Exploitation of mortality salience in communication on climate change
Open accessAbstract
This research focuses on the effectiveness of anxiety-inducing communication for mobilizing consumers against climate change. Based on terror management theory (TMT), we show that this register can be counterproductive in generating consumer choices that run counter to pro-environmental logics. In particular, we report the results of an experiment ( N = 132) testing the influence of the type of communication (anxiogenic vs informative) on consumer choices (pro-materialistic vs pro-environmental). The results reveal that people’s consumption choices depend on their cultural worldviews (i.e. materialistic vs environmentalist) and the type of communication used. The effectiveness of communication strategies on climate change is then discussed in terms of people’s cultural worldview.
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MS participants with high (compared to low) environmental self-esteem more often selected the pro-environmental products.
“MS participants with high (compared to low) environmental self- esteem more often selected the pro- environmental products.”
From Terror Management Theory in the Consumer Domain: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis on Mortality Salience Driven Consumer Responses (2025) · cites this paper as Akil et al. (2018)
Table 3 (page unavailable) reports that, under mortality salience, participants deriving self-esteem from environmental actions were more likely to choose pro-environmental than materialistic options. It does not report the claim’s comparison of pro-environmental product selection between participants with high versus low environmental self-esteem. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMS led to more pro-materialistic choices compared to the control condition.
“Results revealed a main effect; MS led to more pro- materialistic choices compared to the control condition.”
From Terror Management Theory in the Consumer Domain: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis on Mortality Salience Driven Consumer Responses (2025) · cites this paper as Akil et al. (2018)
The ‘Effects of MS, environmental self-esteem and materialistic values on consumption choices’ section reports that 62.63% of participants exposed to anxiety-inducing climate communication made pro-materialistic choices. It also says choices were moderated by participants’ values and self-esteem; it does not establish the claimed overall main effect of more pro-materialistic choices than in the control condition. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredMS participants with high (compared to low) materialistic values more often selected pro-materialistic products.
“MS participants with high (compared to low) materialistic values more often selected pro- materialistic products”
From Terror Management Theory in the Consumer Domain: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis on Mortality Salience Driven Consumer Responses (2025) · cites this paper as Akil et al. (2018)
In 'Effects of MS, environmental self-esteem and materialistic values on consumption choices' (page unavailable), the paper reports that participants with high materialistic values opted for pro-materialistic products under mortality salience. It does not report the claimed direct comparison showing that they selected those products more often than participants with low materialistic values. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Research works printed but not linked: 12
- Choi J, Kyoung-Nan K and Lee M (2007) Understanding materialistic consumption: A terror management per- spective. Journal of Research for Consumers 13(4): 1-4.
- Dechesne M, Pyszczynski T, Arndt J et al. (2003) Literal and symbolic immortality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84(4): 722-737.
- Dobscha S and Ozanne JL (2001) An ecofeminist analysis of environmentally sensitive women using qualitative methodology: The emancipatory potential of an eco- logical life. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing 20(2): 201-214.
- Durand F (2012) Réchauffement climatique: Le Nord n'est pas moins concerné que le Sud, Territoire en mouvement. Revue de géographie et aménagement 14(15): 21-33.
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- Hamilton C (2010) Why we resist the truth about climate change. In: Climate controversies: Science and poli- tics conference, Brussels, 28 October.
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- Solomon S, Greenberg J and Pyszczynski T (2004) The cultural animal: Twenty years of terror management theory and research. In: Greenberg J, Koole SL and Pyszczynski T (eds) Handbook of Existential Social Psychology. New York: The Guilford Press, pp. 13-34.
- Trémolière B (2013) La rationalité des mortels: les pen- sées de mort perturbent les processus analytiques. Doctoral Thesis, Université Toulouse le Mirail- Toulouse II, Toulouse.
- Wong PT (2000) Full circle: Spiritual therapy for the elderly. Canadian Psychology 42(1): 85-86. 1. Interested 2. Upset 3. Excited 4. Distressed 5. Strongly 6. Guilty 7. Scared 8. Hostile 9. Enthusiastic 10. Proud 11. Irritable 12. Vigilant 13. Ashamed 14. Inspired 15. Tense 16. Determine 17. Attentive 18. Agitated 19. Active 20. Frightened PANAS: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Appendix 4. (Continued)
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Smith, L. K. M., Ross, H. C., Shouldice, S. A., & Wolfe, S. E. (2022) · WIREs Climate Change · doi:10.1002/wcc.776 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Ramstetter, L., Rupprecht, S., Luis Mundaca, T., Osika, W., Stenfors, C. U. D., Klackl, J., & Christine Wamsler, B. (2023) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106191 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Guthrie, D. (2023) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916221093613 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Climate change and marketing: Stranded research or a sustainable development?
Hall, C. M. (2018) · Journal of Public Affairs · doi:10.1002/pa.1893 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
What makes consumers willing to pay for carbon taxes–A view of terror management theory
Dang, H. P., Rahimah, A., Lin, J. Y.-C., Truong-Dinh, B. Q., Glebanov, P. D., Raza, S. H., Li, N. R., & Cheng, J. M.-S. (2021) · Sustainable Production and Consumption · doi:10.1016/j.spc.2021.07.033 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Methodological weakness of the death-word-fragment task: Alternative implicit death anxiety measures
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Robison, R., van Bommel, M., & Rohse, M. (2022) · Frontiers in Climate · doi:10.3389/fclim.2022.794669 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Marais-Potgieter, A., Thatcher, A., & Siemers, I. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36722 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Climate change risk and terror management theory
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Innovate for Impact: Young Adults Education and Empowerment for Climate Action
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Arendsen, J. L., Brugman, B. C., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., & Fransen, M. L. (2025) · International Journal of Consumer Studies · doi:10.1111/ijcs.70056 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“In a follow-up study, Akil et al. (2018) anticipated MS to lead to pro-materialistic (vs. pro-environmental) product selection and expected interaction effects between MS and materialistic values and environmental self-esteem.”
Marais-Potgieter, A., & Thatcher, A. (2023) · Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100096 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Evidence of emotions and psychological defences in urban water-efficiency campaigns’ communications
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Pupelis, L., Brüggemann, P., & Šeinauskienė, B. (2026) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.70154 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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Balboa, G. E. V., Noble, M.-A., & Wolfe, S. E. (2026) · International Journal of Science Education · doi:10.1080/09500693.2026.2617916 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Smith, L. K. M., & Wolfe, S. E. (2025) · PsyEcology Bilingual Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1177/21711976241309249 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Rihs, M., Brodwolf, F. L., & Mast, F. W. (2025) · Death Studies · doi:10.1080/07481187.2025.2469137 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
How Can We Communicate Effectively About Climate Change?
Odou, P., Schill, M., & Navarro, M. (2021) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119882176.ch8
Facing Our “Inevitable End”: The Effects of Death Thoughts on Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors
Smith, Z. Z., & Brownlow, S. (2025) · Psychology · doi:10.4236/psych.2025.169057
Pitiruţ, I.-B., Ogunbode, C. A., Muntele‐Hendreș, D., & Enea, V. (2025) · Death Studies · doi:10.1080/07481187.2025.2605159
- Authors
- Akil, H., Robert-Demontrond, P., & Bouillé, J.
- Affiliations
- Université de Rennes (FR)
- Université Rennes 2 (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Akil, Hussein
- Venue
- Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition)
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-01-11
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 2-29
- ISSN
- 2051-5707 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2784143208
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 112
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition) (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-11-ALID-0005)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Keywords
- mortality salience, terror management theory, climate change communication, consumer choice, pro-environmental behavior, materialism, cultural worldview, environmentalism
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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