Framing plant-based products in terms of their health vs environmental benefits: interactions with individual wellbeing

Journal Paper by Amy Isham, Judith Geusen and Birgitta Gatersleben
International Journal for Environmental Research and Public Health 19 (19) | September 2022

Summary

Significant reductions in meat and dairy consumption have been proposed as critical for limiting environmental damage and meeting international climate targets. Yet, individuals choosing to adopt plant-based diets still form a minority. Here is where food labels come into play.

Given the need to a wider adoption to plant-based food consumption, our research sought to explore factors that influence consumers’ liking and willingness to pay for plant-based products. The results confirm findings from existing work showing that framing plant-based products in terms of their health versus environmental benefits does not have a significant impact on product liking or willingness to pay overall.

Levels of consumer wellbeing, however, do seem to have a bigger impact, with higher levels of positive wellbeing (either life satisfaction or positive affect) being linked to greater liking and willingness to pay.

Boosting consumer wellbeing may be a means of encouraging the consumption of plant-based foods, our study finds. In addition, we note an interaction effect whereby levels of negative affect were differentially linked to liking and willingness to pay across the health and environmental framing conditions. This was such that, when labels employ a health framing, negative affect is positively linked to liking and willingness to pay. But when labels employ an environmental frame, negative affect is negatively linked to liking and willingness to pay.

The findings therefore demonstrate the importance of considering the specific characteristics of the audience when designing the framings of food labels. When the intended audience is experiencing a certain degree of negative feelings, then labels which emphasize the health benefits may be more effective than those emphasizing environmental benefits.

Further Reading