Advertising and Environmental Stewardship: Evidence from the BP Oil Spill

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barrage, Lint; Chyn, Eric; Hastings, Justine
• 署名单位: Brown University; University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20160555
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 33-61
• 关键词: willingness-to-pay; product recalls; voter turnout; offline sales; COMPETITION; consumers; QUALITY; MARKETS; price; demand

摘要

This paper explores whether private markets can incentivize environmental stewardship. We examine the consumer response to the 2010 BP oil spill and test how BP's investment in the 2000-2008 Beyond Petroleum green advertising campaign affected this response. We find evidence consistent with consumer punishment: BP station margins and volumes declined by 2.9 cents per gallon and 4.2 percent, respectively, in the month after the spill. However, pre-spill advertising significantly dampened the price response, and may have reduced brand switching by BP stations. These results indicate that firms may have incentives to engage in green advertising without investments in environmental stewardship.