ABSTRACT

Advertising frequently promotes environmentally detrimental consumption choices such as air travel. To date, the effects of these ads on individuals’ moral evaluation of unsustainable behaviors are still little understood. This study with a quota-based sample in Germany (N = 199) explored whether individuals morally disengage from the harmfulness of flying due to ad exposure. Based on the theory of moral disengagement (Bandura, 2016, Moral disengagement: How people do harm and live with themselves. Worth Publishers), we investigated whether individuals neglect negative consequences, seek moral justification or displace responsibility for flying behaviors after seeing flight advertising. The results suggested that individuals low in climate change concern become more neglectful of the consequences of flying, while climate change concerned individuals exhibited the opposite reaction. Irrespective of individuals’ level of climate change concern, ad exposure increased recipients’ displacement of responsibility to other actors. Moreover, we found a correlation between mechanisms of moral disengagement and flying intentions as well as support for aviation policies.

摘要

广告经常宣传对环境有害的消费选择，例如航空旅行。迄今为止，这些广告对个人对不可持续行为的道德评价的影响仍知之甚少。这项在德国（N  = 199）基于配额的样本进行的研究探讨了个人是否在道德上摆脱了因广告曝光而造成的飞行危害。基于道德脱离理论（班杜拉，2016 年，道德脱离：人们如何伤害自己并与自己共处. Worth Publishers），我们调查了个人在看到飞行广告后是否会忽视负面后果、寻求道德理由或推卸对飞行行为的责任。结果表明，气候变化关注度低的个体更容易忽视飞行的后果，而关注气候变化的个体则表现出相反的反应。无论个人对气候变化的关注程度如何，广告曝光都会增加接受者对其他参与者的责任转移。此外，我们发现道德脱离机制与飞行意图以及对航空政策的支持之间存在相关性。