Perceiving and believing? The subjective persuasiveness of graphic design elements and eco-friendly packaging materials on consumers' environmental consciousness

Grebmer, Carmen und Diefenbach, Sarah (2022): Perceiving and believing? The subjective persuasiveness of graphic design elements and eco-friendly packaging materials on consumers' environmental consciousness. In: International Journal of Sustainable Design, Bd. 4, Nr. 3-4: S. 234-252

Abstract

To foster environmentally responsible consumption, it is essential to understand how packaging elements guide consumers in evaluating the environmental-friendliness of a product, particularly information from non-verbal, executional packaging design elements that are elusive and not related to the product's actual environmental-friendliness. We used a 2 × 2 experimental design to investigate how participants (N = 276) inferred differences in a product's environmental-friendliness and greenwashing tendency by taking their environmental consciousness (EC) into account and using two important non-verbal packaging design elements. The results showed no difference in the information utility but rather in the credibility of the design elements, which guided the evaluation of product environmental-friendliness. Participants with high EC (HEC) focused on the type of material, while graphic design elements signalled a strong greenwashing tendency. Participants with low EC (LEC) considered both graphic and material elements, with a tendency towards graphics highlighting. Further effects and practical implications of the results are discussed.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Keywords: Environmentally responsible consumption; packaging design elements; environmental consciousness; packaging communication; eco-friendly packaging; product environmental-friendliness; greenwashing; packaging graphic design; material packaging design; packaging pollution; packaging green cues
• Fakultät: Psychologie und Pädagogik > Department Psychologie > Wirtschafts- und Organisationspsychologie
• Themengebiete: 100 Philosophie und Psychologie > 150 Psychologie
• Sprache: Englisch