Egoistic and altruistic claims in organic cotton apparel advertising

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of egoistic and altruistic values on purchase behaviors of organic cotton apparel. Our findings indicated that egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric values have a positive and significant effect on purchase intentions. In addition, when examining the effectiveness of egoistic and altruistic claims in organic cotton apparel advertising, we found a significant effect of advertising claim type on brand attitudes, product attitudes, and purchase intentions. Organic cotton apparel ads were the most effective in persuading consumers when they contain egoistic claims such as information about low price and personal health benefits. The findings suggested that altruistic claims alone may not be effective in promoting purchase behaviors and thus should be combined with egoistic claims. While it is widely accepted that altruistic considerations foster green apparel purchase behaviors, egoistic aspects of the purchase are often ignored. However, our findings showed that egoistic motives may play an important role in the purchase process of organic cotton apparel. Therefore, it would be important for marketers of organic cotton apparel to link such products to consumers’ egoistic considerations.