After a growth in sales of 30% from 2007 to 2010, green product market sales declined 2% from 2010 to 2014 in the United States. Business leaders need to incorporate sustainable business practices and use green messaging within advertisements and marketing campaigns to assure that present needs do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This qualitative case study explored marketing strategies that business leaders in the green advertising industry use to increase the sale of green products. The social cognitive theory was the conceptual framework used in this study. In-depth interviews with 5 purposively selected business leaders with experience in advertising green products were supplemented with a review of documentation. Yin's 5-step analysis guided the coding process of participants' responses, and member checking was used to validate the transcribed data. The major themes of the study revealed strategies used in green advertising. The themes that emerged from the research include usage of social media, understanding behaviors of green consumers, and expectations of the emerging millennial generation. The implication for positive social change is the potential for increased environmental awareness that could positively affect the environment and improve effectiveness for companies that sell green products.

In 2016, it is no longer possible to deny the existence of global warming and its harmful effects on our planet and the environment. Not only experts, but also consumers, have become increasingly concerned about the environment. This increased awareness and concern has increased consumers’ interest in purchasing environmentally friendly food products, and has caused companies to focus on programs intent on reducing their environmental impact and helping the environment. Companies have introduced more environmentally friendly food products, accessible on a large scale, and have changed their communication to focus more on green products and green product attributes. Scandinavian countries have some of the largest numbers of organic food consumers in Europe and the world, with the Swedish organic food industry measuring the highest growth rate in organic food sales in 2015. Therefore, this study focuses on the Swedish green food industry. A major way for companies to make consumers aware of their available environmentally friendly food products is through green advertising. An increasingly frequent problem, however, is that consumers tend to distrust these green ads. They have knowledge of green washing practices and misleading information in green advertising. In this thesis, the relationships between green consumerism, green washing and green advertising skepticism were investigated. The potential relationship between demographic factors such as gender, age, income and level and area of study, and green advertising skepticism were tested as well. A research model with three main hypotheses was used in this thesis. The results showed a significant relationship between green consumerism and green advertising skepticism when green washing was a moderator. There was also a significant negative relationship between attitude towards green products and green advertising skepticism and a positive relationship between environmental concern and green advertising skepticism. There existed no significant relationship between the tested demographic factors and green advertising skepticism in the Swedish green food industry.

La investigación persigue un doble objetivo. El primero, aproximar el complejo y poliédrico paradigma de la ecología a la disciplina publicitaria; y el segundo, identificar y analizar la Publicidad Verde más representativa de los últimos veinte años en España. El trabajo se estructura en dos partes: en la primera, además de desvelarse vínculos entre la publicidad y la ecología -casi siempre mediante el consumo-, se desentrama la maraña epistemológica y etimológica en relación al medioambientalismo, al ecologismo y a la naturaleza. La segunda, el trabajo empírico, consiste en un análisis empírico de contenido sobre la Publicidad Verde insertada entre 1980 y 1999 en España. Se efectúa un análisis transdimensional de la Publicidad Verde (1.280 inserciones de muestra), en el que se aborda el objeto de estudio atendiendo a cinco dimensiones de análisis: 1,- Análisis temporal 2,- Análisis sectorial 3,- Análisis en función del tipo de publicidad (corporativa o de producto) 4,- Análisis terminológico 5,- Análisis en función de la estructura del anuncio. Acerca de la segunda dimensión, se pone especial énfasis en los sectores "con mayor deuda ecológica". Y sobre la cuarta dimensión, la terminológica, se propone y se realiza un análisis segmentado del concepto de "lo verde", vertebrándolo en seis universos específicos: el de la Naturaleza (UNAT), el de la Ecología (UECO), el del Medio Ambiente (UMED), el de la Energía (UENEG), el de la jerga científico-técnica y de la sostenibilidad (UCIENT) y el de las 3 R's -Reducir, reutilizar y reciclar- (U3R's).

Esta investigación busca conocer la percepción de los jóvenes universitarios de las cualidades del Green advertising a través de la preocupación medioambiental del público y el diseño de la campaña. La investigación se enfoca en la marca San Luis y en una de sus últimas campañas “Estar en balance con el planeta”. Este artículo tendrá un enfoque cualitativo y un diseño de caso porque busca analizar el entendimiento de las percepciones, opiniones y (motivaciones) de los consumidores hacia una campaña publicitaria. Las entrevistas individuales con una guía de indagación semi estructurada permiten recoger las interpretaciones puntos de vista y cualidades percibidas de la marca a través de la campaña. / This investigation seeks to understand the perception of a sample of young university students of the qualities surrounding Green advertising through a greater understanding of qualities of Green advertising, environmental concern and the design of green advertising. The research focuses on the brand San Luis and one of its latest campaigns "Be in balance with the planet". This article will have a qualitative nature which seeks to strengthen the understanding of the perceptions, opinions, and qualities received from the sample of consumers interviewed towards the campaign through the use of semi-structured interviews which allow to know the interpretations on the trend as well as express the points of view and qualities perceived the interviewees to be in contact with the campaign. / Trabajo de investigación

El presente trabajo analiza las percepciones de estudiantes de Epe la UPC respecto a la campaña “Los verdaderos depredadores” de National Geographic en Facebook. La publicidad se adapta a temas sociales, uno de ello es la publicidad ambiental, la cual lleva a las personas a tomar conciencia sobre los problemas ambientales que afecta al país. Además, resulta importante tenerla en cuenta para llevar prácticas sostenibles y sobre todo para cuidar el medio ambiente. A pesar de su gran importancia, la publicidad social suele tener desafíos como la actitudes negativas, comunicación saturada y la indiferencia. Este trabajo, tiene paradigma interpretativo, metodología cualitativa con enfoque estudio de caso. Su muestreo es no probabilístico y de conveniencia, y la técnica empleada para la recolección de datos son las entrevistas semiestructuradas. / This work analyzes the perceptions of students from EPE UPC regarding National Geographic “The real predators” campaign on Facebook. Advertising is adapted to social issues, one of which is environmental advertising, which leads people to become aware of the environmental problems affecting the country. In addition, it is important to take it into account to carry out sustainable practices and especially to take care of the environment. Despite its great importance, social advertising often has challenges such as negative attitudes, saturated communication and indifference. This work has an interpretive paradigm, qualitative methodology with a case study approach. Its sampling is non-probability and convenience, and the technique used for data collection is semi-structured interviews. / Trabajo de investigación

Hållbarhetsfrågor är en ständig diskussion som på senare år har intensifierats. I och med detta kräver både lagstiftningen och samhället idag att företagen ska arbeta och redovisa sitt hållbarhetsarbete. Med en ökad konsumtion som även bidragit till massproduktion har klädindustrin väckt extra mycket uppmärksamhet på lokal och global nivå. Detta gör att det nu ställs hårdare krav på företagen. Tidigare forskning tyder på att det inte alltid är lätt att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete då företag måste ta hänsyn till flera CSR-aspekter. Vidare har även den tidigare kommunikationen avgränsat sig till fast-fashion för vuxenkläder. I kontrast till vuxenkläder finns barnkläder där fast-fashion sker som en naturlig del av tillväxtprocessen. Hos en människa sker den snabbaste tillväxten de första åren av ens liv som då ständigt är i behov av nya kläder. Detta leder till hög konsumtion samt en enorm påverkan på miljön. Problemområdet för denna studie är att den omfattande tidigare forskningen främst har fokuserat på hållbarhetsarbete hos vuxenkläder. Till vår studie, där vi har valt att fokusera på barnklädesföretag för att studera företagens kommunikation gällande deras hållbarhetsarbete då även de är med och bidrar till en ökad konsumtion och befinner sig i samma industri. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till en djupare förståelse för hur svenska barnklädesföretag kommunicerar ut sitt hållbarhetsarbete i relation till CSR samt diskutera vilka implikationer det kan ha för företagens legitimitet genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Avsikten med denna studie är att få en ökad förståelse för företagens kommunikation inom en marknad som ännu är relativt outforskat och bidra till en ökad uppmärksamhet inom barnklädesbranschen. Denna studie undersöker hållbarhetsrapporter publicerade av Mini Rodini och Polarn O. Pyret. Utifrån det teoretiska ramverket bestående av bland annat CSR, strategisk kommunikation och gestaltningsteorin genomförs denna studie utifrån följande frågeställningar: 1. Vilka sociala och miljömässiga aspekter framhåller barnklädesföretagen i sin hållbarhetsrapport och hur framhålls dessa? 2. På vilket/vilka vis framhävs eventuella olikheter och likheter i hållbarhetsrapporterna? Resultatet visar att de båda företagen redovisar sitt hållbarhetsarbete på olika sätt och omfattning men med liknande innehåll. Skillnaderna som lyfts uppstår i form av tonalitet eller på vilket sätt företaget väljer att lyfta fram informationen. Vidare indikerar resultatet att kommunikationen från företagen används som en marknadsföringsstrategi för att skapa bilden av sig själva som ansvarstagande företag. Slutligen uppvisar resultatet att det finns delar av respektive rapport där kommunikationen blir missvisande eller vagt. Vår studie bidrar därmed till en ökad förståelse för hur svenska barnklädesföretag kommunicerar ut sitt hållbarhetsarbete. / Sustainability issues have been an ongoing discussion that has intensified in recent years. As a result, both legislation and society today require companies to work and report their sustainability work. The increased consumption that has also contributed to mass production and the clothing industry has attracted special attention at a local and global level. This means that stricter requirements are now placed on companies. Previous research shows that it is not always easy to communicate their sustainability work as companies must take several CSR aspects into account. Furthermore, the previous communication interest has also been limited to fast-fashion for adult clothing. At the same time, the fastest growth of a human being occurs in a child in the first years, who then constantly is in need of new clothes where fast fashion takes place as part of the natural process. This leads to high consumption and a huge impact on the environment. The problem area for this study is that the extensive previous research has mainly focused on sustainability work in adult clothing. For our study, where we have chosen to also focus on children's clothing companies to study the companies' communication regarding their sustainability work as they are involved and contribute to increased consumption and are in the same industry. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of how Swedish children's clothing companies communicate their sustainability work in relation to CSR and to discuss what implications this may have for companies' legitimacy through the use of a qualitative content analysis. The purpose of this study is to gain an increased understanding of companies' communication in a market that is still relatively unexplored and to contribute to increased attention in the children's clothing industry. This study examines sustainability reports published by Mini Rodini and Polarn O. Pyret. Based on the theoretical framework consisting of, among other things, CSR, strategic communication and design theory, the study is carried out based on the following questions: 1. What social and environmental aspects do children's clothing companies emphasize in their sustainability report and how are these emphasized? 2. In which way (s) are differences and similarities highlighted in the sustainability reports? The result of the study indicates that the two companies report their sustainability work in different ways and scope, but with similar content. The differences that are highlighted arise in the form of tonality or in which way the company chooses to present the information. Furthermore, the result shows that the communication from the companies is used as a marketing strategy to create the image of themselves as a responsible company. Finally, the results show that there are parts of each report where the communication becomes misleading or vague. Our study thus contributes to an increased understanding of how Swedish children's clothing companies communicate their sustainability work.

More sustainable food consumption and production could make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting natural resources. Nevertheless, the market shares of “green” products are still low. This cumulative dissertation aims to increase green consumption by exploring different marketing communication strategies. Article I shows that Point-of-Sale technologies such as digital signage and augmented reality can draw consumers' attention to sustainable products and increase their sales. Article II focuses on the formulation of advertisement messages and suggests that their credibility is a central driver for buying intentions. Since specifically formulated environmental benefits are perceived as particularly credible, their use is the most promising. The third article proves the effectiveness of a newly developed form of green advertisements aiming at increasing both the perceived customer orientation and environmental responsibility of a company. Article IV tests an information app to educate consumers about the sustainability of products and shows that a simple and credible 'sustainability index' is most effective in shaping behavior.