Marketing plant-based meat with factual, health-focused messaging works better than emotional appeals for vegetarian shoppers, while neither approach shifts committed meat eaters, according to new research published in the Journal of Marketing Management.
The study surveyed 990 Australian residents using a controlled experiment that showed participants advertisements for either a plant-based burger or a conventional meat burger, framed with either a rational message (built on facts and health information) or an emotional one (built on pleasure and experience). Researchers then measured how each combination affected perceived risk, perceived value, purchase intention, and willingness to recommend the product.
Meat eaters stayed put regardless of the pitch
Across the full sample of 896 meat eaters, the type of message made no measurable difference. Participants consistently rated plant-based meat as riskier and less valuable than conventional meat, which lowered both their intention to buy and their likelihood of recommending it. The researchers attribute this partly to taste expectations and food neophobia, longstanding barriers documented in earlier alternative protein research.
The risk perceptions were specific. Consumers associated plant-based meat with stronger financial, psychological, and time-related risks, but lower functional and physical risks. Notably, social risk showed no significant effect, which the authors read as a sign that eating plant-based meat no longer carries meaningful social stigma. On that basis, they suggest brands could redirect spending away from normalization campaigns and toward taste and functionality.
Age and diet change the equation
Segmentation revealed sharper differences. Among younger consumers aged 18 to 44, emotional messaging raised the perceived quality of conventional meat but did nothing for plant-based products. The authors advise brands targeting this group to avoid emotional appeals for plant-based meat and lean on rational framing instead.
The clearest opening appeared among the 94 vegetarian participants. For this group, a rational appeal improved perceptions of product quality, which in turn lifted purchase intention and word-of-mouth. Emotional messaging did not produce the same effect.
The findings point away from a single marketing formula. As the authors put it, the results show marketers that “it is important to understand the target audience for plant-based meat and to tailor marketing strategies, not treating it as ‘one size fits all’.”
