Cis-male perspectives on advertising and marketing design for farm-to-table restaurants
Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Sustainable green marketing emerged in the 1990's in response to consumer demands for greater access to sustainable options in an effort to protect future generations ahead. These changes would soon be incorporated into the self-regulation practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as it expanded businesses' concern for the environment through operations. Greenwashing emerged as some corporations took advantage of green marketing and were found guilty for misleading consumers about how environmentally responsible they were. Overtime, research has found environmental messaging in this context to be more traditionally feminine based on design elements like font, color, and imagery. This led the researcher to explore farm-to-table advertising, as there is limited research in this area regarding advertising and gender. Farm-to-tables reduce their carbon footprint by designing their menus to be seasonal and sourcing ingredients from local farms. An exploratory, qualitative study was conducted to understand cis-male college students' perceptions of and experiences with ads for farm-to-table restaurants as this perspective is often left out in marketing for this business. This study and its supplementary materials were guided by social role theory, theory of green purchase behavior and source credibility theory. A thematic analysis of participants' responses led to the emergence of four themes. Results from interviews with Colorado State University cis-male college students provided deeper insights into how design elements, previous experiences, relationships and perceptions impacted their attitudes and perceived credibility towards farm-to-table restaurants.