Aligning cultivated meat with conventional meat consumption practices increases expected tastefulness, naturalness, and familiarity

Abstract

Cultivated meat could help alleviate ethical and environmental concerns in the current food system, but its success as a viable alternative to conventional meat depends partly on how consumers perceive it. We extend previous studies to determine how different frames used to communicate cultivated meat affect consumers’ attitudes and willingness to try, buy, and replace conventional meat with cultivated meat. A pre-registered study (1094 participants; UK) compared differences between a consumption frame that aligned the product with conventional consumption practices, a production frame that focused on how cultivated meat is produced, and a general alternative food frame that placed it in the backdrop of novel foods. We also tested whether perceived product traits such as naturalness, familiarity, and tastefulness mediated the differences between frames. We found that the consumption frame promoted more favorable attitudes and willingness toward cultivated meat than the production frame. These differences occurred because participants perceived cultivated meat as more natural, familiar, and tasty when presented with the consumption frame. We also found differences between frames (consumption, production, general alternative food) in all perceived product traits. The results corroborate the benefits for consumer appraisal of aligning cultivated meat with conventional consumption practices and the risks of referring only to how it is produced. Perceived taste had the strongest indirect effect across all outcome variables, but perceived naturalness and familiarity were also significant. Overall, the findings reinforce the importance of carefully framing and communicating about cultivated meat with prospective consumers, and considering the perceived naturalness, familiarity, and taste of the product.