my question was WHY you think that the eco-crowd is smaller than the no-gas crowd, not whether that opinion is right or wrong.
But moving on:
Consider: when you look at those two BF titles, they seem to be talking about the same thing. I get that you can distinguish the two if you argue it out, but it really falls apart. We had this discussion a few months ago, where folks kept insisting they were not environmentalists, and proving this by saying that they bought the Leaf to not-buy gas and/or to save money. You can call that not whatever you want, but it amounts to the same thing. It is a position that favors the environment.
Emotions are another thing, and when you are talking marketing pitch and sales program, you are really talking about how to touch consumers' emotions. Buying a car is famously emotional. Car marketing and branding are commonly based on surveys and polling, as well as focus groups, etc.
The surveys are analyzing emotions and purchasing power and interest. I think I can safely say that Nissan did allot of this.
Finally, advertising campaigns have arcs and they evolve. Looking at the first advts -- the ones out now -- only tells us where it is starting, not what is planned as more cars are on the road, they are more visible, they are being built in the US and there are more than 12k a year to sell and buy. Recall, we only have 7k in the US as of october 1.