Assessing Greenwashing in Electric Vehicle Marketing: Developing a Coding Scheme through Advertising Strategy Analysis
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Despite the environmental advantages of electric vehicles (EVs) over traditional gasoline vehicles, their production and lifecycle impacts are significant and often omitted in marketing materials. This study develops a coding scheme to analyze video advertisements critically, assessing the gap between marketed environmental claims and the actual ecological impacts. By dissecting the content of EV video advertisements, this research categorizes the level for greenwashing present and compares advertising tactics with the environmental impact of a sample of vehicles. The methodology includes a detailed examination of visual and textual elements within these advertisements, such as the portrayal of nature, use of green color, and emission claims. We hypothesized that electric vehicle advertisements employ greenwashing tactics to a significant extent, creating a discrepancy between the marketed environmental benefits and the actual ecological impacts of the vehicles. While the analysis confirmed the presence of greenwashing in EV advertisements, its prevalence and impact on advertisement themes and format are not uniformly extensive or present across all brands. Sustainably ranked vehicles were more likely to employ green marketing tactics and highlight eco-friendly product dimensions within their advertisements than lower environmentally ranked vehicles. The degree of greenwashing varies between advertisements, with many manufacturers employing subtle or minimal greenwashing tactics, which suggests that while greenwashing is present, it is not universally aggressive or overt within the industry.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | 1000 |
| Publication date | May 16, 2024 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Bernheim, Madeline |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor | Hamilton, James |
| Department | Department of Communication |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University |
Subjects
| Subject | Greenwashing |
|---|---|
| Subject | Advertisement |
| Subject | Electric vehicle industry |
| Subject | Marketing |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Bernheim, M. (2024). Assessing Greenwashing in Electric Vehicle Marketing: Developing a Coding Scheme through Advertising Strategy Analysis. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/jz001gv7236. https://doi.org/10.25740/jz001gv7236.
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Department of Communication, Stanford University
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