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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]

Many adolescents and young adults spend countless hours a day on social media, where they can engage with social media influencers and may establish parasocial relationships (PSRs) with them. Recently, "green" influencers ("greenfluencers"), who post content on the topic of sustainability, have emerged. Yet, it is unclear whether adolescents' and young adults' engagement with greenfluencers on social media may inspire them to low- and high-effort environmental activism. Besides direct associations, PSRs with greenfluencers may mediate the effect of engagement on both forms of activism. We address these questions in a quota-based cross-sectional survey of 16- to 25-year-olds in Germany (N = 865), taking the moderating role of environmental knowledge into account. Results show that engagement with greenfluencers relates to low- and high-effort activism directly and as mediated via PSR. A young person's environmental knowledge has no moderating effect on low-effort activism. However, having environmental knowledge amplifies the positive association between engagement and high-effort activism and decreases the positive association between PSR and high-effort activism. As such, the results indicate that engaging with greenfluencers may indeed inspire environmental activism. Limitations and implications are discussed. • Greenfluencers (GFs) are sustainability influencers on social networking sites. • Engagement with them correlates with parasocial relationships (PSRs) with GFs. • Engagement positively relates to low- & high-effort activism, directly and via PSR. • Green knowledge amplifies the association between engagement & high-effort activism. • But it decreases the positive association between PSR and high-effort activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]