{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115779"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/115779","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"How down to earth are you? An exploratory study regarding green advertising and generation Z consumers","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2022-11-11 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2022-11-11 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Moore, Alexus"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Advertising","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Nelson , Michelle R","Mabry-Flynn, Amanda D","Ham, Chang Dae"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-05","date_published":"2022-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:55Z","subjects":["greenwashing","generation z","mixed-methods","interviews","surveys"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2022 Alexus Moore"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115779","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Nelson , Michelle R","Mabry-Flynn, Amanda D","Ham, Chang Dae"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Moore, Alexus"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022-05","2022-04-29"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Advertising"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["greenwashing","generation z","mixed-methods","interviews","surveys"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2022 Alexus Moore"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115779"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2022-11-11 without embargo terms","The student, Alexus Moore, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-25 at 10:52.","The student, Alexus Moore, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2022-04-25 at 11:20.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2022-04-29 at 10:42.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17947 on 2022-11-11 at 17:38:06","With new data released by NASA showing the year 2021 is tied for the 6th warmest year (2021 Tied for 6th Warmest Year in Continued Trend, NASA Analysis Shows, 2022), the issue of climate change is pertinent, hence why consumers and brands alike are eager to make positive environmental change. Unfortunately, companies who trick consumers into thinking their products are more environmentally friendly than they are (i.e. greenwashing) have been an issue since the mid-1980s and are only increasing (Adegeest, 2021; Gurung, 2020; Watson, 2016). Research done by Fernandes et al. (2020) has shown that consumers are unable to easily identify deception in advertising. Her team also discovered the impactful idea of green literacy interventions, or the inclusion of educational materials to assist consumers in deflecting greenwashed advertising attempts. My research, which focuses on Generation Z, not only seeks to partially replicate the Fernandes et al. (2020) study, but also to develop a deeper understanding of how members of Generation Z perceive, interact with, and respond to green advertising. Through an experimental 2 (ad type: acceptable vs. deceptive) by 2 (green advertising literacy intervention: present vs. absent) between-subjects design study, I found some support for the green literacy intervention resulting in an increased understanding of deceptive claims. The green literacy intervention did not have significant impacts on purchase intentions, brand or advertising attitudes, ad reliability, or perceived advertising deception for the target Ziploc brand advertisements. However, participants appeared to process the green ads only peripherally, paying attention to the visuals and not fully scrutinizing the claims, showing potential support for the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Even though I did not test for ELM, the interview responses indicated a possible focus on peripheral elements of the advertisements (executional greenwashing, images, layout) and less on the arguments. This could possibly be due to peripheral processing. The green advertising literacy intervention also appeared to increase their persuasion knowledge about green marketing and deception, indicating support for the Persuasion Knowledge Model. Moreover, three main themes emerged from my 15 semi-structured interviews: the idea of “executional greenwashing” being synonymous with “good”, green advertising itself being viewed more positively than the companies promoting it, and finally that the intent to help the environmental crisis diminishes as the problem grows larger. Findings could be used in practical ways: including assisting companies with the knowledge needed to successfully market their environmentally safe products to Generation Z, such as implementing social media influencers into the campaigns."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["How down to earth are you? An exploratory study regarding green advertising and generation Z consumers"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Nelson , Michelle R","Mabry-Flynn, Amanda D","Ham, Chang Dae"],"dc:creator":["Moore, Alexus"],"dc:date":["2022-05","2022-04-29"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2022-11-11 without embargo terms","The student, Alexus Moore, accepted the attached license on 2022-04-25 at 10:52.","The student, Alexus Moore, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2022-04-25 at 11:20.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2022-04-29 at 10:42.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #17947 on 2022-11-11 at 17:38:06","With new data released by NASA showing the year 2021 is tied for the 6th warmest year (2021 Tied for 6th Warmest Year in Continued Trend, NASA Analysis Shows, 2022), the issue of climate change is pertinent, hence why consumers and brands alike are eager to make positive environmental change. Unfortunately, companies who trick consumers into thinking their products are more environmentally friendly than they are (i.e. greenwashing) have been an issue since the mid-1980s and are only increasing (Adegeest, 2021; Gurung, 2020; Watson, 2016). Research done by Fernandes et al. (2020) has shown that consumers are unable to easily identify deception in advertising. Her team also discovered the impactful idea of green literacy interventions, or the inclusion of educational materials to assist consumers in deflecting greenwashed advertising attempts. My research, which focuses on Generation Z, not only seeks to partially replicate the Fernandes et al. (2020) study, but also to develop a deeper understanding of how members of Generation Z perceive, interact with, and respond to green advertising. Through an experimental 2 (ad type: acceptable vs. deceptive) by 2 (green advertising literacy intervention: present vs. absent) between-subjects design study, I found some support for the green literacy intervention resulting in an increased understanding of deceptive claims. The green literacy intervention did not have significant impacts on purchase intentions, brand or advertising attitudes, ad reliability, or perceived advertising deception for the target Ziploc brand advertisements. However, participants appeared to process the green ads only peripherally, paying attention to the visuals and not fully scrutinizing the claims, showing potential support for the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Even though I did not test for ELM, the interview responses indicated a possible focus on peripheral elements of the advertisements (executional greenwashing, images, layout) and less on the arguments. This could possibly be due to peripheral processing. The green advertising literacy intervention also appeared to increase their persuasion knowledge about green marketing and deception, indicating support for the Persuasion Knowledge Model. Moreover, three main themes emerged from my 15 semi-structured interviews: the idea of “executional greenwashing” being synonymous with “good”, green advertising itself being viewed more positively than the companies promoting it, and finally that the intent to help the environmental crisis diminishes as the problem grows larger. Findings could be used in practical ways: including assisting companies with the knowledge needed to successfully market their environmentally safe products to Generation Z, such as implementing social media influencers into the campaigns."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115779"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2022 Alexus Moore"],"dc:subject":["greenwashing","generation z","mixed-methods","interviews","surveys"],"dc:title":["How down to earth are you? An exploratory study regarding green advertising and generation Z consumers"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Advertising"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:55Z"}