“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference” : Exploring the impact of marketing appeals on sustainable consumption

Abstract: In today’s society, companies engage in sustainable efforts to lower the impact consumption has on the environment. To emphasize these efforts, companies utilize sustainable marketing to gain consumers’ attention. The advertisements used in sustainable marketing often involves marketing appeals, and mainly the two appeals: self-benefit and other-benefit. Studies have shown that most consumers appear to want to consume sustainably, however, there is a gap between consumers’ willingness and their actions. As young consumers are generally more motivated to consume sustainably, the purpose of this study was to provide the reader with more information regarding young consumer’s attitudes towards these appeals and how they affect young consumers’ decisions when it comes to sustainable consumption. By conducting qualitative one-on-one interviews with young consumers, their thoughts and attitudes towards the two appeals were collected and then analyzed with the help of the hierarchy of effects model created by Lavidge and Steiner (1961). The findings were compared with previous research on the subject, which also added an understanding to what motivates young consumers to consume in a more sustainable manner. In conclusion, this study found that both appeals worked as a reminder to young consumers to engage in sustainable consumption, as they were already very aware of the issue. It also suggested that the respondents had more positive attitudes towards the self-benefit appeal, as it benefitted themselves as well as the environment, which resulted in positive attitudes to engage in sustainable consumption. The other-benefit appeal seemed too holistic and some respondents developed skepticism towards the product/brand.