How to “Nudge” your consumers toward sustainable fashion consumption: An fMRI investigation

Abstract Consumers often have positive attitudes about green marketing, yet their fashion purchases are not linked to sustainability, revealing an unbalanced psychological state. Based on balance theory, we explain how environmental priming can increase consumer preferences for fashion products with green logos. Using fMRI, we identify the neural representation of the green logo effect as significant activations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Prior exposure to environmental priming messages increased brain activations in the superior parietal lobule (SPL) and the bilateral lingual gyri (LG) during green-related communication, reflecting brain processes of relational reasoning and leading to increased preference for fashion products that bear a green logo. We discuss managerial implications related to the effectiveness of “nudge” communication techniques in setting up the tone for sustainable fashion marketing.