Misinformation thrives on social media, prompting much research into social media interventions such as debunks. This paper tests debunking’s effectiveness against an understudied but prominent form of online misinformation: misleading organizational claims of corporate social responsibility, or CSR-washing. British participants ( N = 657) took part in a preregistered experiment with a 2 (debunk: present, absent) x 3 (CSR-washing: greenwashing, bluewashing, purplewashing) between-subjects design. They saw an Instagram ad from a fictional clothing company that showcased its dedication to environmental sustainability, gender equality in the workplace, or the elimination of child labor. Half of the participants then received a debunk. Unlike most previous research which showed continued influence of misinformation after debunking, we found that the debunks were very effective: they reversed the persuasive effects of CSR-washing, resulting in negative brand attitudes and low purchase intentions. Several explanations for this finding are discussed, highlighting CSR-washing’s distinctiveness from many other forms of misinformation.

中文翻译：

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揭穿企业喷漆店：审视社交媒体上误导性企业社会责任声明的影响


错误信息在社交媒体上盛行，促使对社交媒体干预（如揭穿）进行大量研究。本文测试了揭穿对一种研究不足但突出的在线错误信息形式的有效性：误导性组织对企业社会责任的声明，或 CSR 清洗。英国参与者 （ N = 657） 参加了一项预先注册的实验，实验采用 2 （揭穿：存在、不存在） x 3 （CSR-washing：漂绿、漂蓝、漂紫）受试者间设计。他们看到了一家虚构服装公司的 Instagram 广告，该广告展示了该公司致力于环境可持续性、工作场所性别平等或消除童工的奉献精神。然后，一半的参与者收到了揭穿。与之前的大多数研究表明错误信息在揭穿后持续产生影响不同，我们发现揭穿非常有效：它们逆转了 CSR 清洗的说服效果，导致负面的品牌态度和低购买意愿。讨论了对这一发现的几种解释，强调了 CSR-wash 与许多其他形式的错误信息的不同之处。