Finding gold at the end of the rainbowflag? Claim vagueness and presence of emotional imagery as factors to perceive rainbowwashing

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21498159
AutoresTim Wulf (0000-0002-2671-5106, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, autor correspondente), Brigitte Naderer (0000-0002-7256-7941, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), Zoe Olbermann (0000-0001-5183-6797, University of Würzburg), Julian Hohner (0000-0002-5872-0954, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Ano2022
Volume41
Fascículo8
Páginas1433-1453
Data de publicação2022-11-17
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Journal of Advertising (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0265-0487 • E-ISSN: 1759-3948
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02650487.2022.2053393
OpenAlexW4226160326
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas38

Companies increasingly take a stance for the LGBTQIA* community. However, consumers often criticize the appropriation of this support for economic reasons, also called rainbowwashing. Building upon corporate hypocrisy and greenwashing research, we investigate under which circumstances participants perceive an ad as rainbowwashing in two experiments. In Study 1, we test the effects of claims (vague vs. concrete vs. no claim) and emotional imagery (imagery vs. no imagery). In Study 2, we replicate this design (comparing vague vs. concrete claims and imagery vs. no imagery). Results from Study 1 show that reading a vague claim elicited the highest perceptions of rainbowwashing compared to reading no or a concrete claim. Images did not show a main effect. In Study 2, claim vagueness had no direct effect, whereas imagery had a direct impact on perceived rainbowwashing. In both studies, involvement with LGBTQIA* issues was a significant moderator for the effect of imagery, so that highly involved individuals perceived less rainbowwashing when emotional and imagery was included. We discuss these findings in light of personal characteristics for the perception of rainbowwashing and draw conclusions for individual factors for the broader field of corporate hypocrisy.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2022.2053393

Advertising · Business · Hypocrisy · Perception · Political science · Vagueness · Computer Science · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Psychology · Social Psychology