Johan

 Ong  

Riding  the  Second  

Green  Adver4sing  Wave  
A  descrip*ve  study  of  the  contemporary  green  adver*sing  anatomy  
and  post-­‐documentary  developments  of  ‘An  Inconvenient  Truth’  
in  the  automo*ve  industry  in  the  Netherlands  

Author    :  Johan  Ong  (0572845)  

Supervisor  :  Prof.  MSc.  Meg  Lee  
Second  Reader  :  Prof.  Dr.  Willemijn  van  Dolen  
Ins*tu*on  :  Universiteit  van  Amsterdam  
Faculty    :  Faculty  of  Economics  and  Business  
Programme  :  Master  of  Science  in  Business  Studies  
Project    :  Master  Thesis  
Date    :  2009,  November  11  
Acknowledgements

This dissertation would not have been possible without the contributions of the

following people:

First of all I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. MSc. Meg

Lee, for her assistance, support and guidance during my research at the Universiteit

van Amsterdam. Her energy and enthusiasm in research had motivated me from day

one. From the university I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Willemijn van Dolen for

inspiring me to start a career in advertising, and Prof. Dr. Jonatan Pinkse as the

programme coordinator of corporate social responsibility for motivating me into

green research.

My gratitude also goes to my former colleagues of The Nielsen Company,

starting with Berry Punt, the marketing manager of the Media Group in the

Netherlands, for supplying the advertising data, creatives and his industry specific

knowledge. From the international division, Nielsen Global AdView, I express my

gratitude to the communication manager, Sarah Newell, for her support and revision

of this dissertation, and to my former marketing manager, Alessandra Rossi, for

training me in comprehensive data analysis and market research. Without the

knowledge and assistance of these members of The Nielsen Company this study

would not have been successful.

Last but not least, I owe my deepest gratitude to my girlfriend, Jikky Lam, my

family, and my friends in the Netherlands and abroad for their love and support

throughout the complete process of this dissertation.

  III  
Abstract

The documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ presented by former United States Vice

President Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim that was released in October

2006, can be seen as a tipping point of global awareness concerning climate change.

Finally global warming got moved up in the international priority schedule, which

subsequently moved advertising into a greener direction. Together with the Kyoto

Protocol a number of important events took place after the Federal Trade Commission

had lastly updated the Green Guides in 1998.

As advertising has an important role in shaping public opinion (Zinkhan and

Carlson, 1995), and content analysis has not been a popular research approach in the

last decade (Chamorro et al., 2009), this study attempts to describe the contemporary

anatomy of green advertising and its post-documentary developments by employing a

content analysis of +4,000 ad campaigns spread over 40 months starting in 2006.

The results show that the documentary propelled green advertising forward

causing another green advertising bubble. Green advertising underwent a major

metamorphosis in comparison to the first bubble in the 90s. The advertising

orientation changed, the information exposure improved, environmental issues

became more sophisticated, eco-labels added clarity to the message, and the

involvement of non-governmental organisations and other alliances built trust. In

terms of process orientation and corporate transparency, green advertising still has

opportunities to develop. However, it can be concluded that considering the current

economic climate the majority of the consumers should be relatively satisfied with the

green advertisements today. Together with the United Nations Climate Change

conferences held by the G20, green advertising is key in shaping a greener world.

  IV  
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction _______________________________________________________ 1  
1.1 Chapter Overview ____________________________________________________ 1  
1.2 Research Context_____________________________________________________ 1  
1.3 Statement of the Problem ______________________________________________ 2  
1.4 Research Objective ___________________________________________________ 4  
1.5 Research Question ____________________________________________________ 4  
1.6 Delineation of the Research ____________________________________________ 6  
2. Literature Review __________________________________________________ 7  
2.1 Chapter Overview ____________________________________________________ 7  
2.2 Introduction to Green Advertising ______________________________________ 7  
2.3 Pulling Force from the Market ________________________________________ 11  
2.4 Pushing Force from the Industry _______________________________________ 15  
2.5 Finding the Market Balance ___________________________________________ 18  
2.6 Understanding the Sample ____________________________________________ 24  
3. Research Methodology _____________________________________________ 29  
3.1 Chapter Overview ___________________________________________________ 29  
3.2 Sample: Automotive Sector ___________________________________________ 29  
3.2.1 Data Level _____________________________________________________________ 29  
3.2.1 Period Selection _________________________________________________________ 30  
3.2.2 Media Types ____________________________________________________________ 30  
3.3.3 Sample Size ____________________________________________________________ 31  
3.3 Content Analysis ____________________________________________________ 31  
3.3.1 Methodology ___________________________________________________________ 31  
3.3.2 Identification ___________________________________________________________ 32  
3.3.4 Pre-Analysis ____________________________________________________________ 33  
2.3.5 Framework _____________________________________________________________ 33  
3.3.6 Unit Measurements ______________________________________________________ 39  
3.4 Data Analysis _______________________________________________________ 41  
3.4.1 Research Approach_______________________________________________________ 41  
3.4.2 Weighting Factors _______________________________________________________ 41  
4. Research Results and Analysis _______________________________________ 43  
4.1 Chapter Overview ___________________________________________________ 43  
4.2 Advertising Type ____________________________________________________ 43  
4.2.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________ 43  
4.2.2 Advertisers/Brands _______________________________________________________ 45  
4.2.3 Products _______________________________________________________________ 48  
4.2.4 Media Type ____________________________________________________________ 49  
4.2.5 Media Channel __________________________________________________________ 50  
4.3 Advertising Orientation ______________________________________________ 55  
4.3.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________ 55  
4.3.2 Media _________________________________________________________________ 56  
4.3.3 Argumentation __________________________________________________________ 57  
4.4 Advertising Appeal __________________________________________________ 59  
4.4.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________ 59  
4.4.2 Emotional Appeal________________________________________________________ 60  
4.4.3 Financial Appeal ________________________________________________________ 61  
4.4.4 Remaining Appeals ______________________________________________________ 62  
4.4.5 Implicit Appeal__________________________________________________________ 63  
4.4.6 Testimonial Information___________________________________________________ 64  
4.5 Advertising Issues ___________________________________________________ 65  
4.5.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________ 65  

V
 4.6 Eco Labelling _______________________________________________________ 66  
4.6.1 Eco Labelling: Third Party _________________________________________________ 66  
4.6.2 Eco Labelling: Private ____________________________________________________ 69  
4.7 Contemporary Elements ______________________________________________ 72  
4.7.1 Recycling Symbols_______________________________________________________ 72  
4.7.2 Strategic Alliances _______________________________________________________ 72  
4.7.3 Green Innovation Performance _____________________________________________ 73  
5 Conclusions and Recommendations ___________________________________ 75  
5.1 Chapter Overview ___________________________________________________ 75  
5.2 Discussion and Conclusions ___________________________________________ 75  
5.2.1 Overview ______________________________________________________________ 75  
5.2.2 Anatomy of Green Advertising _____________________________________________ 77  
5.2.3 Post-Documentary Development ____________________________________________ 83  
5.2.4 Conclusions ____________________________________________________________ 86  
5.3 Contributions of the Study ____________________________________________ 87  
5.4 Limitations _________________________________________________________ 89

References _________________________________________________________ 91

Appendix A: The Nielsen Company – Media List __________________________ 95  

Appendix B: Ad examples by Ad Orientation______________________________ 98  
Appendix C1: Ad examples by Ad Appeal _______________________________ 103  
Appendix C2: Ad examples by Ad Appeal Elements _______________________ 110  
Appendix D: Ad examples by Ad Issues _________________________________ 121  
Appendix E: Ad examples by Third Party Labelling _______________________ 124  
Appendix F: Ad examples by Private Labelling___________________________ 127  
Appendix G: Ad examples by Recycling Symbols _________________________ 132  
Appendix H: Ad examples by Green Innovation __________________________ 134  

VI
List of Figures

Fig 2.1 Primary marketing-mix tools in green strategy 19

Fig 2.2 The marketing strategy from two perspectives 22
Fig 2.3 Development of electricity driven cars 25
Fig 3.1 Framework: Content Analysis 34
Fig 4.1 Advertising expenditure in the automotive sector in the Netherlands 44
Fig 4.2 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure 45
Fig 4.3 Percentage of total spend allocated to green advertising by brand 47
Fig 4.4 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by media type 49
Fig 4.5 Percentage change of green advertising by media type 49
Fig 4.6 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by magazine title 51
Fig 4.7 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by newspaper title 52
Fig 4.8 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by television station 54
Fig 4.9 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by ad orientation 55
Fig 4.10 Advertising orientation and argumentation use by % share 57
Fig 4.11 Ad orientation and argumentation use by % share by media type 58
Fig 4.12 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by ad appeal 60
Fig 4.13 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by ad issue 65
Fig 4.14 Percentage of green ad in total automotive ad expenditure by 3rd party eco labels 68
Fig 4.15 Percentage of private label use in total automotive ad expenditure 71
Fig 4.16 Percentage of strategic alliances in total automotive ad expenditure by brand/alliance 73
Fig 4.17 Percentage of green innovation in total automotive ad expenditure by innovation type 74

List of Tables

Table 3.1 Unit measurements 40

Table 3.2 Unweighted, frequency-weighted, and rate-weighted ad comparison 42
Table 3.3 Advertising expenditure method 42
Table 4.1 Top 10 green advertised products 48
Table 4.2 Advertising orientation share by media type 57

VII
1. Introduction

1.1 Chapter Overview

This chapter introduces the main area of this study and justifies the need for

investigation in the research context. The context in which the study takes place is

demonstrated, and an outline of this research objective, questions, and delineation of

the research is explained.

1.2 Research Context

In 2006 the Academy Award-winning documentary film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’

about climate change was released. The documentary presented by former United

States Vice President Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim had a major impact

worldwide, and finally global warming got moved up the priority schedule. After

reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, one could say that global warming

reached its tipping point in 2006. Before this point, large majorities believed that the

issue was real and considered it to be a serious problem; yet global warming remained

a low priority. According to Leiserowitz (2007), the reason why global warming

remained a low priority was the lack of sense of public urgency, strong leadership and

political will.

In 1990 the green theme started to lift off and the media attention caused a green

advertising bubble (Banerjee and Iyer, 1993). There is a big chance that the

awareness of global warming has propelled green advertising further after Al Gore’s

documentary as well. Nielsen Consumer (2008) has no doubt about it: ‘Green is the

new black’.

1
Despite the international awareness of global warming, today’s newspapers read

different headlines. Since 2008, the global credit crunch has been the central point of

discussion across all media. Even today you still hear people in your environment

talking about it. Headlines now read ‘Financials Drag Europe Lower’, Dow Falls

6.2% in Punishing Week (Wall Street Journal, 2009).

It is not unusual that one news topic overshadows another, however from an

advertisers’ perspective this raises a lot of questions. Since the global financial crisis

is in the spotlight, what is happening to green advertising today? Has the

documentary propelled global warming? Even if the documentary has propelled

global warming, is it still a high priority issue? How is this all reflected in

advertising? How did the visibility of green advertising develop?

1.3 Statement of the Problem

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the Green Guides in 1992, and updated

them in 1996 and 1998 (FTC, (n.d.)). As the FTC is aware of the growing popularity

of green marketing it decided to revisit its 1998 guidelines a full year ahead of

schedule (Urbach, 2008), thus in 2009 (FTC (n.d.)).

The Green Guides outline general principles that apply to all environmental

marketing claims and provide guidance on specific green claims (FTC (n.d.)). With

the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol and Al Gore’s documentary as some examples,

a number of important events took place after the 1998 guidelines had been published.

As the FTC recently decided to revisit its 1998 Green Guides, in terms of verification

of compliance it looks like nothing has changed for over ten years. According to

Goodwin Procter (2008), the current Green Guides do not address claims regarding

perhaps the biggest current environmental issue, climate change. Nor do they

2
specifically govern claims regarding sustainability, green buildings, or environmental

fabrics (Goodwin Procter, 2008).

Numerous studies have shown that consumers attach value to the regulation

implementation and therefore are of extreme importance to help advertisers to

develop green advertising into a mature stage.

Chamorro et al. (2009) studied the characteristics of research on green marketing and

classifies the topic green communication into the following subtopics: the anatomy of

green ads, and consumers’ response to green ads. With the first objective, the authors

classified the claims and obtain their data by means of content analysis, to

subsequently carry out a series of descriptive analyses of the situation. Chamorro et

al. (2009) observed that this was an attractive research topic but disappeared from the

research agenda after 1998 (Chamorro et al., 2009). Especially Banerjee et al. (1993;

1995), Carlson et al. (1993; 1996), and Kangun et al. (1991) had been active in the

early to mid 90s. In the beginning of 2000, Kärnä et al. (2001) employed one of the

latest content analyses, and had done this based on the model used by Banerjee et al.

(1995). This means, that the anatomy has not been studied extensively after the first

two issues of the Green Guide.

Advertisers have the resources and the skills to shape public opinion (Zinkhan and

Carlson, 1995), and advertising has the power to effect social change (Fisk, 1974).

However, if advertisers misuse their power in promoting false ecological claims, then

its power to mitigate the imminent crisis will be diminished (Kilbourne, 1995).

Roberts (1996) believes that media coverage can change the public’s thought and

behaviour in as little as two weeks. According to the author the key factor is

3
exposure. What the consumer is exposed to, in terms of green advertising, is exactly

what will be studied in this dissertation.

1.4 Research Objective

Within green communication, a research topic investigated by Chamorro et al. (2009),

the authors recommend the analysis of the value of environmental certification and

eco-labels as a possible line of future research. Third party labelling, such as

environmental certification and eco-labels, has been a point of discussion for several

years now (Bergeson, 2008; D’Souza, 2004; D’Souza, 2005; Davidson et al., 2008;

Rex and Baumann, 2006). Yet, third party labelling has seldom been addressed to

advertising. As this study employs a content analysis not only to evaluate third party

labelling, the research objective has been defined in a slightly broader view.

To aggregate all questions into a more concrete goal, the research objective is to

evaluate the anatomy of green advertisements through content analysis based on

models that were employed in the early to mid 90s, and construct a new conceptual

model taking into account the “new” global warming, e.g. climate change, and trends,

i.e. verification of compliance, third party certification, strategic alliances and green

innovation. To narrow down the area of research, this study will focus on the

automotive industry in the Netherlands.

1.5 Research Question

What is the anatomy of green advertising that consumers are being exposed to today;

and how did green advertising develop around and after the documentary ‘An

Inconvenient Truth’ was released in October 2006?

4
Investigative Questions

Green Advertising

• What are the key elements of green advertising?

• How has green advertising developed over time?

• How is global warming reflected in green advertising?

• Which other environmental issues are being addressed in green advertising?

• Do advertisers communicate absolute claims?

• Which persuasion elements are being used in green advertising?

Consumers Market

• Are consumers’ demands reflected in green advertising?

• Is green innovation communicated in green advertising?

• If yes, are these product of process orientated? If not, would this be an

opportunity?

Advertising Industry

• Which forces are at work in the advertising industry?

• Do these forces encourage implicit advertising?

• What is done to control this in general and in the Netherlands?

• Is the industry levelling itself towards the green consumer?

Market Balance

• What measures are in place to find the right market balance?

• Do advertisers communicate eco-labels in green advertising?

• If yes, which eco-labels and how many? If not, would this be an opportunity?

• Are other forms of environmental labelling currently being communicated?

• Do advertisers communicate strategic alliances in green advertising?

• If yes, which forms of alliances? If not, would this be an opportunity?

5
Automotive Sample

• How has the automotive industry developed in the past years?

• Is the market shifting from conventional to alternative fuel chains?

• How is the government stimulating new and energy-efficient markets?

1.6 Delineation of the Research

First of all, a literature study will be employed to analyse and aggregate existing

theories and trends into a comprehensive literature review, taking into account the

“new” global warming, e.g. climate change, and trends, i.e. verification of

compliance, third party certification, strategic alliances and green innovation. The

main sources for this are the rich academic libraries, online journals, and

governmental institutions with academic articles and books about green advertising,

consumer perception, and regulation implementation.

The second part of this dissertation is the content analysis. The anatomy of

green advertising will be examined by employing a content analysis on a dataset of

three years advertising data. The dataset contains magazines, newspapers and

television data for the automotive industry in the Netherlands. The advertising

information as well as the creatives have been obtained from the Media Group of The

Nielsen Company in the Netherlands.

The final part of the study is the discussion and conclusion in which the

research question and investigative questions will be answered. Besides this, the

limitation of this study will be mentioned and possible line of future research

discussed.

6
2. Literature Review

2.1 Chapter Overview

The objective of the literature review is to understand the process from the emergence

of green advertising in the early 90s to green advertising today. This chapter provides

concepts about the anatomy of green advertising in the last two decades, the

developments on the market and supportive information on the research sample. The

first section elaborates upon the discussion of green advertising theories and offers a

comparison of different anatomies and developments. The second section

investigates the pulling force from the market. The third section discusses the

pushing force from the industry. The fourth section elaborates on both forces and

discusses the market balance. Finally, the fifth section, investigates the automotive

industry on which the research sample is based.

2.2 Introduction to Green Advertising

The emergence of “Green” awareness

According to Banerjee and Iyer (1993) the term “green” implies an underlying

concern for preservation of the environment and non-invasive lifestyle, and generally

targets for concerns are the preservation of the planet earth, personal health, and

animal life. The goal of preservation is generally accompanied by a belief that non-

invasive methods have to be employed in achieving those goals. Thus, activities

causing as little damage as possible to planet earth, its environment, and human and

animal life are preferred. Around 1960, the green consumer emerged from this

growing concern about the future of the earth and its inhabitants (Zinkhan and

Carlson, 1995).

7
Research in Green Advertising

In the 1990s, the media picked up on the green theme and was reporting very

extensively on the subject. During this green advertising boom, many authors,

Kangun et al. (1991), Carlson et al. (1993), and Banerjee et al. (1995), felt the urge to

study and analyse green advertising in greater detail. Some authors believed that

much had been written about problems associated with environmental advertising, but

had actually seldom been addressed systematically (Kangun et al., 1991), others were

of the opinion that most environmental studies primarily focussed on the green

consumer, and very little research was done on green advertising (Banerjee and Iyer,

1993). Nonetheless, all these authors agreed that further investigation was needed in

the field of green advertising.

In 1991, Kangun et al. decided to examine environmental advertising and conducted a

study from environmental print advertisements that had appeared in 1989 and 1990.

In this study, a significant number of environmental claims from the ads in their

sample were judged to be vague or contain omissions. According to their judges,

more than half of the environmental ads examined (58 percent) contained at least one

misleading or deceptive claim. Not long after this study, Carlson et al. (1993)

employed a content analysis to examine the nature of environmental advertisements.

The authors derived a sample of environmental ads in the same time span as Kangun

et al. (1991) used for their analysis, this because these authors believed that 1989 and

1990 coincides with the period in which environmental advertising became more

prevalent in the popular press and concomitantly emerged as an important issue

within the marketing discipline. Carlson et al. (1993) found that more claims were

classified as image enhancing and fewer were classified as process-oriented; and

8
again more claims were considered to contain aspects designated as

misleading/deceptive than elements that were deemed acceptable. As in the early to

mid 90s the Internet was used by few, most consumers received information on

environmental issues through mass media only. Banerjee and Iyer (1993) discovered,

despite the fact that consumers were depending on mass media, the majority of the

consumers did not find that information believable or reliable.

In 1995, Banerjee et al. brought the content analysis of green advertisements to

another level and employed a multidimensional analysis to examine the greenness of

advertisements. They had done this comprehensive analysis with a convenient

sample of print and TV advertisements on a larger time span. Print ads were collected

between 1987 and 1991 and TV ads recorded between 1991 and 1992. Their

analytical framework consisted of five major categories: ad characteristics, ad

greenness, ad objective, and ad issues. By including these parameters, the authors

believed this framework provided a more extensive classification scheme than the

typology proposed by Carlson et al. (1993). Banerjee et al. (1995) found that green

advertisements seemed to be more an acknowledgement of public concern about the

environment rather than an element of a substantive marketing strategy. Again, also

in their results the advertisements speak in general terms, e.g. visuals depicting the

beauty of nature. The use of these metaphorical claims (indirect persuasion) in

advertisements makes consumers receptive to multiple, distinct, and positive

inferences about the advertising brand while still conveying the main message of the

advert.

9
Calkins (1928) once said: “a picture can say things that no advertiser could say in

words and retain his self-respect” (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005). On one hand,

organisations that develop and place advertisements that rely on certain kinds of

claims, may be increasing the risk that consumers will be confused by the

advertisements or find the ads misleading. On the other hand, when providing too

much information in environmental advertisements, which becomes too technical,

may cause the receiver to simply cease his or her effort to comprehend the message

(Carlson et al., 1993).

Altogether, these arguments stress the importance of understanding the green

consumer perception and the market- and industry forces at work.

Terminology

The following definitions that are key to this study have been taken from Banerjee et

al. (1995) and Carlson et al. (1993):

In the multidimensional analysis to measure the greenness of advertisements,

Banerjee et al. (1995) define the term green advertising as any ad that meets one or

more of the following criteria:

1. Explicitly or implicitly addresses the relationship between a product/service

and the biophysical environment;

2. Promotes a green lifestyle with or without highlighting a product/service; or

3. Presents a corporate image of environmental responsibility (Banerjee et al.,

1995).

10
In a content analysis, to examine the nature of environmental advertisements, Carlson

et al. (1993) identified five types of green advertisements:

1. Product Orientation: the claim focuses on the environmentally friendly

attributes that a product processes;

2. Process Orientation: the claim deals with an organisation’s internal

technology, production technique and/or disposal method that yields

environmental benefits;

3. Image Orientation: the claim associates an organisation with an

environmental cause or activity for which there is broad-based public

support;

4. Environmental Fact: the claim involves an independent statement that is

ostensibly factual in nature from an organisation about the environment at

large, or its condition; and

5. Combination: the claim appears to have multiple facets.

2.3 Pulling Force from the Market

The pulling force from the market demonstrates the forces at work powered by the

green consumer. In the search for understanding the green consumer, it was

discovered that this type of consumer actually lacks brand loyalty. This behaviour

among the green consumer also forces the industry to pioneer into green products and

process innovation.

Pulling Force from the Green Consumer

In the 1960s, the green consumer emerged from the growing concern about the future

of the earth and its inhabitants. This segment is not only worried about the purchase

and the consumption processes, they are also concerned about the production process,

11
in terms of scarce resources consumed, and with product disposal issues (Zinkhan and

Carlson, 1995).

In the study of the buyer’s characteristics of green consumers, Shrum et al. (1995)

created the following profile of the green consumer: the green consumer has an

interest in new products, is an information seeker, and talks with others about

products. Additionally, green consumers consider themselves opinion leaders, and

hence may provide word-of-mouth information that other consumers respect. The

green consumer is also not prone to impulse buying, and pays attention to price.

Consumers demand clean and energy saving production processes from their

suppliers, and finished products should be subsequently labelled as such

(Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). They demand recycled products (Roberts, 1996),

and expect them to be free of harmful ingredients and materials that cause

environmental pollution or that endanger the wellbeing of users (Vandermerwe and

Oliff, 1990). According to these authors, “Green-friendly” as a product concept has

become a clear priority.

Larger numbers of consumers show their preference for pro-green firms

(Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990), and use their purchasing power as an environmental

protection tool (Carlson et al., 1996). The range of demand for green products has

widened from unbleached coffee filters to environmentally friendly diapers and

biodegradable paint (Roberts, 1996; Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). According to

Hume and Strand cited in the article from Roberts (1990), this concern appears to be

across all demographic categories.

12
 According to Boston Consulting Group, even today, despite the economic

downturn, the consumers demand for green products is still rising (Manget et al.,

2009).

Lack of brand loyalty

One of the major characteristics of the green consumer is the lack of brand loyalty

(Shrum et al., 1995; Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995). Together with their urge to actively

seek information, it implies that the green consumer will always be looking for new

products. However, if lack of brand loyalty on the part of green consumers is the

result of marketers’ inability to provide good environmental products and good

environmental messages, providing those benefits may in fact promote brand loyalty.

That is, green consumers may give preference to products that are the first to meet

their environmental needs (Shrum et al., 1995). From an innovators perspective this

is definitely a strong motivation to maintain its position to be and stay the first in their

market.

Importance of innovation

Companies that are pioneers in green innovation will enjoy the first mover advantage.

Taking this position will improve their corporate image, develop new markets, and

gain competitive advantages (Chen, 2007). As Shrum (1995), and Zinkhan and

Carlson (1995) believe that the green consumer has a lack of brand loyalty and Shrum

et al. (1995) also believes the green consumer may give preference to products that

are the first to meet their environmental needs, it looks like green innovation

performance takes an important place in marketing.

13
The definition of green innovation proposed by Chen et al. (2006) is as follows:

“Hardware or software innovation that is related to green products or processes,

including the innovation in technologies that are involved in energy-saving, pollution-

prevention, waste recycling, green product designs, or corporate environmental

management”.

In the same article Chen et al. (2006) explains that green innovation

performance can be divided into the following:

• Green product innovation performance: the performance in product

innovation that is related to environmental innovation, including the

innovation in products that are involved in energy-saving, pollution-

prevention, waste recycling, no toxicity or green product designs; and

• Green process innovation performance: the performance in process

innovation that is related to energy-saving, pollution-prevention, waste

recycling or no toxicity.

While the weakening economy shows signs of slowing the growth of green, Nielsen

BASES (2009) believes the longer-term green shift will persist. Innovation in green

will continue to be an area that manufacturers can leverage to differentiate themselves

from the competition. According to The Nielsen Company (2009) winning at green

starts with relevant product ideas, but breaking through to a broad audience requires a

more sophisticated targeting and communication strategy. Brand managers are of the

opinion that the growing trend of innovation, in which resources will be saved, is an

attractive cost saving option in the current economic climate (Neff, 2008).

14
2.4 Pushing Force from the Industry

The pushing force from the industry demonstrates the corporate shift from green

niches to mass markets, and a consequence of this is green washing. This

phenomenon ultimately put the government into action to formulate standards for

green advertisements known as the Green Guides, and in the Netherlands known as

the Milieu Reclame Code.

Pushing Force from the Advertisers

In the beginning of the 90s, corporations were paying greater attention to the

environmental impact of their business activity (Banerjee, 2001) that emerged into a

dramatic growth subsided in new green product introductions (Crane, 2000; Iyer,

1995; Ottman, 1994). Green products rapidly diffused from small niches to mass

markets (Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). Together with these products, the incidence

and prominence of green advertising has progressively increased since this period

(Crane, 2000). Besides the consumers, also shareholders and policy makers are

increasingly demanding improved environmental performance from businesses all

over the world (Banerjee, 2001). Some theories of the firm argue that corporations

exist to maximise shareholder wealth (Zinkhan and Carlson, 1996). It is apparent that

green has become mainstream and turned into big business (Urbach, 2008).

Green Washing

Already in the early 90s Kangun et al. (1991) discovered that the potential for abuse

in environmental advertising is great. The development in which advertisers pushed

underperforming green products on the market with over-zealous promotional claims,

and inexact science, has turned into a backlash of green advertising in which

15
consumers were left confused and reluctant to engage green purchasing behaviour

(Crane, 2000). Critics of environmental advertising coined the term “green washing”

or “window dressing” to describe advertising in which the environmental claims are

trivial, misleading, or deceptive (Kangun et al., 1991). In an Advertising Age poll,

more than half of the respondents indicated they paid less attention to such messages

because of this overkill (Shrum, 1995).

Advertisers have the resources and the skills to shape public opinion (Zinkhan and

Carlson; 1995), and advertising has the power to effect social change (Fisk, 1974).

Ginsberg and Bloom (2004) believe green marketing has not fulfilled its initial

promise, but companies can take a more effective approach if they realize that a one-

size-fits-all strategy does not exist.

General Verification of Compliance

To control the pushing force from the industry to a certain degree, the Federal Trade

Commission (FTC) started to formulate standards for both general and specific

conditions for the use of environmental claims by advertisers, also known as the

Green Guides (Carlson et al., 1993). The guides outline general principles that apply

to all environmental marketing claims and then provide guidance on specific green

claims, such as biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, recycled content, and ozone

safe. The FTC issued the Green Guides in 1992, and updated them in 1996 and 1998.

Since then, general principles provide guidance to all environmental marketing claims

in the advertising industry (FTC (n.d.)). As many years have passed, Goodwin

Procter (2008) published that the FTC is considering revising the Green Guides as the

limited list of environmental advertising claims specifically defined by the Green

16
Guides falls well short of environmental benefits now being promoted, for instance,

the current Green Guides do not address claims regarding perhaps the biggest current

environmental issue, climate change. As the FTC is aware of the trends towards

increased green marketing, it decided to revisit its 1998 guidelines a full year ahead of

schedule (Urbach, 2008), initially scheduled for 2010 (FTC (n.d.)).

Dutch Verification of Compliance

In the Netherlands the Advertising Code Authority, in Dutch ‘De Nederlandse

Reclame Code Commissie’, has been the body dealing with the self-regulating system

of advertising. Self-regulation means that the advertising industry takes sole

responsibility for the content and distribution of advertising messages. The three

parties that constitute the advertising industry, advertisers, advertising agencies and

the media, have formed an agreement regarding the rules with which advertising

messages should comply (Stichting Reclame Code, 2008).

Similar to FTC’s Green Guides, the Dutch Advertising Code Authority has

their code for environmental advertising, in Dutch ‘Milieu Reclame Code’ (Stichting

Reclame Code, 2008). Most articles are described in a broad perspective. However,

three articles are definitely worth mentioning and are interesting to be implemented in

the conceptual model:

• Article 3 Demonstrability: All environmental claims shall be demonstrably

correct. The burden of proof rests with the advertiser. The more absolute the

formulation of the claim is the more stringent are the requirements with

respect to evidential material.

17
 • Article 7 Designations and symbols: Environmental designations and symbols

shall not be used unless the origin of the designation or symbol is clear and no

confusion can arise on the meaning of the designation or symbol.

• Article 9 Testimonials: Testimonials used in environmental claims shall be

based on the expertise of the person or body giving them (Stichting Reclame

Code, 2008).

2.5 Finding the Market Balance

On one hand there is an obvious pulling force from the market. Consumers demand

clean processes and recycled products, and expect them not to pollute the

environment (Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). Due to the fact that green consumers

have a lack of brand loyalty (Shrum et al., 1995; Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995) they are

creating a market in which green innovation takes an important position (Chen, 2007).

On the other hand there is also a strong pushing force from the industry. Driven by

corporations to maximise shareholder wealth (Banerjee, 2001; Zinkhan and Carlson,

1996), green advertising was initially overshadowed by the green washing

phenomenon (Kangun et al., 1991), but at a later stage got neutralised by the

verification of compliance (Carlson et al., 1993).

Finding the market balance demonstrates the importance of green advertising in the

quest to reach the green consumer. Even though high environmental concern was

found, purchasing behaviour is still lacking. Therefore, obstacles are demonstrated

that stress the importance of transparency in which third party labelling and strategic

alliances may have a major contribution. Finally, this chapter will look towards the

research setup and discuss the investigated industry.

18
Power of Advertising

In the quest to better accord the corporate actions on with consumers’ wishes,

Ginsberg and Bloom (2004) developed a matrix consisting of four different types of

green strategies to approach the green market. The matrix has ‘defensive green’ and

‘extreme green’ strategies on the high end of sustainability of green market segments,

‘extreme green’ and ‘shaded green’ on the high end of differentiability on greenness,

and ‘lean green’ finds itself on both low ends of the axis. Using the primary

marketing-mix tools in the green strategy, promotion takes an important position in

three out of four strategies.

Fig 2.1 Primary Marketing-Mix Tools in Green Strategy (Ginsberg and Bloom, 2004)

Generally speaking, marketers and advertisers are relatively quick in identifying

trends, and move quickly to capitalise on them, which is contradictory as there is an

“anti-capitalist” streak attached to green consumers (Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995).

According to Zinkhan and Carlson (1995), consumers that are more likely to buy

green products are more sceptical towards advertising in general. Although

consumers are sceptical about advertising claims, they do rely on product

advertisements (Davidson, 2008).

Purchasing Behaviour

The industry is levelling itself more towards the green consumer, and numerous

surveys have shown that many consumers are likely to choose one product over

19
another if they believe that they are helping the environment (Kangun, 1991).

However, in a study compiled by Simmons Market Research in 1991 among British

supermarkets, high concern regarding the environment was found, but behaviours

consistent with such concern were lacking (Roberts, 1996). Also Nielsen BASES

(2009) confirms that half of American adults say they want to buy green products, but

end up choosing conventional ones instead. A Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

survey proved that some consumers worry if they make a habit of purchasing green

product, they will be boxed into limited options (Manget et al., 2009). Generally it

can also be said that consumers might not be buying green if the costs of a green

products are too great (Kangun, 1991). However, according to BCG, price is not a

significant obstacle for most buyers. This behaviour could be explained through the

following views:

1. BCG believes that lack of awareness of green alternatives or a perceived lack

of choice actually is the bigger issue (Manget et al., 2009)

2. According to Peattie and Crane (2005), many companies are working from a

production orientation, and therefore believe that all their efforts are focused

on producing the most environmentally benign products, rather than the

products that consumers actually wanted. Not matching the consumers’

wishes turns into products that are perceived as under-performing, over-

priced, or just too worthy or “unsexy” (Peattie and Crane, 2005).

3. The main issue in marketing is related to the product itself and not to the

process (Peattie and Crane, 2005; Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). The

industry forgets that green consumers are also concerned about the production

process, in terms of scarce resources consumed, and with product disposal

issues (Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995).

20
 4. Zinkhan (1995) claims that self-report measures about behaviour are not

particularly well suited for green research. According to Nyborg et al. (2006)

internalised moral motives appear to play an important role. In a survey

conducted in Norway, Bruvoll et al. (2002), some 41% of those who engaged

in recycling agreed with the statement “I recycle partly because I want others

to think of me as a responsible person” (Nyborg et al., 2006).

Third Party Labelling

According to Davidson (2008), besides a basic transparency of the company,

corporations are well advised to get certifications that already exist and accumulate

them by clearly labelling them on the product and advertisements for exposure. In a

survey held by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), consumers often consult labels even

though they do not always believe them. Lack of good information and lack of

awareness of green product offerings seem to be the biggest reasons why consumers

do not purchase green products (Manget et al., 2009).

Kärnä et al. (2001) discovered that the use of eco-labels is clearly connected to the

company’s environmental activity. To understand the current development of eco-

labels, Rex and Baumann (2006) made a comparison of green marketing versus

conventional marketing (Fig 2.2) based on Kotler’s model (Kotler et al., 2001).

When looking into the ‘positioning’ stage of the marketing strategy based on

Kotler’s model, Rex and Baumann (2006) discovered that green marketing focuses on

‘product’ only and on the use of eco-labels to inform about green credentials, while

conventional marketing literature emphasises the whole range of the marketing mix.

21
 The  Marketing  
Demand Competitive
Segmentation Targeting Positioning
Measurement Advantage
Strategy:  

Focus  on  green   Market  size   The  green  consumers   Eco-­‐label   Doubtful  

marketing:   (product)  

Other  means  in   Market  needs   All  consumers   Place,  price,   Possible  

conventional   and  wants   promotion  

marketing:  

Fig 2.2 The marketing strategy from two perspectives: current and past focal areas in green marketing and
examples of additional marketing means suggested in the conventional marketing literature (Rex and
Baumann, 2007)

Regarding the cognitive perspective of the green consumers, in a two-dimensional

model developed by D’Souza (2004): the environmentally green consumer will check

labels; price sensitive green consumers may check labels; for emerging green

consumers labels are not meaningful; and conventional consumers ignore benefits of

green products (D’Souza, 2004). Therefore, Rex and Baumann (2006) believe adding

the other marketing means (place, price and promotion) to green marketing could give

rise to new possibilities.

D’Souza (2004) is of the opinion that eco-labels are a seal of approval to

consumers. However, this implies more than just attaching an eco-label to a product.

It is important that consumers understand the relevant information behind an eco-

label. Consumers with no environmental concern are indifferent to both positive and

negative environmental information (Rex and Baumann, 2006). Given these findings,

it may be possible to attune to more consumers by introducing negative

environmental labelling schemes as well. According to Rex and Baumann (2006),

this may to some extent explain the success of the mandatory energy labels that are

being used in European countries, which classifies all products on a scale from A to

G. This type of energy label was initially introduced for consumer durables, e.g.

22
washing machines. In January 2008 this scale was expanded to the real estate sector.

At the beginning of 2009, Milieu Centraal launched an automotive section on the

website www.energielabel.nl, to support the use of the energy labels in the automotive

industry to classify the car market in terms of energy efficiency (Energielabel, 2009).

Strategic Alliances

Another popular strategy for the purpose of solving an environmental problem is to

partner with respected non-governmental organisations (NGO) and governmental

agencies, also known as strategic alliances (Manget et al., 2009). According to

Mendleson and Polonsky (1995) strategic alliances are relationships where partners

bring a particular skill or resource, usually one that is complementary. By joining

forces both parties are expected to profit from each other’s experience and this will

ultimately result in synergies. The use of an environmental group’s emblem, logo or

seal almost becomes a generic environmental endorsement (Mendleson and Polonsky,

1995).

Towards the Research Sample

In the quest to find the market balance, the transparency of the market or industry is

of extreme importance to the green consumer. Consumers need to be aware of the

green alternatives on the market, which is not always the case. Whenever, an

advertiser succeeds in reaching the green consumer, transparency regarding the

production process, physical product or corporate image is key in persuading the

consumer. Here, third party labelling and strategic alliances may have a major

contribution.

23
Looking at the Dutch consumer market three major industries exist where green

advertising gained ground: consumer durable goods (home appliances), the energy

market, and the automotive industry. According to Banerjee (2001) especially the

latter is the most important development, as firms that are impacted by environmental

pressures more significantly than others need to be more proactive in their response to

environmental issues. Therefore, it is this category or industry where the consumers

find the green issue to be relevant (Manget et al., 2009). Since Milieu Centraal, as of

January 2008 extensively applies the energy label with the scale from A to G to the

automotive industry (Milieu Centraal, 2009), it is likely to be the most interesting

sector to employ the content analysis on.

2.6 Understanding the Sample

To give an idea of the size and growth of the automotive industry in the Netherlands,

according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) the number of passenger cars has

increased by 18.9 percent from 6.3 million on the first of January 2000 to 7.5 million

vehicles the same date this year. However as these numbers just give the feeling of

the size of the market, it would be more interesting to look into the segmentation

within this market.

Conventional vs. Alternative fuel chains

In conventional automotive fuel chains, gasoline and diesel are produced by

distillation of crude oil (Hekkert et al., 2005). On the first of January 2000, 94.8

percent of the energy consumed in road transport is based on the fossil fuel crude oil.

Looking at the first of January this year, with 96.6 percent this fuel type still is the

primary energy source for most cars (CBS, 2009). While diesel increases in

24
popularity, gasoline is losing market share, most likely due to the high fuel taxes

recorded by BOVAG (2009).

Alternative fuel chains involve the use of alternative primary energy

resources, innovative fuel production methods, new automotive fuels, or innovative

vehicle drive trains. Popular alternative primary energy sources are natural gas,

biomass, coal, and hydro-, wind or solar energy. A variety of energy carriers can be

derived from these primary sources e.g. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed

natural gas (CNG), and electricity. Despite the fact that the conventional fuel chain is

still the primary energy source, electricity driven cars are gaining share in the

Netherlands from 0.0006% in 2000 to 0.3101% in 2009 (CBS, 2009).

Market shift into electricity

A growth of 0.3095-percentage points in nearly a decade is in most cases not an

interesting market development. However, when looking into the number of

electricity-powered cars one could speak of a hockey stick effect, and is becoming an

important market shift in the automotive industry (fig 2.3).

A side note is that CBS does

Electricity  
not specifically refer to hybrid
25.0  
Thousands  

cars as they do not sort cars 20.0  

15.0  
with a hybrid suspension in a 10.0  
5.0  
separate category, but label
0.0  
these as ‘electricity’. However,

CBS analysis concluded that

Fig 2.3 Development of electricity driven cars (CBS, 2009)

most vehicles that are using

25
electricity as the primary source actually is a hybrid car. On the first of January 2009

CBS concluded that 99.6 percent of electric cars are a hybrid.

Sport Utility Vehicle Trend

Another interesting trend in the last decade is the introduction of Sport Utility

Vehicles (SUV). This development is particular interesting as the invocation of

natural themes has been prominent in SUV advertising. The exposure of nature

through nature’s media representation in green advertising anticipates the feeling of

well-being from acting in an altruistic way (Hartman and Apaolaza-Ibáñez, 2008),

which is antonymous as SUVs are expected to have a higher fuel consumption and

carbon dioxide emission than non-SUV alternatives (Hoogvelt et al., 2004).

Gunster (2004) believes that the irony of using remote natural locations to

motivate the use of a product that consumes excessive amounts of natural resources

and emits high levels of pollutants lies at the core of the growing public backlash

against the SUV. In the same year the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was

published, the SUV trend peaked and extensively dropped afterwards. The number of

SUVs is still growing, but with smaller percentages, which altogether may support

Gunster’s view on the backlash against the SUV.

Also in the SUV sector electricity is becoming an important energy source.

Depending on the applied technology, hybrid SUV’s may reduce fuel consumption

and emissions down to the level of regular non-hybrid passenger cars (Hoogvelt et al.,

2004).

26
Energy Labels

Today, the energy efficiency of every new car is indicated with an energy label. This

way, all consumers are able to identify cleaner and more energy efficient cars on the

spot. A car with an energy label A is the most energy efficient one in its category; a

car with energy label G is the least energy efficient (Energielabel, 2009).

The initial idea would be to review all cars in each category on a yearly basis.

However, in 2007 and 2008 the government decided not to review the cars. As they

are becoming more energy efficient every day, revising the energy labels would mean

that a Smart could get a D-label (Autoweek, 2008). From January 2010, the energy

labels will gradually transition into a new CO2 tax plan (ANWB, 2008), which

basically means that the energy labels are likely to disappear by 2013 (Autoweek,

2008).

According to Ubbels et al. (2002) the Dutch tax system consists of three

components: a fixed charge on new cars, and annual charge for every car owner, and

fuel tax; only the latter can be considered as a variable cost. The authors claim this

relationship to be weak and subject to side effects. To overcome these side effects the

government is planning to shift to a kilometre charge, which will replace the current

system. Together with the CO2 tax plan, the kilometre charge is a promising system

to reduce traffic and to motivate people to use public transport instead.

Governmental Actions

The government set the following policy to reduce emissions:

• Covenant with automobile industry to reduce carbon dioxide emission.

• Cause subsidy to support energy efficient cars.

27
• Programs like “The new way of driving”, to positively influence car drivers to

a more energy efficient driving style.

• Cause subsidy to support alternative energy sources and energy carriers, like

bio fuels (Stuurgroep Nationale Mobiliteitsmonitor, 2008).

28
3. Research Methodology

3.1 Chapter Overview

While content analysis was a popular research topic in green advertising in the early

to mid 90s, this approach disappeared after the year 2000 (Chamorro et al., 2009).

Therefore, the anatomy has not been studied extensively after the last revision of the

Green Guide and therefore does not address claims regarding perhaps the biggest

current environmental issue, climate change (Goodwin Procter, 2008). The main

purpose of this study is to examine the anatomy of green advertising through content

analysis in the past three years. By understanding the contemporary anatomy of green

advertisements, the results will assist marketers to move green advertising into a

mature stage, if it has not matured already. This chapter describes the methodology

of the proposed research method. The first step was to identify green advertising

from the complete dataset. After a manageable sample was developed, a pre-analysis

was employed on randomly selected advertisements to fine-tune the framework for

the content analysis. Finally, the framework and the data methodology are described.

3.2 Sample: Automotive Sector

3.2.1 Data Level

The Media Group of The Nielsen Company in the Netherlands is monitoring all major

television stations and press titles in the Netherlands, and does this on both a national

and regional level. However, due to consistency reasons for the study, the focus has

been maintained to a national level only.

29
All media types are monitored on expenditure and creative activity. The expenditure

is calculated by rate card and expenditures reported are gross figures. All media types

are coded with the following details: advertiser, brand, product, description, date,

media channel, volume, incidents, expenditure, and creative id (The Nielsen

Company, 2009).

The complete media lists for the expenditure coverage as well as the creative

coverage of television stations, newspaper titles, and magazines titles can be found in

Appendix A: The Nielsen Company – Media List.

3.2.1 Period Selection

As global warming probably reached its tipping point right after the documentary ‘An

Inconvenient Truth’ was released in 2006, it can be expected that the awareness of

global warming/climate change have driven green advertising again. The

identification of green ad campaigns from January 2006 until April 2009, thus a data

sample of at least three years, helps to assure greater accuracy of the research results

and greater speed of data collection (Cooper and Schindler, 2003).

3.2.2 Media Types

In terms of media preference, Shrum et al. (1995) and Zinkhan and Carlson (1995)

believe that green consumers are more receptive to print rather than television

advertising. Green consumers have a preference for press over television as an

entertainment source and the information-seeking nature of the green consumer

makes the print medium an obvious choice. Therefore, magazines and newspapers

are both included in the sample.

30
 Broadcast media, i.e. television, is a low involvement message-receiving

context (Megehee, 2009), while print by its structure can convey concrete information

more easily and thoroughly (Shrum et al., 1995). From studies by Larkin (1979) and

Belch and Belch (1993) of all advertising media, television is the most mistrusted

(Shrum et al., 1995), which makes this also an interesting media to include in the

dataset.

3.3.3 Sample Size

According to The Nielsen Company in the automotive industry (business to

consumer) for the media types magazines, newspapers and television, this time span

contains over 4,000 ad campaigns. Such a sample can be considered to be of

manageable size (Kassarjian, 1977) and is representative for a large part of the

population as the automotive industry is one of the largest advertising industries in the

Netherlands.

3.3 Content Analysis

3.3.1 Methodology

The main research approach for this study is content analysis. Kassarjian (1977)

describes content analysis as the study of the message itself, and not the

communicator or the audience. The author found that most researchers agree that the

distinguishing characteristics of content analysis are that it must be objective,

systematic, and quantitative. Content analysis will not tell whether a given work is

good literature (Kassarjian, 1977). With this token, with content analysis the

advertisements will not be judged whether they are good or bad, true or misleading.

With content analysis the advertisements will be mapped how green advertising is

31
constructed today. The analysis will also give the opportunity to estimate percentage

shares and trends, and judge whether the ads have developed and matured in the past

three years, bearing in mind the trends observed in the literature review.

The advertising information as well as the magazine, newspapers and television

creatives (a term used within Nielsen and the advertising industry to refer to the

published or broadcasted advertisement) in the Netherlands has been obtained from

the Media Group of The Nielsen Company.

3.3.2 Identification

The identification of the ads has been conducted according to the guidelines of

Banerjee et al. (1995) who define green advertising as any ad that meets one or more

of the following criteria:

1. Explicitly or implicitly addresses the relationship between a product/service

and the biophysical environment;

2. Promotes a green lifestyle with or without highlighting a product/service; or

3. Presents a corporate image of environmental responsibility (Banerjee et al.,

1995).

However, after researching a sample of advertisements two additional conditions had

to be added to meet green advertising today.

4. Since SUVs are often promoted in a natural environment, only a 100% natural

environment, thus no roads or artificial elements besides the car will be

considered to be green advertising.

5. Besides a 100% natural environment, the colour green is often associated with

environmental strategies as well. Therefore using this colour can explicitly or

32
 implicitly link to environmental advertising. An advertisement will be

considered green as soon as more than 50% of the cars displayed in the ad are

green coloured or when the background is green coloured for more than 50%.

3.3.4 Pre-Analysis

Before starting the content analysis phase, thirty advertising messages have been

randomly selected to check the appropriateness of the framework’s components.

From the pre-analysis it appeared that not all components were of equal importance.

This was due to the fact that this study is focussed on the automotive industry only.

For example, the advertising appeal ‘organic’ may be an important ad appeal element

in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, but is not an applicable element

in the automotive industry, at least not yet. After a handful of amendments of the

labels and definitions, the framework was ready to be employed on the complete

dataset.

2.3.5 Framework

The framework that has been used to content analyse magazines, newspapers, and

television ads has been inspired based on several authors. In the early and mid 90s

the key authors who studied the anatomy of green ads through content analysis were

Banerjee et al. (1993; 1995) and Carlson et al. (1993). The main elements can be

found in (Fig 3.1).

33
 Product  
Ad  Orientation  
Process  
Image  
Env.  Facts  
Emotional  
Financial  
Ad  Appeal  
Content  Analysis   Informative  
Ad  Issues  
Corporate  
Testimonial  
Rational  
Eco-­‐Labelling  

Contemp.  Elements   Recycling  Symbols  

Strategic  Alliances  
Green  Innovation  
Absolutes  

Fig 3.1 Framework: Content Analysis

Ad Orientation

The orientation of the ad message has been constructed according to the classification

developed by Carlson et al. (1993). The authors identified five types of green

advertisements. However, in case an advertisement did not meet one of the five types

but has green/environmental characteristics it has been coded as a sixth type

‘implicit’.

1. Product Orientation: the claim focuses on the environmentally friendly

attributes that a product processes;

2. Process Orientation: the claim deals with an organisation’s internal

technology, production technique and/or disposal method that yields

environmental benefits;

3. Image Orientation: the claim associates an organisation with an environmental

cause or activity for which there is broad-based public support;

34
 4. Environmental Fact: the claim involves an independent statement that is

ostensibly factual in nature from an organisation about the environment at

large, or its condition;

5. Combination: the claim appears to have multiple facets (Carlson et al. 1993);

and

6. Implicit: the claim has green characteristics but does not qualify as one of the

above

As a number of advertisements may find themselves in a grey area, some of the types

needed stricter guidelines:

1a. Product Orientation: the claim focuses on the environmentally friendly

attributes that a product processes, or when a green positioned brand is shown

in the same shot as the product. In the latter the advertisement does not

necessarily focus on the environmentally friendly attributes of that product.

However, by placing the two elements (the green positioned brand and the

product) in the same shot (print or television), the green image is directly

linked to the product itself.

3a. Image Orientation: the claim focuses on the organisation rather than the

attributes that a product processes. When an advertisement has a product

orientation, but the environmental aspects are directed to the organisation or

brand only, the ad will be coded as image oriented.

5a. Combination: the combination that was found was Product- and Image

Orientation. These advertisements can be defined as relatively long ads with

focus points on both, the brand and the product.

35
As the classification between the five types of green advertisements do not express

anything about the greenness or depth of an advertisement, an argumentation column

has been added with a binary code (Y/N). The argumentation had been given a Yes in

the following conditions:

1b. Product Orientation: the claim reveals details of the fuel consumption rate or

(carbon) emission rate.

2b. Process Orientation: the claim reveals details or proves of the responsible

production process, for instance ISO 14001 certification, a management tool

enabling an organisation to identify and control the environmental impact of

its activities, products or services, and to improve its environmental

performance continually (ISO, 2009)

3b. Image Orientation: the claim specifies corporate actions taken.

4b. Environmental Facts: the claim goes into detail of the environmental issues

and reflects their corporate identity to them as well.

5b. Combination: combination of the above.

Ad Appeal

The content analysis of the appeal of the advertising message has been based for a

major part on the classification and its sub-classification scheme used by Banerjee et

al. (1995) and Banerjee and Iyer (1993): zeitgeist, emotional, financial, organic,

corporate, testimonial, comparative. As not all elements appeared to be relevant to

the automotive industry or to date, ‘zeitgeist’, ‘organic’ and ‘comparative’ have been

replaced with ones that are relevant in this industry and time. To stress the main

focus of the advertising message, only one ad appeal can be selected to classify the ad

message. However, testimonial is the only exception to the rule and will be used as

36
supporting information.

The following classification and sub-classification scheme has been employed to the

data set:

1. Emotional: adventurous, comfort, curiosity, excitement, fun, humour,

optimism, peaceful, responsible, self-esteem, trust, or warmth;

2. Financial: cash-back, cause subsidy, cheap, low interest, money saving,

money-off, recycle bonus, “slurptax”, special offer, or split payment;

3. Informative: cleanness, ecological program, new technology, product

information, reliability, or sustainability;

4. Corporate: green actions, or social responsible;

5. Testimonial: celebrity, expert, or citizen;

6. Rational: plain.

As an addition, advertisements that have been classified as implicit needed to be

determined why they were coded implicit. For this reason a seventh ad appeal was

used to code the reasoning:

7. Implicit: reason…

Ad Issues

As there is a time span of at least ten years between the large majority of the content

analyses that were done in the early to mid 90s and today, this conceptual model will

take several factors into account regarding the “new” global warming, e.g. climate

change. The ad issues from Banerjee et al. (1995) used in their content analysis do

not seem to be from this time. Issues that were important at that time, e.g.

37
‘atmosphere’, ‘land’, ‘water’, ‘animal’, and ‘plant’, would categorise today’s ads in

too shallow a way. Issues have been captured along the way of the content analysis

process, in which issues like ‘climate change’ and ‘carbon dioxide emission’ have

been recorded.

Contemporary Elements

The contemporary elements around the regulations and trends, i.e. verification of

compliance, third party certification, strategic alliances and green innovation have

been inspired from different authors and are the following:

1. Eco-Labelling is one form of environmental labelling and is a seal of approval

(D’Souza, 2004). According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

these can be divided into three different attributes: third party, voluntary or

mandatory, and positive, negative or neutral. However, the analysis of the test

sample lead to another classification Private Eco-Labelling. Many brands

introduced their own environmental programs or technologies and attached a

label to the products that have these attributes. One of the best examples is

Hybrid Synergy Drive from Toyota. Whether the eco-label is voluntary or

mandatory is not of value as all labels are voluntary in the automotive

industry. Therefore, the classification used are as follows:

a. Third Party Eco-Labelling: e.g. A-G Energy Label.

b. Private Eco-Labelling: e.g. Hybrid Synergy Drive.

c. Polarisation: positive, negative, or neutral.

2. Recycling Symbols is another form of environmental labelling (D’Souza,

2005). According to the FTC (n.d.), unless the product contains 100 percent

38
 recycled materials, the label must indicate how much of the finished product is

in fact of recycled material (Bryson and Donohue, 1996; D’Souza, 2005).

3. Strategic Alliances are relationships where “partners bring a particular skill or

resource, usually one that is complementary, and by joining forces both are

expected to profit from the others experience”, and can have three types of

associations: product endorsements, corporate sponsorship, or product-

licensing products (Mendelson and Polonsky, 1995).

4. Green Innovation Performance can be described according to Chen as the

hardware or software innovation that is related to green products or processes

(Chen, 2007) can be divided into two types: green product innovation or green

process innovation (Chen et al., 2006).

5. Absolutes are part of Article 3. Demonstrability from the code for

environmental advertising (Stichting Reclame Code, 2008), and refers to

expressions that are likely to be interpreted quickly by the public as absolute

claims, such as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘clean’, ‘green’, and ‘good for the

environment’. An advertiser who can demonstrate that its absolute claim is

correct should be permitted to use this claim (Stichting Reclame Code, 2008).

These are in Dutch: milieuvriendelijk, schoon, groen, en goed voor het milieu

(Stichting Reclame Code, 2008).

3.3.6 Unit Measurements

As a result of the detailed processing of the content analysis, the following unit

measurement has been applied in the Excel program. Most elements on the Levels 1

and 2 were inspired from the literature review or have been copied over from the

Nielsen database and remain untouched. On level 3 however, a few amendments had

to be made to mirror the framework to the specific industry.

39
Table 3.1 Unit measurements

40
3.4 Data Analysis

3.4.1 Research Approach

The research approach used in this study is the descriptive approach in which the

results of the content analysis should discover answers to the questions: who, what,

when, where and how (Cooper en Schindler, 2003). This study attempts to define the

anatomy of the contemporary form of green advertising by analysing over 4,000 ad

creatives. Besides the analysis of the contemporary form of green advertisements,

this study also attempts to describe the green advertising development around and

after the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ by analysing a period of 40 months in

which these 4,000 ads were published or broadcast. Here, this study is trying to find a

correlation between Al Gore’s documentary and the development of green advertising

in the Netherlands.

3.4.2 Weighting Factors

According to Prior (2001) traditional content analyses lead to possible erroneous

interpretations that are easily drawn from the unweighted results. The author believes

the more frequently an ad aired, the more weight it should carry in an analysis when

the goal is to answer questions about strategy and effects. By using the frequency-

weighted method the content analysis takes into account the number of incidents of

the ad campaign. However, by considering the prices of the ad buy as an alternative

weight that takes into account more advertising details (i.e. incidence, volume, media

channel rate), thus considering the audience size and allows a further distinction

between aired and watched ads, the rate-weighted method provides the more intuitive

measure.

41
 Type of Advertisements

Automotive Industry

Weighted

Unweighted: By airing frequency By advertising rate

(Unique Campaigns: (Incidence: n = (Expenditure: total =

Type of ads n=4051) 252987) €637,330,841)

Green 632 36802 €90,352,807

(15.6%) (14.5%) (14.2%)
None Green 3419 216185 €546,978,034
(84.4%) (85.5%) (85.8%)
Table 3.2 Unweighted, frequency weighted, and rate-weighted ad comparison

The initial coding process of the creatives took place based on unique campaigns.

After the completion of this process, the research results are linked to the advertising

expenditure information provided by the Media Group of The Nielsen Company the

Netherlands, accordingly. As suggested by Prior (2001), the rate-weighted method

takes into account a number of key variables, i.e. incidence, volume, and media

channel rate, and therefore will give a better reflection of the “real” market. For

instance, there is no doubt that a 30 second commercial will have a different impact

compared to a 5 second one; popular magazines apply a higher rate but will have a

wider range than less popular magazines.

Advertising Expenditure Method

I x V x R = C
Incidents x Volume x Rate = Ad Spend
(ratecard by (rate-
(airing
(ad size) media weighted
frequency)
channel) result)
Table 3.3 Advertising expenditure method (The Nielsen Company, 2009)

Instead of focussing on unique campaigns only, by applying the rate-weighted method

to the research results, constructed conclusions can be drawn from which the

consumers are exposed to on the “real” market.

42
4. Research Results and Analysis
4.1 Chapter Overview

The aim of this study was to identify the anatomy of green advertising that consumers

are being exposed to today; and to understand how it developed around and after the

documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. As such, the objective of the study were

twofold: a) to identify the anatomy of green advertising in the past three years; b) to

understand how it developed from 2006 onwards. The identification of the anatomy

of green advertising was done through creative analysis and the development by trend

analysis.

This chapter will detail the trend analysis weighted by advertising expenditure

displaying a reflection of the “real” market in the past three years. This analysis will

be supported with interesting findings from the creative analysis. To understand how

green advertising developed from 2006 onwards, any graph that is displaying the

period on the horizontal axis, the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ has been

tagged with a green globe.

4.2 Advertising Type

4.2.1 Overview

The three years dataset of advertising information in the automotive industry

consisted of 4051 advertising creatives. In the first step of the process, the population

was brought down to 632 advertising messages that appeared to have a green flavour.

This means that 15.6 percent of all ads explicitly or implicitly addressed the

relationship between a product, service or lifestyle and the biophysical environment.

In the pre-analysis it was found that SUVs are often promoted in a natural

43
environment, and it was decided to add an additional condition that only a 100%

natural environment, thus without roads or artificial elements besides the car will be

considered to be green advertising. Without this additional condition the percentage

of green ads would definitely be higher than 15.6 percent, contributing a bigger share

to implicit advertising, in other words this may contribute to the phenomenon green

washing.

Break of the cycle

With a share of 15.6 percent of the total automotive ad market, green advertising is a

visible development in the automotive industry. It is very normal for the automotive

industry to show oscillations, or cycles, every year. By looking at Fig 4.1 the past

three years have shown a specific pattern: growth during the first 5 months of the year

(1), the summer months show a dip (2), which is followed by an explosion of car ads

in august (3), and on its turn decreases towards the end of every year (4).

Advertising  expenditure  in  the  Automotive  sector  in  the  Netherlands  

30  
Millions  

25   3
4
20   1 2
15  

10  

5  

0     
  
2006   2007   2008   2009  
Total  Ad  Spend   Non-­‐Green   Green  

Fig 4.1 Advertising expenditure in the automotive sector in the Netherlands

However, when looking at the red arrow in the same figure, the first months of 2009

show a different development. Even though the first two months still show a positive

development, the increase is not as promising as the preceding years, and the decrease

44
in April is unexpected. Despite the fact it cannot be scientifically proven, as this

variable has not been considered in this dissertation, it could be that this development

is due to the economic crisis.

Positive green development

Even though the economic crisis may have hit the automotive industry hard, there is a

positive development for green advertising. This development is more obvious when

looking into the percentage share of green advertising compared to the total

automotive industry (Fig 4.2).

Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive  

advertising  expenditure  
50%  

40%  

30%  

20%  

10%  

0%     
  
2006   2007   2008   2009  

Fig 4.2 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure

The above graph (Fig 4.2) shows a relatively steady increase of green advertising in

the last three years. Even though the advertising market is showing an abominable

development in 2009, these figures show a heavy increase for green advertising from

mid 2008 onward.

4.2.2 Advertisers/Brands

Very interesting to understand is which brands are represented in the green

advertising shares, and to discover which brands have the largest percentage share

within the green advertising sample.

45
In the past three years, 28 brands have published or broadcast some form of green

advertising. In green advertising expenditure, two brands have an obvious large share

in comparison to the remaining 26 brands. The brand that represents almost a quarter

of the total of green advertising expenditure is Daihatsu (23.9%); the second biggest

share is from Toyota (16.8%). Interesting to know is that these brands, Daihatsu and

Toyota, belong to the same holding company. The third brand, Lexus, which is also

part of the holding, does not rank in the Top 10. The brands completing the Top 5

green advertising spenders, that have a share between 10.0 and 5.0 percent, are

Citroen (6.6%), Opel (5.9%), and Ford (5.0%). The majority of the brands find

themselves in the middle section, that have a share between 5.0 and 0.1 percent, are

Volkswagen (4.4%), Peugeot (3.8%), Suzuki (3.6%), Hyundai (3.4%), Mazda (3.3%),

BMW (3.1%), Lexus (2.9%), Renault (2.7%), Honda (2.5%), Mercedes Benz (2.5%),

Audi (2.3%), Fiat (1.8%), Chevrolet (1.4%), Seat (0.8%), Skoda (0.8%), Mitsubishi

(0.7%), Kia (0.6%), Smart (0.5%), Saab (0.2%), Volvo (0.2%), and Mini (0.1%).

Brands that have a share below 0.1 percent are Jeep (0.027%), and Subaru (0.002%).

Another interesting aspect in the analysis of brands is to look at the percentage of total

spend allocated to green advertising. In Fig 4.3 it is again Daihatsu that is leading the

chart. By looking at the figures, Daihatsu is allocating almost their total advertising

budget to green advertising. This can be explained by Daihatsu’s strategy of

integrating a green butterfly into their logo and the use of clear sentences like “Rij

Zuinig, Rij Daihatsu” (in English: “Drive Economical, Drive Daihatsu”). As

Daihatsu’s integrated green marketing strategy is one of a kind in the automotive

industry, it slightly biases the study and therefore may be left out in a few charts.

46
 Percentage  of  total  spend  allocated  to  green  advertising  by  brand  
DAIHATSU     97.4%  
BMW     59.8%  
MAZDA     37.0%  
HONDA     33.0%  
SMART     33.0%  
TOYOTA     28.8%  
LEXUS     27.2%  
AUDI     20.2%  
SUZUKI     16.2%  
CITROEN     16.0%  
FORD     14.2%  
MERCEDES  BENZ     11.7%  
HYUNDAI     10.6%  
OPEL     10.5%  
VOLKSWAGEN     10.3%  
FIAT     8.9%  
MINI     7.4%  
MITSUBISHI     7.2%  
PEUGEOT     6.6%  
SAAB     6.2%  
CHEVROLET     6.2%  
RENAULT     5.2%  
SKODA     4.3%  
SEAT     3.0%  
JEEP     2.6%  
KIA     2.1%  
VOLVO     1.1%  
SUBARU     0.1%  

0%   10%   20%   30%   40%   50%   60%   70%   80%   90%   100%  

Fig 4.3 Percentage of total spend allocated to green advertising by brand

Toyota that has the second largest percentage share in the green advertising

expenditure, cannot be found in the Top 5 of the percentage of total spend allocated to

green advertising. Even though it is one of the greenest brands, they do not even

allocated one third of their advertising budget to green advertising. The fact that

Toyota still ranks high in the total expenditure in green advertising can be explained

by its large size of their advertising budget, which is almost 2.4 times bigger in

comparison to that of Daihatsu.

The brand that allocates the second largest share of their advertising budget to

green advertising is BMW. Even though BMW has a small share in the total green

advertising expenditure (3.1%), they do allocate almost 60 percent of their advertising

47
budget to green advertising. Therefore, whenever a consumer has seen a BMW ad in

the past three years, there is a 60 percent change that it was a green one.

The brands, Mazda (37.0%), Honda (33.0%) and Smart (33.0%) allocate

almost a third of their budget to green advertising; Toyota (28.8%) and Lexus (27.2%)

around a quarter; and the remaining brands allocate less than 25 percent of their

budget to green advertising.

4.2.3 Products

The 28 brands together promoted almost 100 products in separate advertisements.

Combined advertisements in which multiple products are shown have been taken out

of this specific analysis, as these details are only available by brand and not by

product.

When looking into single product advertisements, the Toyota ‘Prius’ has been the one

most advertised. In second position it is Toyota again, which has invested a lot in the

‘Aygo’. In third place ranks Toyota’s sister company Daihatsu with its ‘Cuore’.

It is surprising that 8 out of 10 brands in this Top 10 are Asian brands. The

only European brand is Peugeot ranking fourth with its ‘308’. The only American

brand is Ford ranking tenth with its ‘Mondeo’.

Rank Brand Product Spend (green ads)

1 TOYOTA Prius €7,842,403
2 TOYOTA Aygo €4,659,430
3 DAIHATSU Cuore €4,466,196
4 PEUGEOT 308 €3,191,032
5 DAIHATSU Terios €3,024,291
6 DAIHATSU Sirion €2,794,419
7 HYUNDAI i20 €2,767,407
8 DAIHATSU Materia €2,234,652
9 SUZUKI Grand Vitara €2,201,793
10 FORD Mondeo €1,712,817
Table 4.1 Top 10 green advertised products

48
4.2.4 Media Type

Looking at the percentage of green advertising in total automotive advertising

expenditure again, but this time split by media type (Fig 4.4), one could see that print

advertising increased heavily in 2007 in comparison to the expenditure in 2006. In

particular the media type newspapers contributed to this positive development for

print media.

In 2008, newspapers and television show an extreme dip during the summer,

while magazines are relatively stable throughout the whole year.

Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive  

advertising  expenditure  by  media  type  
60%  
50%  
40%  
30%  
20%  
10%  
0%     
2006  
   2007   2008   2009  
Magazines     Newspapers     TV    

Fig 4.4 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by media type

When comparing whole years,

Percentage  change  of  green  advertising  
by  media  type  
the percentage change of green
91.2%  
100%  
80%  
69.5%  
advertising by media type shows 60%  
40%   29.0%   32.6%  
13.9%  
that newspapers is the only media 20%  
0%  
-­‐20%  
type with a negative trend. The -­‐40%   -­‐19.5%  
2007  vs  2006   2008  vs  2007  
media type television is
Magazines   Newspapers   TV  

displaying the steadiest positive Fig 4.5 Percentage change of green advertising by media type

trend compared to the print titles.

49
Regarding the media shares of green advertising, magazines are becoming more

popular throughout all years while newspapers were popular in 2007 but decreased in

2008 again. Television still has the largest share throughout all years.

The shares in 2008 were television (74.7%), newspapers (15.3%), and

magazines (10.0%). In 2006 these percentages were 77.3%, 15.6%, and 7.1%,

respectively.

4.2.5 Media Channel

The next level after the media types is the analysis of media channels. For broadcast

media this level consists of stations; for print media they are known as titles.

Magazines

With 1.20 percent of the total green advertising expenditure, Elsevier is the magazine

in which green advertising is invested most. The remaining magazine titles have a

share below 1.00 percent. The magazines completing the Top 10 are the following:

Management Team (0.61%), Autoweek (0.49%), FEM Business (0.35%), Veronica

(0.34%), Plus (0.31%), Sprout (0.23%), HP/De Tijd (0.23%), Top Gear (0.20%), and

National Geopgraphic (0.20%).

It is an obvious observation that the popular and biggest magazines can be found in

this Top 10. Therefore another interesting analysis would be to look at the percentage

of green advertising in comparison to the total spend of automotive advertising by

media channel. This analysis will give more insight in terms of the greenness of the

media channels, in this case the magazine titles. Fig 4.6 shows the Top 25 greenest

magazines in the past three years. To give an example, the magazine ‘Hart Voor

Dieren’ displays a 100% score: this means whenever an automotive advertising was

50
found, it was a green one in all cases. This analysis does not take into account the

popularity or the number of car ads, but does give insight about the greenness of the

automotive advertisements published. Magazine titles displaying the exact same

score have been ordered by spend.

Green  advertising  percentage  of    total  automotive  spend  

by  magazine  title  
Bridge     100%  
25  24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1  

Salt  Magazine     100%  

De  Hardloper   100%  
Bloemen  &  Planten     100%  
Hart  Voor  Dieren     100%  
Ode     70.4%  
Green.2     69.4%  
De  Groene  Amsterdammer     66.7%  
Grasduinen     54.4%  
Penthouse     52.4%  
Carp   51.9%  
Beleggers  Belangen     50.0%  
O2  Bikers     50.0%  
Vrij  Nederland     49.6%  
NRC  Focus     47.5%  
Reader's  Digest/Het  Beste     47.1%  
Vriendin     42.8%  
Hide  &  Chic     38.6%  
Buitenleven     38.4%  
Management  Scope     36.0%  
Groei  &  Bloei     36.0%  
Sprout     34.5%  
NU  de  tijd  van  je  leven   33.3%  
Toeractief     32.9%  
Happinez     32.6%  
0%   20%   40%   60%   80%   100%  

Fig 4.6 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by magazine title

It is not surprising that a lot of green magazines titles, such as Salt Magazine, a

magazine that is supporting a sustainable world (Salt, 2008) and Green.2, the first

green glossy that believes in this second green wave (Green2, 2008), are listed in the

Top 25. These types of magazines generally contain advertisements from Toyota and

Honda, promoting their hybrid cars, and advertisements from Daihatsu, Mini and

Smart promoting their small high-energy efficient vehicles.

However, a few magazines, such as Penthouse, are surprisingly listed in this

Top 25 as well. In this particular case it is BMW, promoting their new BMW 1 Series

51
with green energy labels. Penthouse generally does publish a lot of car

advertisements and therefore is ranking high in this list.

Newspapers

With 5.23% percent of the total green advertising expenditure, De Telegraaf is the

newspaper in which green advertising is invested most. The remaining newspaper

titles have a share below 3.00 percent. The newspapers completing the Top 10 are the

following: AD Nieuwsmedia (2.20%), NRC Handelsblad (2.03%), De Volkskrant

(1.49%), Metro (1.36%), De Pers (0.95%), Het Financieele Dagblad (0.88%), Sp!ts

(0.84%), Dag (0.60%) and Het Parool (0.46%).

Again, the largest media channels represent the 10 top spenders mentioned above.

The analysis in terms of the greenness of newspaper titles draws a different picture of

this media type.

Green  advertising  percentage  of    total  automotive  spend  

by  newspaper  title  
DAG   62.4%  
20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1  

De  Pers     53.2%  
PS  Van  De  Week     51.2%  
FD  Persoonlijk     38.8%  
Sp!ts     35.5%  
Next.Guide   32.9%  
Het  Financieele  Dagblad     28.3%  
Trouw     26.6%  
NRC  Handelsblad     25.8%  
Parool  Magazine     25.8%  
Metro     25.3%  
De  Volkskrant     21.0%  
Next.One   20.1%  
De  Telegraaf     18.0%  
Volkskrant  Magazine     16.0%  
Het  Parool     12.3%  
NRC.next     12.0%  
AD  Nieuwsmedia     11.3%  
M  Magazine     8.2%  
De  Telegraaf  Op  Zondag     7.4%  
0%   20%   40%   60%   80%   100%  

Fig 4.7 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by newspaper title

52
In the analysis of the green advertising percentage of automotive spend by newspaper

title, the newspapers at the top are represented by free paper press, such as Dag, De

Pers and Sp!ts, and have a relatively low advertising expenditure. Dag, a free

newspaper that is no longer being distributed, was targeted at people 20 to 49 years of

age, which is a rather large target group (Dag, 2007). De Pers is targeting on the

same age range, their specific target group of the higher educated with an above-

modal income (De Pers, 2009). The third free newspaper, Sp!ts, targets a younger

audience, e.g. students and young professional (Sp!ts, 2008). None of these three

newspapers have a specifically green audience. Brand wise, it is again Toyota

promoting their hybrid, and Daihatsi, Fiat, Opel and Suzuki promoting their small

vehicles.

Television

With 14.08 percent of the total green advertising expenditure, Nederland 1 is the

station on which green advertising is invested most. The television station that also

has a large share, and is ranking second, is RTL 4 (13.94%). The remaining

television stations have a share below 8.00 percent. The television stations

completing the Top 10 are the following: Nederland 3 (7.26%), RTL 5 (7.26%),

Nederland 2 (7.26%), SBS 6 (5.28%), Net 5 (5.24%), RTL 7 (4.61%), Veronica

(3.15%), and National Geographic (1.94%).

In terms of total automotive advertising expenditure, RTL 4 and Nederland 1

are the two top spenders.

53
 Green  advertising  percentage  of    total  automotive  spend  
by  television  station  

Nederland  1     20.1%  
14  13  12  11  10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1  

Nederland  2     20.0%  
RTL-­‐8     18.9%  
Nederland  3     18.3%  
Comedy  Central     16.2%  
RTL-­‐5     12.6%  
RTL-­‐4     12.5%  
RTL-­‐7     11.1%  
Net  5     10.4%  
National  Geographic     10.2%  
V8/Veronica     10.2%  
SBS  6     8.9%  
TienTV     8.5%  
MTV     1.4%  
0%   20%   40%   60%   80%   100%  

Fig 4.8 Green advertising percentage of total automotive spend by television station

Looking at Fig 4.8, the same conclusion as the analysis by media type can be drawn,

that the percentage of green advertising is low in television in comparison to the print

titles. Nederland 1 has the highest advertising expenditure and the highest green

advertising percentage. By broadcasting the green advertisements on this channel, the

advertiser is targeting on the family viewer (Ster, n.d.). Advertisers that are targeting

through Nederland 2, ranking second in the list, are trying to reach an audience that

considers morals and values to be of great importance. One of the contributing

publishers airing on this channel is LLiNK, which supports a better balance between

economy and ecology, and therefore supporting a sustainable life environment

(LLiNK, n.d.). Ranking third in the list is RTL 8. As most women prefer smaller

cars, which are in most cases the energy efficient ones, this channel with women as

their target group is an obvious choice to broadcast green advertising (RTL, 2009).

When looking lower down the list, it is surprising that National Geographic, a

network that is inspiring people to care about the planet (National Geographic, 2009),

is ranking tenth.

54
4.3 Advertising Orientation

4.3.1 Overview

The classification of the ad orientation according to the model of Carlson et al. (1993)

has resulted into the following: overall, the large majority of all green ads have a

product orientation (65.0%); followed by the combined orientation and image, 15.4

and 14.3 percent respectively; quite a percentage of ads appeared to have an implicit

character, 4.3 percent; just a hand full of ads had an orientation towards

environmental facts (0.9%); and none of them had a process orientation.

Regarding the combined orientation, the only combination found was the

image and product orientation. For broadcast ads these were relatively long ads that

were promoting the corporate image, its activities, and linked it to one of their

products at the end of the advertisement, thus focus points on both brand and product.

When looking into the details of the percentage of green advertising in total

automotive advertising expenditure by ad orientation throughout the complete period

of the sample, the development looks as follows:

Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive  

advertising  expenditure  by  ad  orientation  
40%   B2
30%  
B1
20%  
C
10%  
A
0%     
2006  
   2007   2008   2009  

Environmental  Facts   Image   Product   Combination**   Implicit  

** Combination: Image / Product

Fig 4.9 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by ad orientation

55
The first interesting observation is that the use of the environmental facts as the main

advertising orientation became popular after the documentary “An Inconvenient

Truth” was released (fig 4.9 - A). This development transitioned into a more product-

based orientation and the combined or the image orientation were any longer

alternative options, at least not until mid 2007 (B1). From mid 2007, the green

advertisements were balancing between all different types of ad orientation until 2008

where ‘Implicit’ advertising suddenly became popular (C). This development lasted

till mid 2008 and transitioned into the growing popularity of image and product

orientation. The latter exploded into a major bubble and became the most popular

advertising orientation to date (B2).

Notice the two periods that have been identified in which the image does not

show to have an important role; first in the last months of 2006 and second in the last

month of 2008 onwards. Across the complete period, product orientation has always

been the leading type. However, during the two bubbles when image orientation was

out of the picture, the product orientation definitely overruled.

For more information, please see examples in Appendix B: Ad examples by Ad

Orientation.

4.3.2 Media

It is not unexpected that the product orientation is the most popular ad orientation

across all three media types. As product orientation has shown to be the leading type

and television has the largest share, it is expected that the percentage of these

variables should be relatively higher than the other ad orientations or media types.

The results show that the product orientation on television represents almost half of

the green advertising expenditure (47.5%). However, despite the smaller share of

56
newspapers, the product orientation has a stronger preference in comparison to all

other advertising orientations.

Another interesting observation is that the environmental facts, which became

popular after Al Gore’s documentary, were only broadcast on television. The brand

piggy backing on the publicity of this documentary is Daihatsu.

Share Media Type

Grand
Ad Orientation Magazines Newspapers TV
Total
Environmental Facts 0.0% 0.0% 0.9% 0.9%
Process 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Image 1.4% 1.9% 11.0% 14.3%
Product 4.5% 13.1% 47.5% 65.0%
Combination** 1.3% 1.8% 12.4% 15.4%
Implicit 1.1% 0.6% 2.6% 4.3%
Grand Total 8.4% 17.4% 74.3% 100.0%
** Combination: Image / Product
Table 4.2 Advertising orientation share by media type

4.3.3 Argumentation

The level of argumentation measures the greenness or depth of an advertisement. The

analysis found resulted that not even half of the green ads (43.8%) give arguments to

support their advertising message. This is due to the fact that television, which

already has proven to be the heavier media type in the automotive industry, barely

uses argumentation in the advertisements.

Advertising  orientation  and  argumentation  use  in  percentages  

Argumentation  not  used                          Argumentation  used  

first  four  months  of  2009  

2008  
Environmental  Facts  
Image  
2007   Product  
Combination*  
2006   Implicit  

-­‐100%   -­‐80%   -­‐60%   -­‐40%   -­‐20%   0%   20%   40%   60%   80%   100%  

* Combination: Image / Product

Fig 4.10 Advertising orientation and argumentation use by percentage share

57
When looking at Fig 4.10, one can see that the use of argumentation is undergoing a

very positive development. The product-orientated advertisements especially are

shifting to the right hand side of the chart. Even though combined orientation is

disappearing on the left hand side. Image orientation is more or less divided between

both halves of the chart but is slowly

Argumentation  in  percentages  by  media  type  
moving to the left.
Environmental  
Facts  
2009*  

2008  

Television                                                          Newspapers                                                Magazines  

In the charts by media type (Fig 4.11) 2007  

2006  
one could notice that the lack of
-­‐100%   -­‐50%   0%   50%   100%  
argumentation used in television has
2009*  
caused the major shift to the left in
2008  
2009 in Fig 4.10. When moving the
2007  

focus away from the 2009 2006  

developments for television, this media -­‐100%   -­‐50%   0%   50%   100%  

type, together with magazines, shows a 2009*  

very positive development. The 2008  

2007  
remaining media type, newspapers, is
2006  
showing a negative development in
-­‐100%   -­‐50%   0%   50%   100%  
terms of argumentation usage.

* First four months of 2009

Fig 4.11 Advertising orientation and argumentation use
by percentage share by media type

58
4.4 Advertising Appeal

4.4.1 Overview

The most comprehensive part of the content analysis is the ad appeal. The ad appeal

classifies the advertisement into six different types of appeal: emotional, financial,

informative, corporate, testimonial, or rational. If during the first step of the process,

the advertisements were coded as implicit, then the ad appeal would automatically fall

into the seventh option ‘implicit’, together with the argumentation why this specific

ad were to be found implicit. As testimonial has a supportive function rather than a

stand alone ad appeal, the results for this variable will be discussed last.

The most popular advertising appeal is advertising through emotions. More than half

of all green advertisement found uses this type of ad appeal (55.2%). Another

popular strategy is the financial appeal (29.1%). This is not surprising as financial

incentives generally are important to convince consumers to buy a new car. The third

largest ad appeal is the corporate appeal (10.5%). The informative and the rational

appeal have a share below 1.0 percent. The advertisements with an implicit character

accounted for 4.3 percent.

When looking into the percentage share split by year (Fig 4.12) it can be noticed that

the emotional appeal is gaining popularity by the year, resulting in an explosion in

2009. Corporate communication is losing popularity. Also financial incentives are

undermining major shifts. Due to the credit crunch, the decreasing popularity of the

financial appeals from January 2009 onwards is against expectations.

59
 Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive  
ad  expenditure  by  ad  appeal  
50%  

40%  

30%  

20%  

10%  

0%     
2006  
   2007   2008   2009  
Emotional   Financial   Informative   Corporate   Rational   Implicitly  

Fig 4.12 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by ad appeal

For more information, please see examples in Appendix C1: Ad examples by Ad

Appeal

4.4.2 Emotional Appeal

Starting with the emotional appeal having the largest share (55.2%), an interesting

observation is that for nearly a quarter of the emotional appeal the advertiser tries to

persuade the consumer through ‘responsibility’ (24.4%); also ‘humour’ appears to be

high in the ranks (22.0%); in third place the advertiser highlights the ‘excitement’ of

their product (15.5%); and in fourth place advertisers use a very green approach,

namely ‘warmth’ (12.1%).

It is not surprising that ‘humour’ is high up the scale as it is a commonly used

strategy in the Netherlands. According to Hofstede (2001), humour with a direct

approach is especially popular in Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and the

United Kingdom. The remaining European countries find themselves in structured

advertisements, aesthetics or entertaining emotions. Humour is the most commonly

used in television ads.

60
With a more detailed scope period wise, in 2006, besides ‘humour’ the industry also

had a focus on the comfort of cars. A shift can be seen in 2007 from ‘humour’ and

‘comfort’ towards a more responsible way of driving. Advertisers also addressed the

notion that exciting cars can be environmental friendly as well. In 2008, the majority

of advertisements focussed on responsibility and humour. The first four months of

2009 show a surprising shift from humour towards a touching approach by persuading

consumers with ‘warmth’. However, this is a trend measured in the first four months

and therefore is not representative for the complete year of 2009.

4.4.3 Financial Appeal

The second most popular approach is by financial appeal (29.1%). With a 43.3

percentage share, the use of cause subsidy is most frequently used of all financial

appeals. Cause subsidy gained importance as the number of energy efficient cars with

energy labels A and B grew and advertisers shift the message towards rewards or

discounts. Less energy efficient cars get penalties; this punishment is also known as

“slurptax”. Hyundai is the only car brand that anticipated on the latter, hence in a

humoristic way.

The financial appeal is still ranking second but surprisingly decreased

in terms of overall share. It is not surprising that cause subsidy is most commonly

used in television ads, but they have proven to be extremely popular in newspaper ads

as well. Special offer is a more common approach in newspapers. Magazines

however, do not seem to be a popular place for financial incentives.

In 2006, the majority of the industry promoted their environmental cars by stressing

the fact that consumers who buy an energy efficient car, which will be subsidised by

the government. At that time, this was the only incentive to buy an environmental

friendly car. In the second half of 2007 more financial incentives became available.

61
Consumers were offered to split the payment and as consumer prices became more

flexible, the automotive industry started to promote their cars by offering more and

more discounts or special offers. In 2008 in terms of share of spend, discounts were

the leading financial appeal. Also other financial options became available: from new

money saving deals to a low interest loan.

So far 2009 shows a further growth in discounts, the majority of other money

saving options are slowly disappearing and new financial incentives arise.

Consumers now get an amount of cash back when purchasing a car. It looks like the

automotive industry is struggling with the financial crisis and is attempting in every

way possible to help the consumers with a new car.

4.4.4 Remaining Appeals

The remaining appeals, accounting for 11.7 percent, consist of ‘corporate appeal’,

‘informative appeal’, and ‘rational appeal’, respectively 10.5 percent, 0.8 percent, and

0.03 percent.

With 10.5 percent, ‘corporate appeal’ is the largest of the remaining share. By using

this kind of appeal the advertiser stresses the corporate social responsibility. Only in

a few occasions does the advertiser also mention the specific actions taken.

Generally speaking, if the main ad appeal is to supply information, most advertisers

have done this in an advertorial. In 2006 the general subject was the reliability of

their products. In 2007 also the cleanness of a car was an information subject. In the

same year, advertisers started to mention their ecological programs. This

development peaked in 2008. Advertorials became more product-related in 2009,

62
whilst some of the advertisers still mention their ecological programs and the

cleanness of their cars.

In terms of media representation, the informative appeal is especially popular

in magazines as print by its structure can convey concrete information. The lack of

interest of informative appeal in newspapers can be explained by the popularity of

advertorials among magazines, whilst newspapers’ main purpose is to convey current

affairs.

Whenever an advertisement showed a car without addressing the emotional or any

other appeals, therefore not falling into one of the categories, it was coded as rational.

In short, these ads displayed the cars with the brand only. These advertisements

represent 0.03 percent of the green ads, which is 0.004 percent of the complete

population, and therefore is insignificant in this study.

4.4.5 Implicit Appeal

The remaining advertising campaigns, 4.3 percent of the sample, were coded as

implicit. These advertisements had been found implicit as half of the ads used one or

more green-coloured cars in their advertisement. Also the use of a 100 percent

natural environment is popular, especially among SUVs. Referring to 100 percent

natural environments means no roads or any other artificial elements other than the

vehicle itself. Other advertisers pun with words and symbols, and created a bias

around words like ‘cleaner’, or symbols around ‘climate’.

In the beginning of 2006, implicit advertising was identified as advertisers used

green-coloured cars or background, which implicitly adds a green theme to the

advertisement. Also the use of a 100 percent biophysical environment and the misuse

63
of the theme ‘climate’ added to implicit advertising. While in 2006 and mainly 2007

the shares were more or less evenly divided, on the transition of 2007 into 2008 the

majority of implicit ads, were labelled as such, due to the exposure of green coloured

cars. Also the share of the usage of a 100 percent natural environment exploded. At

the beginning of 2008 the use of the natural environment took the lead. After the

summer of 2008, the implicit advertising slowly faded away, and has, with a few

exceptions hardly been observed ever since.

4.4.6 Testimonial Information

To stress the focus of the ad message, only one appeal could be selected to classify

the ad message. Testimonial information was the only exception to the rule and has

no more than a supporting function to the classified ads.

In the automotive industry quite some advertisers have been using familiar and

unfamiliar faces to endorse their cars. Almost two thirds of the advertisements using

the testimonial strategy have done this through celebrity endorsement; one third used

an expert; and only one advertiser, Daihatsu, chose to use unfamiliar faces to endorse

their products.

Regarding the media choice, both celebrity and expert endorsement were very

popular on television. Daihatsu, the only brand using unfamiliar faces, choose to do

this in magazines only.

64
4.5 Advertising Issues

4.5.1 Overview

From the total advertising expenditure of advertisements that have been considered to

be green, 28.5 percent addresses green issues. These green issues vary from animal

welfare to carbon dioxide emission indications.

When advertisers chose to address one of the issues, almost half of them addressed

the issue around carbon dioxide emissions. This issue is no doubt the most important

topic and is definitely gaining more awareness with the introduction of the ‘Energy

Label’.

Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive   Sustainability  

ad  expenditure  by  advertising  issue   Resource  Depletion  
16%   Planet  Preservation  
14%  
12%   Nitrogen  Oxide  
10%  
Global  Warming  
8%  
6%   Climate  Change  
4%  
2%   Carbon  Dioxide  
0%      Animal  Welfare  
2006      2007   2008   2009  

Fig 4.13 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by advertising issue

When looking into a more detailed analysis of the complete period of the sample (Fig.

4.13), it is interesting to see is that percentage of expenditure in addressing carbon

dioxide emissions has been relatively low in 2008, and extremely high in the first four

months of 2009. Another interesting point is that most advertisers focussed on a

single issue of their choosing in 2007. Besides the carbon dioxide emissions, ‘Planet

Preservation’ appears to be an important point of discussion as well. Planet

preservation was the most important topic in 2007. Very interesting outliers are the

65
animal welfare issues. These are particularly interesting, as they have been spotted

during the summer of 2006 and the summer of 2008 only. The oscillations of

automotive advertising have shown that these particular periods are quiet months.

Therefore the investments made by Suzuki in addressing the animal welfare issues

may draw a slightly biased trend in Fig 4.16.

The issues that show a negative trend are ‘Global Warming’ and ‘Climate Change’.

Global warming had been an interesting topic four months before the publication of

“An Inconvenient Truth”. Daihatsu and Toyota were the only brands that piggy

backed on this specific global warming trend, and lasted until the first quarter of

2007.

In 2008 new issues like ‘Nitrogen Oxide’, ‘Resource Depletion’ and

‘Sustainability’ became a point of discussion, but never obtained a large percentage

share.

For more information on the ad issues, please see examples in Appendix D: Ad

examples by Ad Issues.

4.6 Eco Labelling

4.6.1 Eco Labelling: Third Party

Of all green advertisements found, 18.2 percent of the ads use the ‘Energy Label’ to

indicate their level of energy efficiency; 7.8 percent were shown to use a different

third party label; and 74.0 percent do not use any sort of third party labelling.

66
By putting all third party labels into one chart, three developments can be identified

over time (Fig 4.14).

The first is animal welfare and nature. From mid to the end of 2006 Suzuki

promoted heavily on its Vitara and their support for the Rhino Mkomazi National

Park. With an overlap with the Rhino Mkomazi in the end of 2006 Toyota started

advertising with a third party label, this time with the World Wide Fund for Nature

(WWF) on the models Aygo, Prius and Yaris. Also Daihatsu used the same third

party label on its Sirion, Cuore and other models. Both brands, which fall under the

same holding, continued using the WWF label until the end of the first quarter of

2007.

The second development is the focus on climate change. Right when the

WWF label was slowly taken off the screen, Daihatsu started to attach another third

party label to their brand, ‘Hier Nederland Klimaatneutraal’. This ad campaign

peaked in the summer of 2007 and slowly faded away towards the end of that same

year. In 2008 Daihatsu brought this third party label back to life, only this time with a

better spread across the complete year.

The last and most interesting development is the use of the energy indicators.

The energy label has been seen for the first time in advertisements in September 2007

and only grew from that month onward.

67
 Percentage  of  green  advertising  in  total  automotive  
ad  expenditure  by  third  party  eco  labels  
25%  

20%  

15%  

10%  

5%  

0%     
2006      2007   2008   2009  
Energy  Label   Hier   ISO  14001   Rhino  Mkomazi   WWF   Combination*  

* Combination: Hier / WWF

Fig 4.14 Percentage of green advertising in total automotive ad expenditure by third party eco labels

When looking into the development of the ‘Energy Label’, from the media shares it

can be concluded that the explosion of the energy label use is actually caused by the

media type television only. However, because of the relatively heavy weight of this

media types, the conclusion may be slightly biased.

By analysing the percentage of energy label use in total automotive

advertising expenditure calculated by media type, print media has the largest

percentage share in terms of energy label use. For the period September 2007 to

April 2009 of all advertisements, 8.1 percent of green newspapers ads and 7.0 percent

of magazines ads use the energy label to indicate their level of energy efficiency.

Despite of the explosion in September 2008 and the first four months of 2009 that was

caused by television, the average for green television ads was 4.4 percent. While

print ads are showing heavy fluctuations, television is displaying the steadiest positive

trend, especially from November 2008 onward.

For more information on third party labelling found in the sample, please see

examples in Appendix E: Ad examples by Third Party Labelling.

68
4.6.2 Eco Labelling: Private

Another popular eco-labelling approach it through private labels. Half of all green

advertisements found use private labels to identify their green products from their

product range (49.9%). Private labels were identified across 17 brands and differ

from just a simple green butterfly on the brand logo to a complete green product

programme.

As Daihatsu has integrated the green butterfly into their logo, the expenditure of this

private label is extremely high, and therefore may be slightly biased in comparison to

the other brands.

The brands Daihatsu, Honda and Toyota appear to be the first brands using private

eco labels, at least in the period comparison from 2006 to 2009. As Daihatsu is using

a green integrated marketing strategy it is not surprising to see that their expenditure

is pretty much stable across all years studied. Toyota’s ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’,

promoted in their world-famous Prius, is showing a positive trend across all complete

years. While Toyota is showing a positive trend, Honda with its Civic ‘Hybrid’ is

showing a negative development.

The year 2007 shows a peak in private eco label use. Big European brands

recognised the need for greener options. BMW introduced ‘EfficientDynamics’,

Citroen ‘Airdream’, Opel ‘Ecoflex’, Renault ‘Eco2’, Saab ‘BioPower’, and

Volkswagen launched ‘BlueMotion’. Ford introduced ‘FlexiFuel’, which is the only

American brand in 2007.

Most of these private labels slowly disappeared in 2008, except for BMW,

Renault and Volkswagen which gave their campaigns an extra financial injection.

69
That same year more German brands started to show their interest in the green

automotive market. In 2008 Mercedes launched their green product program

‘TrueBlueSolutions’, showing their interest in improving their gasoline and diesel

fuelled engines; for Smart, Daimler introduced the ‘Micro Hybrid Drive’; besides the

extra injection of BMW, the corporation expanded their ‘EfficientDynamics’

technology to their sister brand Mini; Volvo launched ‘Drive’.

The first four months of 2009 already shows a handful of new private labels.

This time with the majority of Asian brands: Mitsubishi introduced ‘ClearTec’,

Toyota ‘Optimal Drive’, Kia ‘ISG’. The Italian brand Fiat launched ‘EcoPlus’ in

2009.

By removing the scope of Daihatsu and by sorting on percentage of private eco label

use of the total automotive ad expenditure, with 1.17 percent Toyota outnumbers the

competition with their ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’.

Other private eco labels with +0.3 percent share, Opel’s ‘EcoFlex’, BMW’s

‘EfficientDynamics’, and Volkswagen’s ‘BlueMotion’, respectively 0.47% and 0.44%

and 0.39%, follow Toyota. It is surprising that Opel is in second position even though

they concentrated their private label campaign in 2007 only.

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 Percentage  of  private  label  use  in  total  automotive  ad  expenditure  
DAIHATSU  -­‐  Green  Butterfly  
TOYOTA  -­‐  Hybrid  Synergy  Drive  
OPEL  -­‐  EcoFlex  
BMW  -­‐  EfficientDynamics  
VOLKSWAGEN  -­‐  BlueMotion  
RENAULT  -­‐  Eco2  
TOYOTA  -­‐  Clean  Power  Diesel  
MERCEDES  BENZ  -­‐  BlueEfficiency  
MITSUBISHI  -­‐  Cleartec  
TOYOTA  -­‐  Toyota  Optimal  Drive  
HONDA  -­‐  Hybrid  
CITROEN  -­‐  Airdream  
MERCEDES  BENZ  -­‐  TrueBlueSolutions  
FORD  -­‐  Flexifuel  
MERCEDES  BENZ  -­‐  BlueTec   2009*  
FIAT  -­‐  Ecoplus  
2008  
SAAB  -­‐  BioPower  
VOLVO  -­‐  Drive   2007  
MINI  -­‐  EfficientDynamics   2006  
SMART  -­‐  Micro  Hybrid  Drive  
KIA  -­‐  ISG  

0.0%   0.2%   0.4%   0.6%   0.8%   1.0%   1.2%   1.4%   1.6%   1.8%  

* First four months of 2009

Fig 4.15 Percentage of private label use in total automotive ad expenditure

The Toyota Group, from which Daihatsu and Lexus take part, is the most active

holding in the automotive industry. Lexus, a brand that is using the same hybrid

technology as Toyota, does not appear on this list. The reason for this is, while

Toyota is using a real logo for their ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’ technology, Lexus is not

using any logo or recognisable wording to specifically identify their green product

range. They do have green advertising, though as they employ a relatively modest

strategy they do not appear on this specific list.

For more information on all mentioned private labels, please see examples in

Appendix F: Ad examples by Private Labelling.

71
4.7 Contemporary Elements

4.7.1 Recycling Symbols

Only two brands, Opel and Renault, which makes up for 2.1 percent of all green

advertisements found, communicated recycling symbols in their ad campaigns.

According to the FTC, unless the product contains 100% recycled materials,

the label must indicate how much of the finished product is in fact of recycled

material (D’Souza, 2005). However, the identified ad campaigns use the recycling

symbol in a slightly different way than proposed by the FTC. The percentage next to

the recycling symbol states the percentage of the car that can be recycled, and not the

percentage of recycled materials from which the car is constructed.

Both Opel and Renault displayed the recycling symbol in 2007. However, it is

only Renault that chose to use to state the percentage of how much of the car can be

recycled. In 2007 the corporation communicated that 95 percent of the car can be

recycled. One year later, Renault communicated a revised recycling percentage,

namely 85 percent.

For more information on all the recycling symbols, please see examples in Appendix

G: Ad examples by Recycling Symbols.

4.7.2 Strategic Alliances

6.8 percent of all green advertisements found use a form of strategic alliance. The

brands behind this percentage are Daihatsu, Suzuki, and Toyota. A side note is that

not all ad campaigns are reflecting true strategic alliances. A good example is

Daihatsu piggy backing on Toyota’s green and reliable image, or lifting images from

72
the popular documentary of Al Gore. The ones that are seen to be piggybacking have

been greyed out in Fig 4.16. The remaining relationships are considered to be true.

Percentage  of  strategic  alliances  in   DAIHATSU    An  Inconvenience  Truth  

total  automotive  ad  expenditure   DAIHATSU    Subsidiary  of  Toyota  
by  brand/alliance    
DAIHATSU    Toyota  Group  
0.8%  
DAIHATSU    Toyota-­‐Lexus-­‐Daihatsu  Group  
0.7%  
0.6%   DAIHATSU    Consumentenbond  
0.5%  
0.4%   DAIHATSU    Hier  Nederland  Klimaatneutraal  
0.3%  
DAIHATSU    World  Wide  Fund  for  Nature  
0.2%  
0.1%   SUZUKI    Mkomazi  National  Park    
0.0%  
TOYOTA    World  Wide  Fund  for  Nature  
2006   2007   2008  

Fig 4.16 Percentage of strategic alliances in total automotive ad expenditure by brand/alliance

Besides piggybacking, true relationships exist among all three brands, with

Daihatsu having the most alliances. Daihatsu refers to the ‘Consumentenbond’ (an

organ that protects the consumers), ‘Hier Nederland Klimaatneutraal’, and the ‘World

Wide Fund for Nature’; Toyota only refers to the latter, the ‘World Wide Fund for

Nature’; and Suzuki is only active with the ‘Mkomazi National Park’.

Suzuki peaked in 2006 and shows a negative trend in 2007. Daihatsu on the

other hand shows a positive development from 2006 onwards. Generally speaking the

strategic alliances peaked in 2007 when the World Wide Fund for Nature was a

popular partner for both brands of the Toyota Group, Daihatsu and Toyota.

4.7.3 Green Innovation Performance

According to Chen et al. (2006), green innovation can be divided into two types:

green product innovation or green process innovation. 26.7 percent of green

advertisements found are involved in green innovation. With this result it can be

73
concluded that green innovation plays an important role in green automotive

advertising.

None of the green advertisements found met Chen’s “exact” requirements regarding

process innovation. As there were no process innovations that met Chen’s

requirements, almost all green innovations spotted are product innovations. Two

brands that appear to be slightly process-innovation oriented are Honda and Renault.

Honda claims in an advertorial that they are continuously developing new technology

to make products and its production less damaging to the environment. Renault

mentioned that their factories meet the ISO 14001 and standard for environmental

management systems.

These two brands show activity in the years 2007 and 2008. Product

innovation on the other hand shows a steady positive trend across all years.

Percentage  of  green  innovation  in  total  automotive  

ad  expenditure  by  innovation  type  
6.0%  
5.0%  
4.0%   Process  Innovation**  
3.0%  
Product  Innovation  
2.0%  
1.0%   Product/Process  Innovation**  
0.0%  
2006   2007   2008   2009*  

* First four months of 2009

** Not meeting Chen’s requirements of process innovation
Fig 4.17 Percentage of green innovation in total automotive ad expenditure by innovation type

For more information on green product innovation and the two process-oriented ads

of Honda and Renault, please see examples in Appendix H: Ad examples by Green

Innovation.

74
5 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Chapter Overview

The research results and analysis in the previous chapter presented the outcomes of

the content analysis of three years of automotive advertising information. One of the

main purposes of the content analysis was to identify the anatomy of green

advertising from January 2006 to April 2009. The other major feature of the study

was to understand how green advertising developed around and after the launch of the

documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in October 2006. The findings provide insights

into all elements that are communicated in green automotive advertising.

The first section elaborates on the discussion of the research question, which

ultimately will lead to the conclusions. The second section discusses the contribution

of the study. Finally the third section discusses the limitations of this dissertation.

5.2 Discussion and Conclusions

5.2.1 Overview

This dissertation lifted off with the October 2006 launch of Al Gore’s documentary

‘An Inconvenient Truth’. The documentary had a major impact worldwide, and

finally global warming moved up in the priority schedule. This tipping point of

global awareness of environmental issues may have had a major impact on the

advertising industry from 2006 onward. With the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol

and Al Gore’s documentary, a number of important events took place after the FTC

had published the 1998 Green Guides, and therefore there was a lack of guidelines

around perhaps the biggest current environmental issue, climate change (Goodwin

Procter, 2008). As advertising has an important role in shaping public opinion

75
(Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995), and content analysis has not been a popular research

approach in the last decade (Chamorro et al., 2009), it is pertinent to study what the

consumers are exposed to in terms of green advertising. For this reason the following

research question was developed:

What is the anatomy of green advertising that consumers are being exposed to

today; and how did green advertising develop around and after the documentary ‘An

Inconvenient Truth’ was released in October 2006?

A number of investigative questions have been answered in the literature review.

However, the majority of questions needed further investigation and therefore can

only be answered after the content analysis. As the research question is twofold, the

answers to these questions can be found in: a) anatomy of green advertising, b) post-

documentary development, and c) the final conclusion.

The first section, anatomy of green advertising, discusses a quick comparison

of green advertising elements of the first green advertising boom and advertisements

today. As the elements discussed are orientation, argumentation, advertising appeals,

and advertising issues, from a green advertising perspective this part will answer

questions regarding the green advertising elements used, the reflection of global

warming and other environmental issues, and other persuasion elements. From

consumers’ perspective the anatomy of green advertising answers questions on

consumers’ demands for transparency, the role of innovation and its opportunities.

Also questions from the advertisers’ perspective and the market balance will be

clarified by answering questions around whether the industry is levelling itself more

towards the green consumer, the communication of eco-labels and strategic alliances

and their opportunities.

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 The second section, the post-documentary development, elaborates on the

period around and after the launch of the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ on

October 2006 until April 2009. This subchapter discusses the impact of the

documentary on the green advertising industry and different advertising elements,

such as the environmental issues and the involvement of non-governmental

organisations. Also the future of the prominent energy label use is a point of

discussion.

Finally, the conclusion, discusses whether one could speak of another green

advertising bubble and the perspective in current economic climate.

5.2.2 Anatomy of Green Advertising

Advertising Orientation

The study found that today’s advertisements include relatively more information or

argumentation, while in the early days nearly half of the advertisements tended to be

vague, ambiguous or containing omission (Carlson et al., 1993). In a quick

comparison of research results of the content analysis with the results from Carlson et

al. (1993), green advertising underwent a major metamorphosis. A side note is that

this comparison is not legible as no peer-to-peer comparison of the coding can be

done at this stage. Besides, this dissertation solely focuses on the automotive

industry, while the sample of Carlson et al. (1993) includes multiple industries.

However, comparing the number of unique advertising campaigns, as this was the

method Carlson et al. (1993) applied, the analysis does give some insights regarding

the evolution of green advertising. While at that time, most advertisements have a

process orientation and the shares of environmental facts and product orientation were

more of less evenly divided (Carlson et al., 1993), the majority of today’s

advertisements are product orientated.

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In terms of greenness of the media types, television is still the brownest, or less

greenest media type of the entire media landscape. Banerjee et al. (1995) used a

coding level of three shades, shallow, moderate and deep, while in this dissertation

was measured whether arguments were used or not. Even though these figures cannot

be compared like on an apple-to-apple basis, the quick analysis shows that nothing

much has changed in the balance between print and television. Print advertisements

however tend to be relatively more meaningful in comparison to the ones in the early

days of green advertising (Banerjee et al., 1995). This development cannot be

pinpointed from the research sample; as for example the inclusion of carbon dioxide

emission rates became mandatory at the beginning of 2000. However, according to

AdvertiseCO2, due to inattentive regulation implementation many advertisers did not

follow these guidelines. As of October 2007, the European Commission resolved that

at least 20 percent of advertising space has to be dedicated to Carbon Dioxide

emission and fuel consumption (AdvertiseCO2 (n.d.)).

Advertising Appeal

It is not surprising that the emotional appeal is the most popular advertising appeal

used. Especially in the automotive industry, where emotions play such a significant

role in the purchase of a car, it is very unlikely that this ad appeal will change in this

decade or the next. Also the role of the financial incentives is something that will not

disappear, unless the prices of cars drop dramatically.

Corporate appeal however, an appeal that had such an important role in the

early green advertising boom (Banerjee et al. 1995), lost popularity. Advertisers are

more focussing on the emotions and the purchasing power of consumers, rather than

communicating the specific green actions taken and green corporate strategy applied.

78
Not a surprising development, as products are taking a more important role in today’s

society.

The use of testimonials is still present in today’s advertisements. Similar to the

analysis of Banerjee et al. (1995), the presence of testimonials is not too prominent

and has relatively little added value. Celebrities are still most frequently used to

endorse the products. This is very unlikely to change, as people do relate to these role

models. However, Daihatsu is the only brand that uses unfamiliar faces for their

campaigns, which was not the case in the analysis of Banerjee et al. (1995).

However, it may also be that this was a lacking variable in their content analysis.

Advertising Issues

The advertising issue is one of the constructs that underwent a major change. While

issues like ‘atmosphere’, ‘land’, ‘water’, ‘animal’, and ‘plant’, were important at the

time of Banerjee’s study (Banerjee et al., 1995), today’s advertisements refer to more

sophisticated issues like ‘animal welfare’, ‘carbon dioxide emission’, ‘climate

change’, ‘global warming’, ‘nitrogen oxide’, ‘planet preservation’, ‘resource

depletion’, and ‘sustainability’. This is a very important shift as consumers rely to a

certain extent on advertising (Davidson, 2008). The presence of these more

sophisticated advertising issues in advertisements may contribute to a higher

awareness of contemporary environmental issues among the advertising audience. In

the automotive industry, Daihatsu and Toyota played an important role in raising the

awareness of global warming and climate change, especially in and around the time of

the release of Al Gore’s documentary.

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Labels, Symbols, and Absolute Claims

May it be third party labelling, private labelling or the use of recycling symbols, all

phenomena are prominent in automotive advertising, however, one more than the

others. Consumers demand cleaner cars and they should subsequently be labelled as

such (Vandermerwe and Oliff, 1990). With the introduction of the eco label, the

consumer was finally able to compare cars by the letters A to G, which were linked to

the energy-efficiency and carbon dioxide emission in its category (Energielabel,

2009). This development is a milestone in automotive advertising that started to

appear from September 2007, and its presence has grown ever since. Nonetheless,

eco labelling in the form of the energy label remains a concept to categorise cars from

a product perspective, while consumers need more transparency across the complete

cradle to grave/cradle cycle. A disappointing number of just two brands, Honda and

Renault, advertised from a process perspective by focussing on the less damaging

production process or by including the environmental management standard ISO

14001 in their advertisements. As green consumers are not only concerned about the

damaging impact of a product, but are also concerned about the production process, in

terms of scarce resources consumed and with the product disposal issues, a more

transparent communication strategy of the automotive industry may give rise to new

opportunities. Would a green consumer buy an energy-efficient hybrid driven Toyota

Prius if the production process and the product disposal has a catastrophic impact on

mother earth? A clear rhetorical question, but could be confusing when transparency

is lacking. The latter, the product disposal issues, has been acknowledged by two

brands, Opel and Renault, who decided to communicate that their cars can be recycled

for a certain percentage. Which proves that there is some development happening in

terms of transparency of the advertising industry. Absolute claims were pretty much

80
absent. None of the advertisements claimed that their vehicles are clean and good for

the environment. If this would have been the case, there is a big chance that the

advertisement would not be seen by the mass audience as Stichting Reclame Code

(2008) would have taken them off the air immediately.

Alliances and Innovation

Several different alliances exist in green automotive advertising. Generally speaking

these alliances were represented by the brands Daihatsu, Suzuki, and Toyota. On a

few occasions, the alliance took the form of piggybacking rather than exposing a true

alliance with a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Whenever strategic alliances

where present, the NGOs had more of a supportive or approval function. If car

manufacturers succeed in building true alliances and communicate as such, by joining

forces where both parties are expected to profit from each others experience

(Mendleson and Polonsky, 1995), there is no doubt that new opportunities will arise.

Joining forces would stimulate the development of green product design and

technology. In other words, knowledge sharing could cause a leap in green product

and process innovation performance. This in particular could turn into an attractive

cost saving option in the current economic climate (Neff, 2008). However, it is

understandable that brands in such a competitive environment are hesitant to share

their knowledge, especially when the first-mover advantage takes such a prominent

place in winning and maintaining the loyalty of green consumers. Therefore, an

observation of innovation in the automotive industry is the major increase of private

labels in the automotive industry. Almost half of the advertisements label their

products, ranging from a simple green eco-friendly butterfly to a complete green

product programme like Mercedes’ ‘TrueBlueSolutions’. Nevertheless, if one would

81
ask consumers regarding an eco-friendly car, there would be no doubt that most

consumers would say the hybrid technology in the Toyota Prius, also known as

‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’. Again, this proves the importance of green innovation,

which improves the corporate image, develop new markets, and especially, gains

competitive advantage. The Toyota Prius is the first of their product range using the

technology that combines the conventional fuel chain with electricity. According to

CNET (2007), Toyota’s ambitious target is to build an all-hybrid fleet by 2020.

Toyota’s ambitious goal forces other competitors in the automotive industry to

innovate and replace their current product range with energy-efficient cars.

Corporations being resistant to innovation could cost them their business in the long

run.

Natural Themes

The introduction of the Sport Utility Vehicle did change the general anatomy of green

advertising and shifted automotive advertising into a more grey area towards the

phenomenon green washing. Due to SUV advertising, the invocation of natural

themes has become more prominent in the media landscape. The growing concern of

the rise of the SUV lay at the core of the public backlash against this type of vehicle

(Gunster, 2004). In the same year Al Gore’s documentary was released, the SUV

trend peaked and figures have dropped ever since. Perhaps people got sane and

realised that the SUV consumes excessive amounts of natural resources and emits

higher levels of pollutants than necessary; and advertisers realised that these

advertisements would only do more damage than good to the brand.

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5.2.3 Post-Documentary Development

An Inconvenient Truth

The other major feature of the study was to understand how green advertising

developed around and after the October 2006 launch of the documentary ‘An

Inconvenient Truth’. Throughout the research results and analysis, the documentary

has been tagged with a green earth in every line chart that is displaying the period

2006 – 2009. This specific data period was chosen as it would include nine months

before, the month October, and thirty months after the publication, which sums to an

analysis of a total period of forty months of advertising data. A side note is that the

US launch of the documentary was in May 2006, which may explain some of the

shifts in green advertising spend and advertising issues that have been observed

before the Dutch launch, which was in October 2006.

Green Advertising Trend

Looking at green advertising expenditure, in the automotive sector in the Netherlands

(Fig 4.1), October 2006 shows a peak that is significantly higher than the surrounding

months in 2006 and the first half of 2007. However, because that same month the

total automotive advertising expenditure actually shows a peak, the green advertising

boom is relative. When observing the percentage of green advertising in the total

automotive advertising expenditure (Fig 4.2), green advertising peaked in the summer

of 2006, thus right between the US and the Dutch launch. Nevertheless, it is obvious

that green advertising became more prominent in the media landscape in the period of

the US and Dutch launch of the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. The

preceding years show a positive trend with fewer fluctuations as has been identified in

2006, with green advertising accelerating in 2009. It looks like green advertising

83
gained ground in the automotive industry. As the automotive industry is one of the

most important markets where consumers find the green issue to be relevant, perhaps

it could be true to say that its prominence grew in consumer durable goods (home

appliances) and the energy market also over the past three years. The green

advertising acceleration in 2009 can be explained by the growing importance of

energy labels. As this phenomenon is relatively industry specific, a similar boom in

that same period is unlikely to be expected across different industries.

Issues and NGOs

Another interesting observation is the environmental issues around and after the

launch of the documentary. The environmental issue that has been observed in the

complete data period is the issue around carbon dioxide emissions. This is not

surprising, as the inclusion of carbon dioxide emission rates became a

recommendation around 2000 (AdvertiseCO2 (n.d.)). Nonetheless, the interesting

part of the observation, quite similar to the advertising analysis in the previous

paragraph, is the fact that the number of new issues started to rise in the summer of

2006, again between the US and the Dutch launch of the documentary. During this

period issues like global warming and planet preservation were introduced in

automotive advertising. It is especially this period in which the World Wide Fund for

Nature was prominent in advertising. While Daihatsu was creating awareness around

planet preservation, Toyota was doing this on both issues. In 2007, the WWF lost

popularity and Daihatsu together with Hier Klimaat Neutraal generated awareness

around the issue climate change. After the summer of 2007, the issues global

warming and climate change lost popularity, while planet preservation increased in

84
importance. Together with carbon dioxide emissions planet preservation are the most

important issues today.

Energy Label and Government

In 2008, the carbon dioxide emission issue became more prominent than ever before

and caused green advertising to boom. Especially for the broadcast media of

television, the introduction of the energy label that is creating the awareness around

carbon dioxide emissions is a milestone in automotive advertising. However, in

reality this label also has a weak spot. According to the Bond Beter Leefmilieu

(BBL), in the consumer durable goods or home appliances industry, a sector in which

the energy label was introduced first, due to the rising number of A-labelled products

a product that has this label no longer guarantees that it is the most energy efficient

one in the product range (Stichtingmilieunet, 2009). A similar development has been

observed in the automotive industry. Initially it was agreed that the cars would

undergo a yearly review per each category. However, due to rapid innovations in

technology, a yearly revision of the labels would cause a Smart to get a D-label.

Therefore the labels have not been reviewed for at least two years now (Autoweek,

2008). A solution that was found in the consumer durable goods, to distinguish

within an existing category, the energy label A was further diversified. Appliances

that were more energy efficient than the average A-label were labelled as A+ or A++

(Stichtingmilieunet, 2009). Today, as more and more cars are receiving the A-label, it

is not unlikely for the automotive industry to apply the similar amendment to the

current labels.

Another concern is the fact that the government is shifting the current tax

system, in which the energy label takes a significant role, into a new CO2 tax plan.

85
Together with the kilometre charge (Ubbels et al., 2002), the CO2 tax plan is a

promising system that definitely will reduce traffic and exhort people to leave the car

at home whenever possible. However, this will also mean that the energy labels are

likely to disappear by 2013, which may have a major impact on the transparency of

green automotive advertising.

5.2.4 Conclusions

The documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, presented by former United States Vice

President Al Gore and directed by Davis Guggenheim, can be seen as a tipping point

of global awareness concerning climate change. Finally the issue global warming got

moved up in the international priority schedule, which subsequently moved

advertising into a greener direction. The results show that it did propel green

advertising causing another green advertising bubble. There is no doubt that green

advertising underwent a major metamorphosis in comparison to the first green

advertising bubble in the 90s. The advertising orientation changed, the information

exposure improved, environmental issues became more sophisticated, eco-labels

added clarity to the message, and the involvement of non-governmental organisations

and other alliances built trust. Nonetheless, even though many elements may have

changed and improved green advertisements, the concept of advertising remains the

same. Whether the advertisement is labelled as green advertising, environmental

advertising, conventional advertising, or even green washing, the goal of

advertisements is to be successful in influencing consumer behaviour through a series

of reception stages, described as cognitive, affective, and conative. This essential and

hierarchical information-processing model prioritises the message, the operational

strategy, and the relevance to the consumer of the brand, product or services featured

in the advertisements (Aitken et al., 2008). It cannot be instantly assumed that the

86
message is clear and easily understood by the consumer, let alone by the green

consumer. Especially in green advertising that suffered major trust issues from which

authors believed that the damage had to skip a whole generation for green advertising

to recover, a one-size-fits-all strategy should be the last strategy a corporation should

think of (Ginsberg and Bloom, 2004). As eco labelling, such as the energy label, is a

concept that exposes the energy-efficiency from a product perspective, the process

and the disposal perspective still lacks transparency. Generally speaking, green

consumers are not only concerned about the impact that a product has while it is

consumed, but are also concerned about the production process and the disposal

issues (Zinkhan and Carlson, 1995). Considering the current economic climate and

the high fuel prices, the majority of the consumers just want an energy-efficient car

and therefore should be relatively satisfied with automotive advertisements today.

For a while now, the global credit crunch had been the central point of discussion

across all media worldwide. All the same, despite of the economic downturn, under

Barack Obama’s supervision as the President of the United States of America, climate

change remains a high priority. Together with the decision taken by the G20, green

advertising is key in shaping a greener world. Advertising has the power to effect

social change (Fisk, 1974), and despite the fact consumers do not believe in it, they do

rely on advertising (Davidson, 2008).

5.3 Contributions of the Study

This study has attempted to gain an exploratory understanding of the anatomy of

green advertising today and the development around and after the documentary ‘An

Inconvenient Truth’ was released in October 2006. There are some important

contributions made by this study.

87
First, the study supports the constructs for content analyses designed by previous

researchers. Despite the fact that some of the constructs had to be amended where

needed, the general concept stands. By combining elements from Banerjee and Iyer

(1995), Banerjee et al. (1993), and Carlson et al. (1993) a new content analysis model

arose with an additional application of contemporary elements. After almost a

decade, this new model may be useful in future content analysis of green advertising.

Bearing in mind that this model was applied to the automotive industry, it became

clear that industry relevant variables were required in order to adequately address the

focus industry.

Besides the support of the previous constructs for content analysis, this study supports

the rate-weighted method suggested by Prior (2001), which considers the prices of the

ad buy as an alternative weight, as the more intuitive measure. By considering key

variables, such as incidence, volume, and media channel rate, the rate-weighted

method gives a better reflection of the “real” market. The alternative analysis by

unique campaign, also known as the unweighted method, would give deviation in the

results and therefore may lead to significantly different conclusions. The analysis by

unique campaigns has been left out of the study. However, to emphasize the different

methods, chapter 3.3.3: the weighting factors, displays how the totals are compiled,

and differences are explained.

Furthermore, this study reiterates the importance of research in the field of green

advertising. This specific study in the automotive advertising created a foundation for

consumer research. A semiotic analysis would be highly suitable to study the

consumer’s perception of green advertising today. Especially with the shift from the

88
current tax system, to the new CO2 tax plan and the diminishment of the energy

labels.

5.4 Limitations

There are several limitations to this study, starting with the geographical limitation.

As this content analysis was conducted in the Netherlands, the results will reflect the

Dutch national market specifically. The fact that the main advertising language is

Dutch does not directly signify that only Dutch elements are used in advertising. For

instance, the energy label that is used to indicate the energy-efficiency of cars is a

European initiative. Besides, due to globalisation, the development of the Internet

such as web 2.0, and since advertising concepts are often globally used, to a certain

extent, this study may be internationally accepted as well.

According to Carlson et al. (1996) who conducted an international comparison

of environmental advertising across four English-speaking countries (US, Canada,

Great Britain, and Australia), the character of advertising differs among countries.

These authors found that the US ad claims are more associative and have fewer

substantive claims compared to the other countries in the sample. Since the majority

of the literature review is based on US publication and it may be that the US is not at

the forefront of environmental marketing, the described research method may lack

some depth in terms of advertisement elements. Besides, European businesses

traditionally have been perceived as more environmentally responsible than the US

(Carlson et al., 1996).

Another limitation regards the media landscape. According to the Media Group of

The Nielsen Company in the Netherlands, four traditional media types exist and all

play a significant role in the automotive industry. However, not to exceed the

89
manageable size for one full time equivalent and the specific time period, the

broadcast media radio had been excluded from the sample. Other available media

types, e.g. outdoor, cinema, direct mail and especially Internet, would be a great add-

on if the budget would allow a larger group of researchers.

And finally, the last limitation is the industry. Basically, three major industries exist

where green advertising has gained ground: consumer durable goods (home

appliances), energy market, and the automotive industry. As the sample needed to be

of manageable size, this study maintained a focus on the automotive industry only.

However, since the automotive industry is one of the biggest industries in the

Netherlands, in terms of (green) advertising, this study should shape a relatively

substantial picture of the green advertising market in the Netherlands.

90
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• Energielabel (2009). Energielabel: onafhankelijke consumenteninformatie over het
energielabel. Viewed on 2009-05-12, on http://www.energielabel.nl
• FTC (n.d.). Federal Trade Commission: Protecting America’s Consumers. Viewed on
2009-04-16, on http://ftc.gov
• Green2 (2008). Green.2: de eerste groene glossy ter wereld. Viewed on 2009-10-29,
on http://www.green2.nl
• ISO (2009). International Standards for Business, Government and Society: ISO
14000 essentials. Viewed on 2009-11-09, on http://www.iso.org
• LLiNK (n.d.). LLiNK: voor een eerlijke, duurzame en zorgzame wereld. Viewed on
2009-10-29, on http://www.llink.nl
• Milieu Centraal (2009). Milieu Centraal: alles over energie en milieu in het dagelijks
leven. Viewed on 2009-05-2, on http://www.milieucentraal.nl
• National Geographic (2009). National Geographic: Inspiring People to Care About
the Planet. Viewed on 2009-10-10, on http://www.nationalgeographic.com
• RTL (2009). RTL Nederland: adverteren. Viewed on 2009-10-29, on
http://www.rtl.nl
• Salt (2008). Salt Online: People Planet Passion Play. Viewed on 2009-10-29, on
http://www.getsalt.com
• Sp!ts (2008). Sp!ts: Adverteren. Viewed on 2009-10-29, on http://www.spits.nl
• Stichtingmileunet (2009). Stichting Milieu Net: nieuw EU energielabel voor
televisies, koelkasten, diepvriezen en wasmachines. Viewed on 2009-10-08, on
http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl
• Ster (n.d.). Ster: adverteren. Viewed on 2009-10-29, on http://www.ster.nl
• The Nielsen Company (2009). The Nielsen Company. Viewed on 2009-04-16, on
http://www.nielsen.com

94
Appendix A: The Nielsen Company – Media List

THE NIELSEN COMPANY THE NETHERLANDS ARIADNE AT HOME WONEN

TELEVISION STATION AUTO MOTOR EN SPORT (OUD)
National NEDERLAND 1 AUTO MOTOR KLASSIEK
NEDERLAND 2 AUTO PODIUM
NEDERLAND 3 AUTO REVIEW
RTL-4 AUTOKAMPIOEN
RTL-5 AUTOMOBIEL KLASSIEKER MAGAZINE
SBS 6 AUTOPRESS
RTL-7 AUTOVISIE
RTL-8 AUTOWEEK
V8/VERONICA AVANTGARDE
NET 5 AVANTGARDE MEN
NICKELODEON AVRO BODE
COMEDY CENTRAL BABY INFO
TMF THE MUSIC FACTORY BABY'S EERSTE JAAR
MTV BACIO (OUD)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL BACKPACKERS
TIENTV (OUD) BEAU MONDE
BEELD & GELUID OPINIE
BELEGGERS BELANGEN
BEST LIFE (OUD)
THE NIELSEN COMPANY THE NETHERLANDS BEURSPLEIN 5 (OUD)
NEWSPAPERS TITLE BG MAGAZINE
Daily Papers AD MAGAZINE BIGTWIN BIKERMAGAZINE
ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD BINGO!
BRABANT COMBINATIE BIZZ
DAG (OUD) BIZZ FAMILIEBEDRIJF
DAGBLAD VAN HET NOORDEN BLOEMEN & PLANTEN
DE DORDTENAAR BLVD (OUD)
DE GELDERLANDER [INC BARN.KRT] BLVD MAN
DE GOOI- EN EEMLANDER BODY EN MIND
DE PERS BREAK OUT!
DE TELEGRAAF BRIDGE
DE TELEGRAAF OP ZONDAG BRIGHT
DE VOLKSKRANT BRISK (OUD)
FD PERSOONLIJK BRITISH
FRIESCH DAGBLAD BRUID & BRUIDEGOM MAGAZINE
HAARLEMS DAGBLAD KOMBINATIE BUITEN
HET FINANCIEELE DAGBLAD BUITENLANDSE MARKTEN
HET PAROOL BUITENLEVEN
LEEUWARDER COURANT BURDA
LEIDSCH DAGBLAD BUSINESS WEEK
LIMBURGSE DAGBLADEN COMBINATIE C-SHARP (OUD)
M MAGAZINE CANAL+ GIDS
METRO CAPTAIN
NEDERLANDS DAGBLAD CARP
NEXT.GUIDE (OUD) CARP (OUD)
NEXT.ONE (OUD) CARRIERE & UPDATE FINANCIEEL
NOORDHOLLANDS DAGBLAD CARRIERE & UPDATE TECHNIEK
NRC HANDELSBLAD CARROS
NRC.NEXT CASH
PAROOL MAGAZINE CATHERINE (OUD)
PROVINCIALE ZEEUWSE COURANT CELEBRITY MAGAZINE
PS VAN DE WEEK COLUMBUS
REFORMATORISCH DAGBLAD COMPUTER IDEE
RIJN EN GOUWE CONTRAST
ROTTERDAMS DAGBLAD COSMOGIRL!
SIJTHOFF PERS DAGBLADCOMB. COSMOPOLITAN
SP!TS DE ACCOUNTANT
STAATSCOURANT DE GROENE AMSTERDAMMER
STIJL ONTMOET STIJL DE HARDLOPER (OUD)
TELEGRAAF LUXE DE UITKIJK (OUD)
TROUW DE ZAAK
TUBANTIA OP ZONDAG DER SPIEGEL
TV WEEKEINDE DEZE WEEK
UNAC COMBINATIE DONALD DUCK
VOLKSKRANT MAGAZINE EFFECT
VROUW EIGEN HUIS & INTERIEUR
WEGENER DAGBL.GELDERL/OVERIJSSEL ELAN
ELEGANCE
ELF
ELLE
THE NIELSEN COMPANY THE NETHERLANDS ELLE ETEN
MAGAZINES TITLE ELLE WONEN
Magazines 02 BIKERS ELLEGIRL
101WOONIDEEEN ELSEVIER
4WD AUTOMAGAZINE EN FRANCE
AKTUEEL EO VISIE
ALOHA ESQUIRE
AM MAGAZINE ESTA
ANWB AUTO FAMILIETIJD (OUD)
ANWB BOOT FANCY
FC VOETBAL MAGAZINE

95
FELDERHOF MIND MAGAZINE
FEM BUSINESS MONEY
FIETS ACTIEF MORE THAN CLASSIC
FLAIR MOTO 73
FOCUS MOTOR
FOCUS (DTSL) MOTORBOOT
FOR HIM MAGAZINE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
FORMULE 1 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER
FORMULE 1.NL NAUTIQUE
GALA (OUD) NCRV GIDS
GAMEPRO NEGEN MAANDEN MAGAZINE
GAMEQUEST (OUD) NGAMER
GARDENS & COUNTRY NIEUWE REVU
GEORGE NOBILES
GIRLZ! NOUVEAU
GLAMAZINE NRC FOCUS
GLAMOUR NU DE TIJD VAN JE LEVEN (OUD)
GLOSSY OBJEKT
GOLF JOURNAAL ODE
GOLF NIEUWS OFFICIELE PRIJSCOURANT
GOLFERS MAGAZINE ONDERNEMEN
GOODFOOD ONE (OUD)
GRASDUINEN OOK!
GRAZIA OOR
GREEN.2 OP PAD
GROEI & BLOEI OPZIJ
GROTER GROEIEN OUDERS VAN NU
GTO (OUD) OUTDOOR MAGAZINE
HAPPINEZ PANORAMA
HART VOOR DIEREN PARTY
HET (HOME ENTERTAINMENT TODAY) PAUZE
HIDE & CHIC PC GAMEPLAY
HITKRANT PC PLUS MAGAZINE
HOCKEY MAGAZINE (OUD) PC ZONE BENELUX
HOCKEY MAGAZINE SPECIAL (OUD) PENTHOUSE
HOCKEY WEEKLY PINK RIBBON
HOCKEY.NL PITCH (OUD)
HOLLANDS DIEP PLAYBOY
HOME AND GARDEN PLAYNATION (OUD)
HP/DE TIJD PLAYSTATION 2 MAGAZINE
HVT PLUS
IN 1 GOLF EN LIFESTYLE (OUD) POWER UNLIMITED
IN VERWACHTING PREVIEW
INFINANCE PRIMO
INTERMEDIAIR PRIVE
INTIEM PROMOTOR
ITALIE MAGAZINE PSYCHOLOGIE MAGAZINE
J/M MAANDBLAD VOOR OUDERS QUEST
J/M PUBERS (OUD) QUOTE
JACKIE QUOTE FINANCE (OUD)
JAMES READER'S DIGEST/HET BESTE
JAN RED
JANTJE REIZEN
JEWELS FASHION & WATCHES RESIDENCE
JFK REVU
JOHAN RTL GP MAGAZINE
JOIE DE VIVRE RUNNERS WORLD
KAMPEER & CARAVAN KAMPIOEN S1NGLE (OUD)
KAMPIOEN SALT MAGAZINE
KICXSTART SAMSONIC
KIDSWEEK SANDRA
KIJK SANTE
KINDEREN SCHIPPER M/V (OUD)
KINDJE OP KOMST SEASONS
KNIP MODE SEASONS FRANKRIJK (OUD)
KRO MAGAZINE SEN
LA VIE EN ROSE SIS (OUD)
LANDLEVEN SKI-MAGAZINE
LEVEN IN FRANKRIJK SNOWBOARD MAGAZINE
LIBELLE SPORT INTERNATIONAL (OUD)
LINDA. SPORTSWOMEN.NL
LINK SPORTWEEK
LIVING SPROUT
LUISTER SQ SOCIETY QUARTERLY (OUD)
MAMA SQUEEZE
MAN STARSTYLE (OUD)
MANAGEMENT SCOPE STORY
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT MAGAZINE STRICTLY
MANAGEMENT TEAM STUDIO KRO MAGAZINE
MARGRIET SUM
MARIA SUM ORIENTATIE NIEUWS
MARIE CLAIRE SUMMERTIME MAGAZINE
MAXIM (OUD) SURF-MAGAZINE
MEDIA TOTAAL TABLEAU FINE ARTS MAGAZINE
MEN'S HEALTH TALKIES
MERIDIAN TECHNISCHE&KWANTITATIEVE ANALYSE
MIDI (OUD) TELEVIZIER
MIJN GEHEIM TENNIS
MIKRO GIDS THE BIG BLACK BOOK
MILJONAIR THE ECONOMIST

96
THUIS VOETBAL MAGAZINE
TIME VOX
TINA VPRO GIDS
TIP CULINAIR VRIENDIN
TIPS & TRUCS VRIJ NEDERLAND
TOERACTIEF VT WONEN
TOP GEAR WATERKAMPIOEN
TOP SANTE WEEKEND
TOTAAL TV WELKE BADKAMERS
TRIV’ (OUD) WELKE HAARDEN EN KACHELS
TROSKOMPAS WELKE KEUKENS EN APPARATUUR
TUINIEREN WELKE VLOEREN EN WANDEN
TV FILM WETENSCHAP IN BEELD
TV KRANT WIJ JONGE OUDERS
U EN UW BABY WINING & DINING
UITKRANT XBOX MAGAZINE
VARA TV MAGAZINE YES
VARAGIDS Z@PP&ZO
VERONICA ZEILEN
VERONICA SATELLITE ZIN
VIDEO UIT & THUIS ZO ZIT DAT
VILLA D'ARTE ZWANGER & ZO
VIVA The Nielsen Company (2009)
VIVA BABY'S
VIVA MAMA
VIVENDA
VOETBAL INTERNATIONAL

97
Appendix B: Ad examples by Ad Orientation
Ad Orientation – Environmental Facts

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 30176AF
Media : Television

98
Ad Orientation – Image

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 401577
Media : Magazines

99
Ad Orientation – Product

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Lexus
Creative ID : 427017
Media : Magazines

100
Ad Orientation – Combination (Image/Product)

Advertiser : Auto Import Maatschappij AIM Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Saab
Creative ID : 386582
Media : Magazines

101
Ad Orientation – Implicit

Advertiser : Daimler Chrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : 357797
Media : Magazines

102
Appendix C1: Ad examples by Ad Appeal
Ad Appeal – Emotional

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 417358
Media : Magazines

103
Ad Appeal – Financial

Advertiser : Citroen Nederland Amsterdam

Brand : Citroen
Creative ID : 438577
Media : Newspapers

104
Ad Appeal – Informative

Advertiser : Daimler Chrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : 474286
Media : Magazines

105
Ad Appeal – Corporate

Advertiser : Daimler Chrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : 436258
Media : Magazines

106
Ad Appeal – Rational

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 338429
Media : Newspapers

107
Ad Appeal – Implicitly

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 447577
Media : Newspapers

108
Ad Appeal – Testimonial

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Lexus
Creative ID : 514568
Media : Newspapers

109
Appendix C2: Ad examples by Ad Appeal Elements
Ad Appeal – Emotional – Responsible

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 417358
Media : Magazines

Ad Appeal – Emotional – Humour

Advertiser : BMW Nederland Rijswijk Zuid-Holland

Brand : BMW
Creative ID : 517274
Media : Magazines

110
Ad Appeal – Emotional – Comfort

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 488382
Media : Magazines

Ad Appeal – Emotional – Excitement

Advertiser : BMW Nederland Rijswijk Zuid-Holland

Brand : BMW
Creative ID : 446395
Media : Magazines

111
Ad Appeal – Emotional – Warmth

Advertiser : General Motors Nederland Breda

Brand : Opel
Creative ID : I635402
Media : Television

Ad Appeal – Emotional – Trust

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonkveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 418231
Media : Newspapers

112
Ad Appeal – Financial – Cause Subsidy

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonkveer

Brand : Lexus
Creative ID : 368078
Media : Newspapers

Ad Appeal – Financial – Money-off

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 466667
Media : Magazines

113
Ad Appeal – Financial – Special Offer

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 409394
Media : Magazines

Ad Appeal – Financial – Recycle Bonus

Advertiser : General Motors Nederland Breda

Brand : Opel
Creative ID : 415589
Media : Newspapers

114
Ad Appeal – Financial – Split Payment

Advertiser : General Motors Nederland Breda

Brand : Opel
Creative ID : I637077
Media : Television

Ad Appeal – Informative – Ecological Program

Advertiser : Daimler Chrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : 497738
Media : Magazines

115
Ad Appeal – Informative – Cleanness

Advertiser : Ford Nederland Amsterdam

Brand : Ford
Creative ID : 419784
Media : Magazines

Ad Appeal – Corporate – Social Responsible

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 401577
Media : Magazines

116
Ad Appeal – Corporate – Green Actions

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 30176AI
Media : Television

Ad Appeal – Rational – Plain

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 338167
Media : Magazines

117
Ad Appeal – Implicitly – Green Car

Advertiser : Chevrolet Nederland Breda

Brand : Chevrolet
Creative ID : 30344AE
Media : Television

Ad Appeal – Implicitly – Natural Environment

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 388161
Media : Magazines

118
Ad Appeal – Implicitly – Windmill

Advertiser : Ford Nederland Amsterdam

Brand : Ford
Creative ID : 402158
Media : Magazines

Ad Appeal – Testimonial – Celebrity

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonkveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 519729
Media : Newspapers

119
Ad Appeal – Testimonial – Citizen

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 484445
Media : Magazines

120
Appendix D: Ad examples by Ad Issues
Ad Issues – Carbon Dioxide Emission

Advertiser : Fiat Auto Nederland Lijnden

Brand : Fiat
Creative ID : 214129
Media : Television

Ad Issues – Planet Preservation

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : I632890
Media : Television

121
Ad Issues – Global Warming

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 30176A
Media : Television

Ad Issues – Animal Welfare – Project

Advertiser : Nimag Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Suzuki
Creative ID : 29090A
Media : Television

122
Ad Issues – Animal Welfare – Subtle

Advertiser : Pon's Automobielhandel Leusden

Brand : Volkswagen
Creative ID : I641966
Media : Television

123
Appendix E: Ad examples by Third Party Labelling
Third Party Labelling – Energy Label

Advertiser : BMW Nederland Rijswijk Zuid-Holland

Brand : Volkswagen
Creative ID : 440918
Media : Magazines

Third Party Labelling – Hier Nederland Klimaatneutraal

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 395795
Media : Magazines

124
Third Party Labelling – ISO 14001

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 24896AA
Media : Television

Third Party Labelling – Rhino Mkomazi National Park

Advertiser : Nimag Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Suzuki
Creative ID : 29090A
Media : Television

125
Third Party Labelling – World Wide Fund for Nature

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 377127
Media : Newspapers

Third Party Labelling – Combination

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 386505
Media : Newspapers

126
Appendix F: Ad examples by Private Labelling
Private Labelling – 1. Daihatsu – Green Butterfly

Advertiser : Daihatsu Holland Vianen Utrecht

Brand : Daihatsu
Creative ID : 409394
Media : Magazines

Private Labelling – 2. Toyota – Hybrid Synergy Drive

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 339454
Media : Magazines

127
Private Labelling – 3. Opel – EcoFlex

Advertiser : General Motors Nederland Breda

Brand : Opel
Creative ID : I635405
Media : Television

Private Labelling – 4. BMW – EfficientDynamics

Advertiser : BMW Nederland Rijswijk Zuid-Holland

Brand : BMW
Creative ID : 504239
Media : Magazines

128
Private Labelling – 5. Volkswagen – BlueMotion

Advertiser : Pon's Automobielhandel Leusden

Brand : Volkswagen
Creative ID : 472362
Media : Newspapers

Private Labelling – 6. Renault – Eco2

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 421440
Media : Newspapers

129
Private Labelling – 7. Toyota – Clean Power Diesel

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 313072
Media : Magazines

Private Labelling – 8. Mercedes Benz – BlueEfficiency

Advertiser : DaimlerChrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : I647360
Media : Television

130
Private Labelling – 9. Mitsubishi – Cleartec

Advertiser : Mitsubishi Motor Sales Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Mitsubishi
Creative ID : 31681AA
Media : Television

Private Labelling – 10. Toyota – Toyota Optimal Drive

Advertiser : Louwman & Parqui Raamsdonksveer

Brand : Toyota
Creative ID : 522951
Media : Newspapers

131
Appendix G: Ad examples by Recycling Symbols
Recycling Symbols – Opel

Advertiser : General Motors Nederland Breda

Brand : Opel
Creative ID : 417768
Media : Television

Recycling Symbols – Renault – 95%

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 401577
Media : Magazines

132
Recycling Symbols – Renault – 85%

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 24896AA
Media : Television

133
Appendix H: Ad examples by Green Innovation
Green Innovation – Product Innovation

Advertiser : DaimlerChrysler Nederland Utrecht

Brand : Mercedes Benz
Creative ID : 460289
Media : Magazines

Green Innovation – Process Innovation

Advertiser : Renault Nissan Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Renault
Creative ID : 401577
Media : Magazines

134
Green Innovation – Combined Innovation

Advertiser : Honda Nederland Schiphol-Rijk

Brand : Honda
Creative ID : 413306
Media : Magazines

135