Lucy Atkinson

• Ph.D. Mass Communication
• Professor (Associate) at University of Texas at Austin

The environmental impact of sports has become a growing concern, with many organizations facing scrutiny over their sustainability practices and accusations of greenwashing. Formula 1 (F1), a global motorsport, is no exception. This exploratory case study examined F1 fans’ perceptions of the sport’s environmental impact and its initiatives to mitig...

Environmental monitoring at geologic CO2 storage sites is required by regulations for the purposes of environmental protection and emissions accounting in the case of leakage to surface. However, another very important goal of environmental monitoring is to assure stakeholders that the project is monitored for safety and effectiveness. With current...

Most African countries report low COVID-19 vaccination rates (Msellati et al., 2022; WHO Africa; 2020). This study focuses on factors associated with vaccine hesitancy specifically in the country of Cameroon. Social media use and medical mistrust have been suggested as key variables that may increase vaccine hesitancy. Adopting the information-rela...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to healthcare and public health messaging in the United States. One area of focus has been vaccination uptake among Black Americans, who have experienced COVID-19 deaths disproportionate to their share of the United States population, raising questions about the processes involved in vaccin...

Considering the importance of the hotel guests' behavioral support for the hotels' green corporate social responsibility (CSR), this research examined the persuasive power of flattery in promoting guests' green behaviors. Study 1 revealed that a flattery message significantly increased the hotel guests' towel reuse intentions during their stay and...

Interactive websites, which provide greater user control over a site's interface, are commonly employed in health communication campaigns to deliver risk information in more vivid and engaging ways. The present study explored whether interactive health websites could increase risk perception and encourage systematic processing (i.e. analytical revi...

This study seeks guidance from the planned risk information avoidance model to explore drivers of risk information avoidance in the context of COVID‐19. Data were collected early during the pandemic. Among our most notable results is that participants who are more oriented toward social dominance and are more skeptical of scientists’ credibility ha...

Bandwagon effects explain an individual’s tendency to conform to and follow other people’s opinions. Drawing on bandwagon effects, this study explored the relative influence of two different bandwagon heuristic cues in an online comments section (quantitative vs qualitative) on changes in news readers’ opinion. Study 1 revealed that qualitative cue...

This study examines the emotional mechanisms of how public trust in the governments’ actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic shapes individuals’ risk information-seeking and avoidance. To make cross-cultural comparisons, we conducted a multi-country survey early in the pandemic in South Korea, the United States (US) and Singapore. The results sugg...

Many consumers feel proud of making green choices, which is of crucial relevance to explaining environmentally responsible behaviors. However, compared to other self‐conscious emotions, such as guilt and shame, little research attention has been paid to the role of pride in green consumerism. Through conducting two online experimental surveys, this...

The global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) poses serious health risks to humans; yet, despite recommendations by governments and health organizations, a significant number of Americans are not engaging in preventive behaviors. To understand and explain this phenomenon, we seek guidance from a theoretical model that merges the risk informat...

Based on mood management theory and the broaden-and-build theory, this study examines whether an individual’s emotional state influences the persuasive efficacy of climate change news framing techniques. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a 2 (Message Framing: thematic vs. episodic) × 2 (Emotion: positive vs. control) between-subjects factorial d...

We examined the implications of exposure to misinformation about COVID-19 in the United States, South Korea, and Singapore in the early stages of the global pandemic. The online survey results showed that misinformation exposure reduced information insufficiency, which subsequently led to greater information avoidance and heuristic processing, as w...

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of psychological ownership on consumer happiness, which is mediated through basic psychological needs satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by means of two online experiments. Study 1 tested and validated the hypotheses by examining post-consumption on a sample of 252 college st...

Charities and marketers routinely incorporate images of recipients, for example victims of a flood or famine, in their prosocial advertising; however, previous literature suggests mixed results regarding the effectiveness of relying on sad versus happy images of victims. Recently, due to reactance to excessively traumatic marketing campaigns, happy...

Americans remain relatively unaware of the risks and benefits associated with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, including its role in combating CO2 emissions as a means to address climate change. Our goal is to determine factors that might help build awareness and knowledge of CCS so that citizens can make informed decisions about it. Sp...

Evaluation has moved up the agenda in Science Communication. However, some procedures, while available, may be too obtrusive to use recursively in science centers and/or conflict with visitors’ agendas. Our idea is to develop a non-obtrusive, valid and replicable method to evaluate audience attitudes about science communication projects through an...

Corporate social responsibility communication increases the visibility of a company’s pro-social efforts. However, the more a company communicates, the more likely negative consumer reactions such as skepticism may occur. With a focus on pro-environmental CSR messages in the hotel industry, this study examines the effects of message objectivity and...

This study examines how the interplay among crisis involvement, brand image, and message appeal impacts the effectiveness of an apology in the context of a corporate crisis. To determine apology effectiveness, a 2 (crisis involvement: high vs. low) × 2 (brand image: symbolic vs. functional) × 2 (message appeal type: emotional vs. informational) exp...

In our media landscape, consumers view a plethora of messages with visual assertions, created through postproduction photo manipulation, which communicate meaning at-a-glance. These visual assertions are processed initially and directly and greatly influence how consumers think, feel, and behave. Yet the impact of visuals, which likely color all pr...

We investigated how consumers’ perception of fit between corporate associations (i.e., corporate ability) and the crisis issue (i.e., ethical violation or product failure) moderated the effects of type of crisis communication strategy (i.e., apology or excuse). Undergraduates (N = 133) at a university in the United States took part in a 2 (perceive...

The changing media landscape alters media use and advertising exposure, which impacts advertising literacy. We investigate socialization forces (media, family) on advertising persuasion knowledge in preschool children. Findings from in-depth interviews with 29 parent–child dyads revealed prevalent on-demand mobile media use with less live commercia...

This study explores social marketing effects of a hotel’s proenvironmental practices. With an emphasis on consumers’ perceptions of a hotel’s corporate social responsibility motives, it looks at how perceived motives influence consumer responses—attitudes toward a hotel and hotel selection, intentions to participate in a hotel’s green program, and...

We explore the consumption experiences of women who opt for an environmentally conscious approach to pregnancy. Our findings reveal that environmentally conscious mothers conduct extensive scientific research about the products that they purchase during pregnancy and the associated risks of using such products. They believe that their efforts to fi...

We present findings from a qualitative, multisite, multi-method, longitudinal study of parents and their preschool-aged children that explores the intersections of marketing influences in the home and in the larger outside world of children. Findings indicate that preschoolers represent complicated and nuanced “consumers in training” beyond predict...

This article investigates how individual differences affect consumer responses to corporate advertising during a corporate crisis. Study 1, based on qualitative data, showed brand ownership, involve-ment with the crisis, and news media exposure were important factors in understanding consumer response toward the crisis and the company. Study 2, a s...

Infographics, which integrate visuals and text, can increase audience engagement with message content. Relying on two experiments, this study demonstrates the role of visuals for decisions to critically evaluate pro-environmental messages. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical foundation, we demonstrate that individuals engage in...

Using critical discourse analysis, we examine the communicative potential of science centers to engage the public in climate change science. Drawing on a theoretical framework combining climate change engagement and communication, science centers as sites of engagement and communication, ecological citizenship, and insights from social cognitive th...

Consumers increasingly report concern for the environment and acceptance of green products, but few opt for them in stores. This mixed-methods study adds context and helps specify the details of this attitude–behavior gap. First, a preliminary study relies on framing theory to conduct an exploratory content analysis of green advertising frames in f...

Given the proliferation of video games and their potential to contribute to informal science learning and perception formation, we provide an assessment of how commercial video games portray technoscience. Our examination was guided by theories commonly applied in studies of entertainment media’s contributions to public understanding of science. Re...

Consumers cannot verify green attributes directly and must rely on such signals as eco-labels to authenticate claims. Using signaling theory, this study explored which aspects of eco-label design yield more positive effects. The study uses a 2 (argument specificity: specific versus general) x 2 (label source: government versus corporate) x 2 (produ...

This study explores emerging green motherhood discourse as framed by green advertising in pregnancy magazines. It takes an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on reflexive modernization, feminist studies and critical discourse analysis and reveals how advertising represents a double bind for mothers. Textual analysis of a sample of green ads in...

Smartphone-based mobile advertising is a promising marketing vehicle, especially in retail and point-of-purchase environments, yet we still do not know enough about what motivates consumers to turn to mobile advertising. This is particularly true of new forms of mobile advertising, like quick response (QR) codes, which rely on pull-based approaches...

Consumers cannot verify green attributes directly and must rely on signals like eco-labels to authenticate claims. Using signaling theory, this study explored which aspects of eco-label design yield more positive effects. The study uses a 2 (argument specificity: specific v. general) x 2 (label source: government v. corporate) x 2 (product involvem...

Drawing on depth interviews with eight socially conscious consumers, this study explores the way socially conscious consumer orientations can help to foster the kinds of prosocial orientations, such as a concern for others, that facilitate civic and political engagement. The data suggest that these consumers reap several private benefits from their...

Social utility theory suggests that labeling video news release (VNR) source material is the ethical decision (Wulfemeyer & Frazier, 199251. Wulfemeyer , K. T. and Frazier , L. 1992 . The ethics of video news releases: A qualitative analysis . Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 7 : 151 – 168 . [Taylor & Francis Online]View all references), yet the pers...

In this article, the authors analyze the field of cultural consumption in the United States. Using the 2000 DDB Lifestyle Study, they examine a cross-section of Americans in terms of their occupational categories, media usage, consumption practices, social behaviors, and indicators of civic and political engagement. In doing so, the authors find ma...