Emotional priming for sustainable consumption? The effects of social media content on the valuation of chocolate

Abstract

Current consumption patterns in the Global North are unsustainable across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. To promote more sustainable consumer behavior, emotional priming on social media has become an increasingly popular tool. In this paper, we mimic social media content to test the effectiveness of emotional priming in incentivizing sustainable consumption. Specifically, we examine whether emotionally primed information about sustainability aspects in cocoa production increases consumers’ valuation for sustainably produced products in the short and medium term. To achieve this, we conducted an online panel survey of 2,161 German consumers with random assignment to one of four different treatments (unprimed information or information with emotional prime) designed as social media posts (videos). We differentiate between environmental sustainability and social responsibility, and separate the products into sustainability certification, uncertified claims, and conventional chocolate. We find statistically significant positive effects of the emotional primes on consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for products with sustainability certifications and noncertified sustainability claims in the short term. These effects can be attributed to negative emotions triggered by the primes. Two weeks after the treatments, the WTP decreases for all groups. The difference in WTP between the primed and unprimed groups diminishes in the medium term. Primed participants value sustainability certifications and claims less than those who received unprimed information.