values are more basic than atti-
tudes and often underlie them, whereas attitudes are tied
more closely to specific objects or situations. Thus, an
individual’s values are reflected in his or her attitudes and
values and attitudes are expressed in behavior.
According to Antil (1984), consumers’ environmental
attitudes are expressed through their concern for the envi-
ronment and these attitudes are likely to be an important
motive influencing consumers’ behavior and purchase de-
cisions. Antil (1984) and Antil and Bennett (1979), who
measured consumers’ environmental attitudes by employ-
ing the Socially Responsible Consumption Behavior (SRCB)
scale, found that consumers’ environmental concern was
related positively to their behavior toward reducing envi-
ronmental problems. A similar relationship was found in
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Shim’s (1995) study in which stronger environmental atti-
tudes predicted environmentally-friendly disposal patterns.
In addition, Solheim, Read, and Toelle (1991) found that
consumers are more confident in their purchase decisions
when their decisions are consistent with the value they
place on the environment. Consequently, it can be postu-
lated that consumers’ environmental values are reflected in
socially responsible attitudes which may in turn influence
environmental actions; however, in reality, consumers’ en-
vironmental values are not strongly linked to environmen-
tal behavior (Gutfeld, 1991). Thus, marketers need a clear
understanding of this gap between values and behavior.
In developing a model for classifying clothing and
human values research, Sontag and Schlater (1995) argued
that the frontier of clothing and human values measurement
lies with a subject-object interactive approach. In this
approach, the specific value holdings of an individual may
undergo change through an interaction between subject and
object. In adapting Sontag and Schlater’s model to green
advertising, we used the advertisement itself as the object
associated with environmental characteristics. The adver-
tisement then can be used to promote a product which has
either intrinsic environmental characteristics or situational
.
associations with these characteristics. By viewing an ad-
vertisement within an environmental context, individuals
who are environmentally concerned may respond positively
to an advertisement because it has a valued feature. If this
is the case, then marketers might direct environmental ad-
vertising to green consumers.
Environmental Advertising
As public attention directed to environmental issues
and the corresponding green movements has increased,
business organizations increasingly have employed green
advertising as a marketing tool in print and broadcast
media (Davis, 1993); however, Zinkhan and Carlson (1995)
cautioned that green advertising messages need to be used
as a means of responding to consumers’ concern about the
environment. Baldwin (1993) even predicted that compa-
nies, if they do not incorporate environmental messages
into their advertising, may run the risk of being out of step
with customers.
A study of environmental print advertising claims con-
ducted by Kangun, Carlson, and Grove ( 1991 ) revealed that
58 of 100 advertisements had trivial, misleading, or decep-
tive environmental claims. In addressing this problem, the
Federal Trade Commission established criteria in 1992 to
prohibit false environmental claims (Carlson, Grove, &
Kangun, 1993).
In an effort to identify problem areas associated with
specific types of environmental claims, Carlson et al. (1993)
devised five advertisement claim types. The first, Product
Orientation, focused on environmentally-friendly product
attributes. The second, Process Orientation, referred to the
environmental benefits derived from an organization’s in-
ternal technology, production technique, and disposal meth-
ods. The third, Image Orientation, associated an organiza-
tion with a broad-based public-supported environmental
cause or activity. The fourth, Environmental Fact, was a
factual statement about the environment at large or its
condition. The fifth, Combination, contained components
of the previous four claim types. When this typology was
used to determine the presence of deceptive and misleading
statements, significant variation was found across the ty-
pology. Image Orientation, for example, was perceived to
be a specific problem area because it was deceptive or not
clearly presented. Consequently, Carlson et al. suggested
that environmental claims be developed carefully to im-
prove consumers’ perceptions of a business organization’ss
environmental position.
Given the growing attention placed on environmental
issues and consumers’ heavy reliance on mass media as an
information source, the role of advertisers in developing
green messages appealing to environmentally concerned
consumers merits investigation. Davis (1993) concluded
that the success of green advertising will be determined by
how well advertisements are designed in response to con-
sumers’ needs and values and not as the result of regula-
tory requirements.
..,
Affective Responses to Advertising
The goal of advertisers is to influence consumers’ re-
sponses toward an advertised product and thus influence
buyer behavior (Hawkins, Best, & Coney, 1995). Several
studies have measured consumers’ cognitive and affective
responses generated during exposure to advertisements
(Batra & Ray, 1986; Gresham & Shimp, 1985). Cognitive
responses include knowledge or thoughts about an object
and may be limited to determining how well a stimulus
object is liked or disliked; even these responses are gener-
ated by message recipients rather than by the advertisement’ss
content (Wright, 1973). Conversely, affective responses
cover a much wider range of emotions and can elicit an
immediate response which is an important mediator be-
tween advertisement exposure and attitude formation to-
ward an advertised product (Mitchell, 1986; Shimp, 1981).
Measurements of affective responses to advertisements
have been treated as both unidimensional and multidimen-
sional. Wells (1964) developed a 12-item unidimensional
Emotional Quotient (EQ) scale which included statements
such as This is a wonderful ad and This ad leaves me cold.
Among other examples employing a unidimensional con-
cept are simple unipolar indices of affect (Gardner, 1985)
and special scales designed to tap a single dimension such
as warmth (Aaker, Stayman, &
Hagerty, 1986). Several
researchers suggested a multidimensional aspect of affec-
tive responses to advertising: pleasure, arousal, and domi-
nation (Holbrook & Batra, 1987); upbeat, negative, and
warm feelings (Edell & Burke, 1987); and 12 pairs of
specific types of feelings (e.g., activation/elation, anger/
irritation) (Batra & Holbrook, 1990).
Many advertisements contain pictures, and many have
little textual content; frequently the brand name is the only
copy. This high-visual and low-text format is especially
evident for clothing advertisements carried in fashion maga-
zines (Englis, Solomon, & Ashmore, 1994; Schmitt, 1994)
and often is designed to trigger an affective reaction
(Mitchell, 1986). Several researchers (Darley & Smith,
1993; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Laurent & Kapferer,
1985) have reported that fashion apparel, as a hedonic
product, evokes pleasurable feelings. Moreover, Laurent
and Kapferer (1985) found that consumers’ advertisement
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preferencesare influenced primarily by their hedonic in-
volvement. These findings suggest that fashion advertise-
ments have the potential to portray affective appeals in a
manner which positively influences consumer responses.
Hypotheses
This study sought to examine consumer responses to
fashion advertisements which carry either environmental
or non-environmental messages. In addition, different
types of environmental claims were examined for their
impact on consumer responses. Thus, two null hypotheses
were established.
H 1 Consumers’ affective responses to a fashion advertise-
ment do not differ by
(a) the level of environmental concern, or
(b) the use of an environmental message (picture
and claim).
H2 Consumers’ affective responses to a fashion advertise-
ment do not differ by the type of environmental claim
(Product Orientation, Process Orientation, Image Ori-
entation, Environmental Fact, or General).
Method
Sample
A sample of 133 students enrolled in five merchandis-
ing classes at a southwestern university in the spring of
1994 served as subjects. Of the subjects, 90% were female
and 10% were male. Only the responses of female students
(N 120) were included in the data analyses because
=
advertising responses have been found to differ by gender
(Edell & Burke, 1987; Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). The
subjects’ major areas of study included Fashion Merchan-
dising (52%), Fashion Design (22%), Fashion Marketing/
Business (8%), Interior Design (7%), Home Furnishings
Merchandising (5%), and other (6%). Their participation
was voluntary.
Stimulus Materials
The typology for environmental advertising claims was
adopted first from the four claim types proposed by Carlson
et al.(1993): Product Orientation, Process Orientation, Im-
age Orientation, or Environmental Fact. The fifth claim
type, Combination, was replaced with General, for claims
that reflected none of the four environmental claim types.
A search of three fashion magazines (Elle, Vogue, Made-
moiselle) from 1992 through 1994 for advertising copy
carrying environmental statements resulted in a list of 511
statements. This list was validated subsequently by 10
merchandising faculty members who identified each state-
ment as one of the five claim types. The statement with the
highest frequency in each claim type was selected as the
experimental advertising copy. Two statements were se-
lected from the General claim category and reworded for
149
fashion-oriented claims by omitting the environmental
words. The seven claims (five environmental and two
fashion) are identified in Table 1.
Seven pictures were taken from Elle that depicted fe-
male or female and male models wearing fashionable ca-
sual apparel in either nature (5) or non-nature (2) settings.
To minimize any expected bias from picture differences,
pictures of models wearing fashionable apparel were se-
lected using the following criteria: pictures were sized 7.0&dquo;
x 10.5&dquo;; displayed solid color clothing; included full-body
poses, either standing or sitting; and were originally printed
without advertising copy. The layout of the stimulus adver-
tisements was copied from an actual advertisement in
Women’s Wear Daily. The stimulus fashion advertise-
ments were developed from the magazine pictures by first
tearing the edges of each picture to create a rough edge.
The pictures were then placed on a brown kraft paper
background on which a claim had been handwritten in
black script. These stimulus advertisements were repro-
duced as slide sets. The research design of this study
required five different sets of experimental slides for view-
ing by students in five different merchandising classes.
Thus, each slide set was reproduced with the same pictures,
but the pictures were paired with different claims (Table 1).
The same two control slides were used in each class. As a
result, 27 slides were developed.
Instruments
The subjects’ affective responses to each advertise-
ment were measured using the 12 statements which com-
prised the Emotional Quotient (EQ) scale (Wells, 1964).
Table 1. Means of Affective Responses to Experimental and
Control Advertisements,
aN = 120.
bMean scores were obtained by summing the ratings of 12 items which
were measured on a five-point scale where 1=
strongly disagree and
5 = strongly agree.
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Six statements were worded favorably (e.g., This ad is very
appealing to me) and six were worded unfavorably (e.g., I
dislike this ad). Students viewed each fashion advertise-
ment slide for 10 seconds and then responded by rating
their agreement on a 5-point Likert-type scale ( = strongly
disagree, 5 = strongly agree) on the 12 items. In the
original scale, Wells used six points and calculated EQ
score by adding the number of agreements with favorable
items and the number of disagreements with unfavorable
items; this score was then divided by 12 and multiplied by
100. In this study, five points were used to make a rating
system consistent with the other scale (SRCB) in the same
questionnaire, and to allow equivocation (e.g., &dquo;neither
agree nor disagree&dquo;) or uncertainty (e.g., &dquo;not sure&dquo;) to
subjects, which is not permitted with an even number of
scale responses (DeVellis, 1991). Cronbach’s (1951) al-
pha, which was used to measure the internal consistency of
each EQ scale, was high ranging from .90 to .96 for the
seven advertisements.
After the responses from six unfavorable statements
were reversed, the EQ score of each individual advertise-
ment was calculated by adding the ratings from the 12 items
for a range from 12 to 60. To use a summated score for the
EQ scale, we performed an item analysis suggested by
several researchers (Churchill, 1979; DeVellis, 1991;
Nunnally, 1967). We examined corrected item-total corre-
lations between the item being evaluated and the rest of the
items in the scale. The majority of the correlations were
above .65, with only three as low as .45, which was accept-
able for using summated ratings.
Environmental concern was measured using the So-
cially Responsible Consumption Behavior (SRCB) index
(Antil & Bennett, 1979) which consists of 40 consumption
statements, of which 31 are socially-responsible statements
and nine are not. The subjects rated their level of agree-
ment with each statement on a 5-point Likert-type scale (I
=
strongly disagree, 5 strongly agree). The nine non-
=
socially-responsible statements were reversed in scoring.
Cronbach’s (1951) alpha for the SRCB scale was .85. For
this scale, all of the corrected item-total correlations were
above .45 with one exception (r = .18). This one low
correlation can be considered minimal for the 40-item scale
when the scale has a high reliability (Nunnally, 1967).
Thus, summated scores of the 40 items were used to com-
pute individual SRCB scores and resulted in a range from
40 to 200 (M 141.19). To distinguish clearly between
=
high and low levels of environmental concern, scores were
divided into three equal groups. Subjects whose scores fell
in the top third and those whose scores fell in the lowest
third were identified as having high and low environmental
concern, respectively. Subjects in the middle third were
excluded from further analyses. As a result, the analyses
were based on 80 subjects.
Research Design and Experimental Control
A 5 x 5 Latin Square Design (5 pictures, 5 claims) with
two control stimuli was used in the experiment. This design
involved a repeated measure on each subject, thus eliminat-
ing individual differences which can otherwise cause extra-
neous error variance (Maxwell & Delaney, 1990). The
potential bias that might be derived from different adver-
tisement pictures used in five classes was eliminated by Table 2. Repeated Measures ANOVA on Affective Responses
counter-balancing the five pictures and five advertising
claims. In other words, pictures and claims were rotated
out so that all possible order combinations were used. The
pictures and claims of the two control slides remained
constant for each class. Subjects in each of the five classes
viewed a total of seven slides, five experimental and two
control slides.
The advertising typology used in this study, the state-
ments for each claim type, and the mean EQ score for each
advertisement are illustrated in Table 1. Overall, the con-
trol advertisement containing the claim, For those who
prefer quality, had the highest mean score (M = 37.21). The
mean scores of the remaining claims fell within the range
from 35.08 to 36.29.
*p < .05.

Results and Discussion ments more positively when the advertisements contained
environmental messages (M = 39.25) than when the adver-
tisements did not (M = 37.90). Conversely, subjects who
Hypotheses Testing exhibited low environmental concern perceived the adver-
Repeated-measures ANOVAs were employed to test tisements as more appealing when the advertisements did
the two hypotheses. The independent variables were level not carry an environmental message (M = 35.70) than when
of environmental concern and use of environmental mes- they did (M = 32.92). This result suggests that consumers’
sages in Hypothesis 1, and type of environmental claim in environmental concern and environmental messages com-
Hypothesis 2. All the independent variables were used as bine to influence consumers’ affective responses to fashion
fixed effects. The environmental concern served as a be- advertisements. Overall, Hypothesis 1 was rejected.
tween-subjects factor; the environmental message and claim Hypothesis 2. The second hypothesis considered the
were used as a within-subjects factor. The EQ index mea- effect of environmental claim type on affective responses.
suring affective responses to advertisements served as the A one-way ANOVA was performed to examine differences
criterion for both hypotheses. in the subjects’ EQ scores according to advertising treat-
Hypothesis 1. For the first hypothesis, a 2-way ANOVA ment involving the five types of environmental claims. No
where main and interaction effects can be tested from two significant differences evolved, thus rendering the manipula-
independent variables (environmental concern and envi- tion of environmental claim type ineffective, F (4, 468) = .34,
ronmental message) was used. Two levels were used to
define environmental concern (high and low) and environ-
mental message (use of environmental messages in experi-
mental advertisements and non-use of environmental mes-
sages in control advertisements). As the criterion variables,
affective responses to advertisements were computed as
EQ scores; an average EQ score of the five experimental
advertisements and that of the two control advertisements
were used as the separate EQ indexes. As illustrated in
Table 2, the result of a 2 x 2 (high vs. low level of environ-
mental concern x use vs. non-use of environmental mes-
sage) ANOVA revealed a main effect for environmental
concern, F (1, 78) = 6.76, p < .01. Regardless of the use of
environmental messages in fashion advertisements, envi-
ronmentally concerned subjects found the advertisements
more appealing than did their counterparts who were not
environmentally concerned. On the other hand, no signifi-
cant main effect was evident for the environmental mes-
sage, F (1, 78) = .60, p = .44. The environmental message
had no substantial influence on the subjects’ affective re-
sponses to the fashion advertisements.
A significant interaction was evident between sub-
jects’ level of environmental concern and the use of envi-
ronmental messages in the advertisements, F (1, 78) = 4.97,
p < .03. As illustrated in Figure 1, subjects who exhibited Figure 1. Environmental concern by envirornmental message
high environmental concern responded to the advertise- interaction on affective appeal.

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p =.85. In other words, the subjects who were exposed to
one type of environmental claim did not respond to the
advertisement as significantly more appealing than did sub-
jects exposed to the other types of environmental claims.
Hypothesis 2 was not rejected.
Conclusion and Implications
The most noteworthy finding of this study is that con-
sumers with greater environmental concern elicited posi-
tive affective responses to fashion advertisements whether
the advertisements carried environmental messages or not.
Although manipulation of the environmental claim type
was not successful, significant interaction effect of the two
independent variables further demonstrates the importance
of consumers’ environmental concern as a mediator of their
affective responses to fashion advertisements which con-
tain environmental messages. These findings call for study
of consumers’ values as a significant factor in explaining
environmental behavior. Considering that consumer pur-
chases are made to satisfy personal needs and desires, and
the importance of advertising in shaping consumers’ val-
ues, fashion advertisers’ portrayal of socially desired val-
ues may contribute to socially desired action.
In line with a continuous expansion of the green move-
ment, fashion advertisers might increase their green adver-
tising effort; however, different approaches are required
for fashion consumers who have high and low levels of
environmental concern. Fashion apparel advertisements
targeting environmentally concerned consumer groups can
increase their appeal by including nature settings and envi-
ronmentally-oriented claims in their advertising messages.
At the same time, advertisers may deliver environmental
messages, even to consumers who express little concern
about the environment. In fact, the difference in responses
to green advertising and fashion advertising is greater for
consumers who are not environmentally concerned. These
consumers seemed to find the fashion-oriented message
more appealing, as reflected by the control advertising
claims: The future of fashion and For those who prefer
quality. This finding supports Darley and Smith’s (1993)
suggestion that hedonic products such as &dquo;stylish&dquo; [fash-
ionable] clothes can be advertised more effectively with
affective, subjective attributes such as &dquo;prestige of owner-
ship&dquo; or &dquo;beautiful styling&dquo; (p. 111). Therefore, fashion
advertisers who target consumers who are not environ-
mentally concerned might present an environmental mes-
sage as secondary, maintaining their primary emphasis on
a fashion message.
While the public attributes most environmental prob-
lems to the production, distribution, and disposal of materi-
als by businesses and producers, the main cause is actually
consumers (Gigliotti, 1992). In this context, the role of an
individual in environmental improvement needs to be
stressed. Advertising messages can address the potential
positive social rewards to the consumer by emphasizing the
connection between limited resources and the effect these
limitations will have on the individual and on society.
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Limitations and Recommendations
Some significant conclusions are drawn from the hy-
potheses testing; however, the results need to be interpreted
with caution. Additional research is needed to build on this
exploratory study and to correct some of the limitations
discussed here. In the present study, student subjects and a
convenience sample were used, both of which may limit the
generalizability of these findings. Although attempts were
made to reduce irrelevant sample differences by obtaining a
homogeneous student sample whose majors were fashion-
related, the subjects do not constitute a random sample
from the population to which the results of this study can be
generalized. Further, the subjects used in this study tend to
be more fashion-conscious than typical consumers, which
may influence the way they respond to any type of fashion
advertisements. In future research, the use of subjects
selected from the population of actual fashion purchasers
would improve external validity.
Consideration needs to be given to the nature of the
stimuli used. No brand was used in the test advertisements
in an effort to avoid biasing results; otherwise, subjects
might have engaged in an internal search for brand-specific
information. This presentation is not representative of real-
world advertisements. As Biehal, Stephens, and Curlo
(1992) suggested, some brands or other copy could produce
a synergistic effect when coupled with environmental con-
tent, thereby enhancing an advertisement’s impact on the
viewer. Future researchers could experiment with fictitious
brands to simulate the actual advertising context, while
eliminating any potential biases that might be generated
from brand-specific information.
Another limitation of the present study was that sub-
jects were exposed to test advertisements only once. In the
real world, where consumers usually are exposed to an
advertisement more than once, they generally respond dif-
ferently to later exposures than to the first (Edell & Staelin,
1983). Sontag and Schlater (1995) contended that repeated
subject-object interaction may reorder individuals’ value
systems. Thus, by exposing consumers to an environmen-
tal advertisement multiple times, the desired environmental
value may be developed within those who do not inherently
hold this value. Schumann, Petty, and Clemons (1990)
suggested the further enhancement of advertisements’ ef-
fectiveness by varying the message content (e.g., argu-
ments, attributes) while keeping the advertisement’s me-
chanical characteristics (e.g., layout, illustration, print font)
reasonably constant over repeated advertisement presenta-
tions. Future researchers might increase the number of
advertisement exposures by employing identical mechani-
cal characteristics in each advertisement, while varying the
environmental message.
Even though the distinction between affective and cog-
nitive responses to advertising is well-established, some
researchers (e.g., Burke & Edell, 1989) have argued that
affective and cognitive responses are intertwined rather
than separate. Both affective and cognitive aspects need to
be considered in future studies. In addition, a unidimen-
sional scale of affective response was used in this study,
whereas several researchers have validated different di-
mensions of affective responses. Exploring a multidimen-
sional view of emotion requires further research.
Subjects’ affective responses also might be affected by
advertisement sequence. Maxwell and Delaney (1990) noted
that the control condition, if it comes first, is likely to have a
much smaller carry-over effect. In the present study, a 5 x 5
Latin-Square design was used for experimental advertise-
ments, followed by two control advertisements. The first five
advertisements containing environmental messages might have
created a carry-over effect on the two control advertisements;
in other words, the subjects may have guessed the study’s
purpose concerning environmental issues. The experiment
could be improved by using a complete Latin-Square design
where advertisements in both conditions are counter-balanced,
thus avoiding contamination of the treatment effects by either
presentation order or background-setting differences.
The original typology developed by Carlson et al. (1993)
was devised to encompass a wide variety of product catego-
ries (e.g., automobiles, energy, food, and services), but
contained only three clothing/apparel cases in the original
set of 100 product categories. Although this original typol-
ogy was aimed at identifying a set of mutually exclusive
and exhaustive categories, a more elaborate classification
system for a specific product category (i.e., fashion ap-
parel) is necessary to establish the utility of the typology.
Because the affective appeal of fashion advertisements
may not work the same way with other product categories,
future studies could replicate this study using different
product categories. Also, this study might be extended to
other advertising media that differ in their attention-getting
quality and memorability by the nature of advertising con-
text (pictorial or verbal).
Finally, the study of values from the perspective of
subject-object interaction may require longitudinal studies,
because change over time is critical to the analysis of
interaction (Sontag & Schlater, 1995). Moreover, further
studies need to be conducted to examine the relationship
among holding environmental values, expressing environ-
mental concern, and actual behavior. The resulting find-
ings will provide an empirically sound framework to ex-
plain the linkage of environmental values, attitudes, and
behavior. This confirms the need to study the role of
advertising in influencing consumers’ environmental con-
cern to the extent that, as suggested by Baldwin (1993),
environmental responsibility can be shifted from regulatory
agencies to the marketplace and, ultimately, to consumers.
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