The Green Icing On the Cake: The Effects of Emotional Primes on Sustainable Ingredient Selection

Abstract

This study examines whether emotional priming influences sustainable food choices and how individuals view eco-labels, while measuring their pre-existing concern for the environment. Participants read a case vignette and interact with the interviewer, which instills environmental hope, and environmental guilt. After which they perform a shopping task of ingredient selection to bake a chocolate cake, they pick out actual cards as substitutes for the products. These carried environmental damage ratings, price, and caloric content, remaining constant. Climate emotions were considered as a pre- and post-vignette response variable (Through Inventory of Climate Emotions). The results showed a clear directional pattern: the guilt condition produced the highest vegan-choice rate (75% chose sustainable options) and the lowest mean carbon footprint, while the hope condition produced the least sustainable pattern of choice. Overall, the findings reflect that guilt prime and pre-existing climate anger had the most effect on sustainable choice while hope prime failed in induction. Baseline environmental concern (assessed through Environmental Portrait Value Questionnaire ) was not a strong correlate and that eco-labels were a salient feature in making decisions. A high rate of control participants opting for pro-environmental ingredients in control groups suggests a persistent effect of eco-labels. Aimed to close the attitude-behaviour gap to strengthen cause related marketing and drive sustainable consumer choice.