Green With Fear: Fear Appeals and Temporal Framing in Eco-Friendly Clothing Advertising

This study examines how fear appeals (moderate vs. high) and temporal frames (proximal vs. distal) interactively influenced consumers' attitude and purchase intention in the framework of eco-friendly clothing advertising in China. For that purpose, empirical analyses were performed by collecting data from 640 consumers across Mainland China. Results revealed that consumers who perceived eco-friendly clothing as highly relevant to themselves expressed more favorable attitude toward the advertising that employed moderate-level fear appeals than the advertising that employed high-level fear appeals. As for consumers with a low level of perceived personal relevance, they showed the most favorable attitude toward the brand when being exposed to high-level fear appeals with a distal frame, and the least favorable attitude toward the brand when being exposed to moderate-level fear appeals with a distal frame. These research results provide significant theoretical and practical implications for scholars and eco-friendly marketing professionals.