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Companies increasingly employ environmental compensation claims in their advertisements. This practice, however, has been criticized as being a form of greenwashing. In two studies, we examined associations between the exposure to abstract and concrete compensation claims, consumers' perceived greenwashing, environmental boycotting and buycotting intentions, and brand evaluation as well as purchase intentions. Further, we investigated the moderating role of consumers' environmental knowledge. In Study 1, findings from a two-wave panel survey (NW2 = 511) indicated that exposure to abstract compensation claims was positively related to perceived greenwashing, whereas exposure to concrete compensation claims was not. Environmental knowledge did not influence perceptions of greenwashing in either claim. Using experimental data, Study 2 (N = 423) showed that concrete compensation claims can also lead to perceived greenwashing but to a lesser extent than abstract ones. Furthermore, environmental knowledge helped consumers detect greenwashing in both claims. In both studies, perceived greenwashing positively predicted consumers' intention to join environmental boycotts but not buycotts. In addition, Study 2 showed that perceived greenwashing was negatively associated with purchase intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the United Airlines "bumpgate" crisis as example, this research analyses how reporting of irrelevant information on a crisis victim's bad character impacts on empathy towards the victim, the victim's reputation as well as the reputation of the news medium that published the information. A one‐factorial experiment was conducted with two conditions manipulating the reporting on the crisis victim's character plus a control condition. Respondents were 245 online‐panel participants from the UK. The findings show that when journalists violate the code of ethics by reporting irrelevant negative information on the character of a crisis victim, they harm not only the reputation of the victim, but also that of their news organization. This study contributes to the scarce research on the impact of media reporting during a crisis on victims of the crisis and on the reputation of the newspaper. Journalists must be aware that violating the journalistic code of ethics by reporting on irrelevant negative characteristics of a victim is not only detrimental for the victim but can also significantly hurt the reputation of their organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When looking at the origins of affective polarization, political communication scholars have frequently pointed to social media. In this article, we theorize that the relationship between social media use and affective polarization depends on the ways in which social media are used. Based on two-wave panel data collected during a national election campaign, our findings suggest that only active political uses of social media (i.e., sharing, posting, or commenting) foster affective polarization; in contrast, passive uses (i.e., informing oneself) do not. Looking at reciprocal relationships, we found that affective polarization did not significantly predict active or passive political social media use over time. Overall, our findings support the argument that social media are neither unconditionally detrimental nor beneficial for society and democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given that governmental prevention measures restricted most face-to-face communications, online self-disclosure via smartphone emerged as an alternative coping strategy that aims at reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's psychological health. Pre-pandemic research demonstrated that online self-disclosure benefits people's psychological health by establishing meaningful relationships, obtaining social support, and achieving self-acceptance, particularly in times of crisis. However, it is unclear whether these dynamics transition well to lockdown conditions where online self-disclosure must stand almost entirely on its own. Longitudinal investigations are needed to gain insight into the psychological functionalities of online self-disclosure during the COVID-19 pandemic.Objective: This study aims to determine temporal associations between smartphone online self-disclosure (as a communicative behavior) and critical indicators of psychological health (including both psychopathological as well as hedonic and eudaimonic states) during the first COVID-19 lockdown in .Methods: We conducted a representative two-wave panel survey between late March/April 2020 and May 2020. A total of 416 participants completed both waves (43.1% attrition rate). A partially measurement invariant over-time structural equation model was calculated to determine the temporal associations between online self-disclosure, fear of COVID-19, happiness, and psychological well-being.Results: The analysis revealed that fear of COVID-19 significantly predicts online self-disclosure over time (b = .24, P = .003) and happiness (b = -.14, P = .04) over time, but not psychological well-being (b = .03, P = .48). That is, stronger COVID-19 fears at T1 prompted more online self-disclosure and less happiness at T2. Online self-disclosure, on the other hand, significantly predicted happiness (b = .09, P = .02), but neither fear of COVID-19 (b = -.01, P = .57) nor psychological well-being (b = -.01, P = .57) over time. Participants who engaged more strongly in online self-disclosure at T1 felt happier at T2 but did not differ from less-disclosing participants concerning their COVID-19 fears and psychological well-being at T2. Importantly, happiness and psychological well-being were significantly related over time (happiness T1 -> psychological well-being T2: b = .11, P < .001; psychological well-being T1 -> happiness T2: b = .42, P < .001).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that online self-disclosure might play a pivotal role in coping with pandemic stressors. Being restricted in their options, individuals increasingly turn to their smartphones and social media to disclose their feelings, problems, and concerns during lockdown. While online self-disclosure might not alleviate fears or improve psychological well-being, our results demonstrate that it made people experience more happiness during this crisis. This psychological resource may help them withstand severe over longer timeframes psychological consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.Clinicaltrial: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]