Professor’s point of view | Do media reports on climate change have an impact on new energy vehicle consumption?

Introduction As concerns about climate change and global warming intensify, consumers are looking for sustainable consumption alternatives. In turn, both businesses and policymakers must understand the drivers for the adoption and promotion of sustainable products, such as hybrid new energy vehicles. Different from traditional research that focuses on the impact of financial factors (such as tax incentives and subsidies), Chen Yubo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice Dean of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Professor of the Department of Marketing, and three collaborators published a study in the top international journal "Marketing Research" (Journal of Marketing Research) studied the impact of mass media coverage of climate change, a key factor, on the sales of hybrid new energy vehicles. Mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television provide a unique voice in the market and provide society with news and reports that are different from corporate marketing communications; therefore, mass media coverage of key issues can have a significant social impact. The paper focuses specifically on how media coverage of climate change, or global warming, affects hybrid vehicle sales in the United States. The main novelty of this study is that mass media coverage of climate change or global warming is general; that is, they are not related to a product category (automobiles) or to any specific product within that category (company or model) have no specific relationship. This helps the authors isolate the impact of broader social impacts of mass media coverage on sustainable consumption. The main argument of the study is that, in the context of sustainable products such as hybrid cars, mass media, through coverage of climate change or global warming, helps to generate and enforce a social norm that helps people adopt responsible Socially caring behaviors. Such a social norm not only weakens the negative effects caused by hybrid cars being more expensive than traditional cars, but also helps to shape hybrid cars into fashionable luxury goods for green consumption and improves the utility gained by consumers. It is through the generation and execution of this norm that mass media reports can influence consumer behavior and have a positive impact on the market purchase of new energy vehicles such as hybrid vehicles. This empirical study analyzed the hybrid vehicle market in the United States from 1999 (when hybrid vehicles were first introduced in the United States) to 2007. The data included 10 models sold by three automakers: Toyota, Honda, and Ford. Mass media coverage was measured as the number of news articles containing climate change or/and global warming in 12 major U.S. media outlets, and the authors also used content text analysis to examine the extent to which climate change/global warming was a factor in each the central focus of each article and coded whether each article acknowledged, denied, or was neutral on climate change or global warming. The findings provide strong evidence that media coverage of climate change or global warming has a positive impact on hybrid vehicle sales. This positive impact comes primarily from media coverage that acknowledges rather than denies climate change or global warming. In contrast, media coverage that takes a neutral stance or denies climate change or global warming has little impact on hybrid vehicle sales. Furthermore, the study found that only media coverage involving social norm content had a positive impact on hybrid vehicle sales. This suggests that media coverage, through the social norms it promotes, can create a social trend that is conducive to environmental friendliness. When green environmental protection becomes a mainstream value, companies can turn green and sustainable products into fashionable products and successfully enter the mainstream market. Original title: "Professor's View | Do media reports on climate change have an impact on new energy vehicle consumption?" 》