February 22, 2023 report
Meat shaming tags shown to reduce likelihood of buying meat
A pair of applied scientists, one with Brand University of Applied Sciences in Germany, the other wtih Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, has found via experimentation that placing shaming tags on packages of meat reduces the likelihood of purchase.
In their paper published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, Anne-Madeleine Kranzbühler and Hendrik Schifferstein, describe three experiments they conducted with volunteer groups to learn more about their reactions to meat-shaming labels.
Prior research has shown that placing tags on cigarette packages can reduce the likelihood of purchase—in this new effort, the researchers sought to find out if the same might be true for meat consumers.
Over the past several decades, an awareness has grown in many Western countries of the sometimes deplorable conditions that exist in meat processing plants. So, too, has awareness of the harm of raising livestock on the environment. Also, the medical community has been recommending reduced meat consumption because of the negative impacts on the cardiovascular system.
Still, in most Western countries, meat consumption remains high. So scientists have been looking for ways to get consumers to reduce meat consumption. In this new effort, the researchers wondered if placing shaming labels on packages of meat might discourage consumers from buying such products.
The work involved conducting three experiments. In the first, they showed 161 volunteers packages of chicken meat, some with shaming labels, some without, and then asked them how likely they would be to buy the package. In the second experiment, 483 volunteers were shown packages of meat with a wide variety of shaming tags—some that made it more personal by including the word "you" in the message. And in the third experiment, 563 volunteers were shown labels by different groups, such as Greenpeace, the United Nations or Green Eatz.
The researchers found that the words expressed in the tags made little difference, nor did it matter to whom they were attributed. Overall, the volunteers in all three groups were less likely to purchase packages of meat with shaming tags.
More information: Anne-Madeleine Kranzbühler et al, The effect of meat-shaming on meat eaters' emotions and intentions to adapt behavior, Food Quality and Preference (2023).
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