Clean Meat: Convincing People That ‘Unnatural’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Bad’

Negative publicity overall had the greatest and most lasting effect. Even after reading pro-clean meat information, they remained biased against clean meat.

CLAIRE YIP: ‘Clean meat is real meat that is created from a cell sample rather than an animal. Investors have been very interested in funding clean meat, but most people have only been exposed to the idea in sensational news articles, if at all… A research study tested the effects of three kinds of appeals on 2,600 participants. The first appeal debunked the assumption that “natural is good and unnatural is bad.” The second emphasized how other things we eat and use are also “unnatural,” like yogurt and antibiotics. In the third appeal, participants were told that many other people were excited about trying clean meat…

After a few months, the one appeal that still had a positive effect was the second appeal, which emphasized the “unnaturalness” of other things we eat. Participants who received this appeal were more willing to pay for clean meat. To some extent, they also displayed more positivity about and interest in clean meat. In fact, this appeal to “embrace unnatural” had the strongest effect on people who were the least interested in clean meat at the start of the experiment. In contrast, the other appeals had only a temporary impact.

Unfortunately, however, negative publicity overall had the greatest and most lasting effect. Some people read anti-clean meat information, which gave them a negative view. Even after reading pro-clean meat information, they remained biased against clean meat… These results are extremely important for future clean meat marketing strategies. The Good Food Institute, an influential clean meat organization, focuses on the pyramid of taste, price, and convenience. However, this study shows that consumers might also be concerned with another factor: prejudice’. SOURCE…

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