Plastic Waste Ads Attributes Generating Awareness, Interest, Attitudes and Desires to Act Pro-Environmentally

Plastic wastes harm the environment, kill various marine species and domestic/wild animals. There are campaigns/advertisements to create awareness of the environmental problems caused by plastic wastes. However, the various attributes of ads that trigger awareness and resultant interest, attitudes and desires to act are rarely studied. This study borrows from the stimulus-organism-response and attitude-behavior theories to extend the AIDA model by examining the attributes of plastic waste environmental ads impacting awareness, interest, and desire to act pro-environmentally. It also assesses the mediating role of attitude in the relationship between awareness and interest. After showing two ads pictures on the dangers of plastic waste, cross-sectional quantitative data was collected from 150 respondents electronically. The sample was drawn from various age groups, educational levels and the four ethnic groups in South Africa. Structural equation model through Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the ads attributes that positively impacted awareness were the informativeness, sensory and affective attributes and not credibility and entertainment. The awareness significantly influenced attitudes and interest in the ads, which in turn strongly influenced desires to act pro-environmentally. Attitudes toward the ads was a significant mediator in the relationship between awareness and interest. Practical and theoretical contributions/implications are provided.