Plant-based food is unhealthy—that’s not true! How can corrective messages help promote plant-based menus in quick-service restaurants?

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Purpose This study aims to identify effective ways to promote plant-based foods in quick-service restaurants by considering customers’ food-related health involvement. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a 2 (message format: myth/fact or fact-only) × 2 (message focus: benefit- or attribute-focused) × 2 (health involvement: high or low) quasi-experimental design via a scenario-based online survey. A multivariate analysis of covariance and a bootstrapping approach were used to test the hypotheses (N = 365). Findings The results indicated that message format and focus jointly influenced customers’ perceived health consequences of plant-based foods and purchase intentions; customers’ health involvement altered the two-way interaction between message format and focus; and perceived health consequences mediated the effects of message format and focus as and customers’ health involvement on purchase intentions. Research limitations/implications This study identifies the effectiveness of message format and focus in promoting plant-based foods and extends the sustainable product promotion literature by using resource matching theory and the elaboration likelihood model. Future studies should use field studies to examine how can message framing influence customers’ actual behaviors when purchasing plant-based foods. Practical implications This study can help quick-service restaurants better promote plant-based foods considering message format and focus and customers’ food-related health involvement. Originality/value This is one of only a few studies that have tested how messages containing both negative and positive information about a product could help promote plant-based foods.