‘Effie’ciency of Green Advertising: Evaluating Consumer Responses to Green Advertising Addressing Water Conservation

Aim: This study investigates consumer responses to award-winning green advertising campaigns addressing water conservation in Türkiye. Focusing on campaigns by Finish and Cif, the research explores how consumers perceive the environmental messaging, product quality, and authenticity of green claims, while also reflecting on broader societal and governmental engagement with sustainability. Method: Adopting a qualitative research design, the study utilizes thematic analysis of 629 consumer comments extracted from YouTube, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) under Finish and Cif’s green advertising campaigns, which received Effie Awards between 2020-2022. MAXQDA 2020 software was used for coding and analysis, following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step procedure. Intercoder reliability was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa (κ = 0.86), ensuring high agreement.Results: The analysis revealed five key themes: brand-related, campaign-related, reviewer-related, community-related and policy-related comments. Consumers were found to have a dual attitude – admiring the environmental goals and creative elements of the campaigns, while many were skeptical of greenwashing and questioning product quality. They were also found to make actionable suggestions to improve environmental authenticity, criticizing societal indifference to sustainability and calling for stronger government policies and education.Conclusion: Green advertising can effectively promote environmental awareness, but its credibility relies on actual brand practices and transparent communication. The study highlights the active role of consumers as co-creators of environmental discourse and offers practical implications for brands and policymakers seeking to promote sustainability. It is recommended that future studies expand to broader demographics and integrate a variety of data collection methods beyond social media comments.