TY - JOUR
T1 - Vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based? Comparing how different labels influence consumer evaluations of plant-based foods
AU - Ruby, Matthew B.
AU - Graça, João
AU - Olli, Eero
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/6/1
Y1 - 2024/6/1
N2 - Market actors have a role to play in enabling sustainable food transitions. One challenge for these actors is how to promote plant-based foods in ways that appeal to a growing number of consumers. Here we test how different plant-based related labels affect consumer appraisals of a range of foods (cookies, sausages, cheese, chocolate, pasta). In two studies (pre-registered; NUSA = 1148, NGermany = 491), we examined the effects of a ‘vegetarian’, ‘vegan’, or ‘plant-based’ label (compared to no label) on five attributes (healthy, tasty, ethical, pure, environmentally friendly) related to the products. We also measured self-reported likelihood to purchase the products. Overall, the results indicated that the ‘plant-based’ label was slightly more appealing to participants than the ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ labels. However, contrary to our expectations, neither consumers' information-seeking tendencies nor their pre-existing attitudes toward plant-based foods influenced (i.e., moderated) the effects of the labels. Anticipated taste was a strong and consistent predictor of purchase likelihood for all labeled products, but the ethical and pure attributes also accounted for unique variance in this outcome variable. Taken together, our findings and discussion provide insights into the role of labels and label terminology on consumer appraisals of plant-based foods.
AB - Market actors have a role to play in enabling sustainable food transitions. One challenge for these actors is how to promote plant-based foods in ways that appeal to a growing number of consumers. Here we test how different plant-based related labels affect consumer appraisals of a range of foods (cookies, sausages, cheese, chocolate, pasta). In two studies (pre-registered; NUSA = 1148, NGermany = 491), we examined the effects of a ‘vegetarian’, ‘vegan’, or ‘plant-based’ label (compared to no label) on five attributes (healthy, tasty, ethical, pure, environmentally friendly) related to the products. We also measured self-reported likelihood to purchase the products. Overall, the results indicated that the ‘plant-based’ label was slightly more appealing to participants than the ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ labels. However, contrary to our expectations, neither consumers' information-seeking tendencies nor their pre-existing attitudes toward plant-based foods influenced (i.e., moderated) the effects of the labels. Anticipated taste was a strong and consistent predictor of purchase likelihood for all labeled products, but the ethical and pure attributes also accounted for unique variance in this outcome variable. Taken together, our findings and discussion provide insights into the role of labels and label terminology on consumer appraisals of plant-based foods.
KW - Consumer evaluations
KW - Food labeling
KW - Plant-based
KW - Sustainability
KW - Vegan
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85188465362&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107288
DO - 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107288
M3 - Article
C2 - 38467193
AN - SCOPUS:85188465362
SN - 0195-6663
VL - 197
JO - Appetite
JF - Appetite
M1 - 107288
ER -