Does sustainable communication have an impact on international social media audiences? A neuromarketing explorative study between Finland and Italy

This paper aims to evaluate international social media marketing strategies to better understand the effect of sustainable communication on Millennials and Gen-Z attitudes towards the fast and eco-fashion industry. The value and originality of this research relies on the fact that it provides parametric insights, by using online neuromarketing methods, on the behavioural differences between different cultures and generations that have been exposed to a sustainable marketing stimulus. To this aim, the study compares two countries with different sensitivities to sustainability issues. Eye-tracker and facial coding recognition technologies were used to evaluate sample instinctive reactions in terms of visual attention and emotion, in response to eight social media posts. Following this, the LOHAS questionnaire was administered to collect information about people who are interested in healthy living and social and environmental issues, and other questions were administered to collect information about intention to buy, willingness to pay, quality, and sustainability for each product promoted in the post. The results show that posts with sustainability-related content are viewed earlier and for a longer time than neutral posts in both countries, suggesting that younger generations are developing similar awareness of environmental sustainability issues regardless of their country of origin. The paper concludes by providing managerial implications and suggestions from the point of view of content management with respect to what is inferred from the results of the neuromarketing test.