The Greening of Advertising: A Twenty-Five Year Look at Environmental Advertising

Abstract

Environmental advertising has been the focus of a number of recent research studies, as well as recent FTC deliberations.To contribute further to our understanding of environmental advertising, this paper investigates its use over the past 25 years. The manuscript examines overall frequency of environmental ads, the extent to which patterns are exhibited (i.e., cyclical, seasonal, etc.), which typologies have been most utilized (i.e., whether the ad focuses on a product, a process, a firm’s image or an environmental fact), and which firms have ’frequently’ engaged in this type of advertising. Insights are provided to explain variation in both advertising typologies and firm types.