Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Science and Environmental Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1337332

Playing the Blame Game: How Attribution of Responsibility Impacts Consumer Attitudes Towards Plastic Waste

Provisionally accepted
Monica Mayer Monica Mayer 1*Patrice Kohl Patrice Kohl 2
  • 1 University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States
  • 2 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Manufacturers often blame environmental issues on consumer behaviors. Plastic manufactures provide a classic example, engaging in marketing campaigns attributing responsibility for plastic waste to consumers and deflecting attention from the role of industry. Drawing on attribution theory, we conducted an experiment (n = 113) to test how messaging blaming consumers for plastic waste might influence attitudes, behavioral intentions, and policy support, compared to messaging blaming manufacturers. Compared with the manufacturer-blaming frame, the consumer-blaming frame resulted in less support for regulations increasing consumer accountability for plastic waste. We did not find a significant influence of the message frame on support for regulations holding manufacturers accountable for plastic waste. Based on these results, we suggest that practitioners consider framing messages surrounding plastic waste so as to minimize consumer blame in order to maximize potential support for plastic waste reduction initiatives.

    Keywords: attribution of responsibility1, plastic waste2, consumer blaming3, defense mechanisms4, plastic communication5

    Received: 12 Nov 2023; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mayer and Kohl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Monica Mayer, University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.