This study investigates the role of consumers’ value orientations on their attitude towards assertive green advertisements. We find that biospheric value orientation improves attitudes towards assertive ads and hedonic value orientation positively affects consumers’ perceived threat to their freedom. Besides, the study supports the role of assertiveness in persuasive communication.

This research examines how price discount, message assertiveness, and national culture interact to influence consumers’ response to the recycling messages on product packages. Results showed that American consumers respond more negatively to assertive (vs. nonassertive) recycling messages when paying a full price for the product, but they respond more positively to assertive (vs. nonassertive) messages when paying a discounted price for the product. For South Korean consumers, price discount and message assertiveness do not influence their responses to recycling advertising.

This study aimed to investigates the effects of self-assertiveness and appearance satisfaction on psychological well-being (personal growth, purpose in life, self acceptance, environmental mastery, autonomy and interpersonal relations), and find out if there exists any causal relationship among each variable in the process. For data collection, a questionnaire was administrated from April 23 to May 13, 2012 in the city of Gwangju, Korea. The subjects were women in their twenties and thirties. 359 women responded to it. The results were as follows. First, overall self assertiveness had positive effects on appearance satisfaction which, in turn, turned out to have overall positive effects. Second, the overall effects of self assertiveness on psychological well-being turned out to have positive effects. Third, overall appearance satisfaction had positive effects on psychological well being. Forth, the effects that self assertiveness had on psychological well-being mediated appearance satisfaction and appeared to be partly insignificant. The implications and the direction of this research should be discussed in the future study so that it can improve personal psychological well-being by finding out other variables aside from self assertiveness, appearance satisfaction.

We compare American and Korean reactions to the persuasiveness of environmental advertising campaigns. Findings indicate that the effectiveness of the message assertiveness varies depending on recipients’ cultural backgrounds. Study 1 demonstrates that among Americans an assertive recycling message that contains imperatives such as should, must and ought is less effective than a non-assertive message that contains terms such as could, might and worth, yet among Koreans such reactance-driven boomerang effect is not observed. Study 2 extends the findings by conceptually replicating this finding in a different context—energy saving campaign—and further shows that perceived threat to freedom mediates the effects