Perceiving and believing? The subjective persuasiveness of graphic design elements and eco-friendly packaging materials on consumers' environmental consciousness
by Carmen Grebmer; Sarah Diefenbach
International Journal of Sustainable Design (IJSDES), Vol. 4, No. 3/4, 2022

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.

Online publication date: Wed, 25-Jan-2023

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