The Power of Purpose: Comparative Analysis of Social and Environmental-Framed Advertising

Abstract

As brands increasingly adopt purpose-driven strategies to align with consumer values, understanding the impact of ethical messaging on consumer behavior is crucial, especially in the fashion industry. Despite growing interest in ethical consumption, a gap remains between intention and actual purchases. This study investigates the comparative effectiveness of socially versus environmentally framed advertisements in influencing consumer behavior, focusing on purchase intention (PI) and word-of-mouth (WOM), with psychological proximity (PP) as a potential mediating factor. A between-subjects survey experiment was conducted with 300 participants, who were randomly assigned to view socially framed, environmentally framed, or control advertisements. Results reveal that socially framed ads led to significantly higher purchase intentions compared to control ads, though the difference between socially and environmentally framed ads did not reach statistical significance. Psychological proximity was found to significantly predict PI, and ad framing remained a significant predictor of PI even when PP was included, indicating partial mediation. Additionally, while no direct effect of ad framing on WOM was observed, the indirect pathway through PP and PI was statistically significant, suggesting full mediation of the relationship between ad framing and WOM. The results show that purpose-driven messaging significantly increases purchase intention compared to neutral messages. These findings lay the groundwork for understanding the true power of purpose-driven branding and highlight the urgent need for more emotionally resonant and psychologically accessible messaging, essential steps toward bridging the persistent gap between consumer intention and action, enhancing campaign effectiveness, and ultimately contributing to a more sustainable and equitable world.