Effects of sensory and environmental labelling of plant-based products on consumer acceptance: Context, energy density and framing factors

There is growing pressure to replace animal-sourced proteins with plant-based proteins. Consumer studies suggest sensory properties and environment are the major factors impacting adoption of PBFs, but few studies have contrasted these factors. Knowing that health labels negatively impact sensory experience, we tested whether environmental labels had the same negative impact. Using an online survey, volunteers (N = 328) were randomly assigned to one of three label contexts: sensory (emphasizing taste and texture), environmental (highlighting sustainability and environmental impact), or control (no specific messaging), where they evaluated eight plant-based alternative foods. Each product was enhanced by either a positive or a negatively valanced framing statement, with half the foods higher, and half lower, in energy density (ED). Participants rated expected liking, wanting and likely recommendation, and estimated what they would pay for each food. For liking and recommending, there was no significant difference between environmental and sensory contexts (p = 0.94), but both were significantly higher than control (p = 0.0006), while for expected wanting only the sensory exceeded the control (p = 0.0014). The amount willing to pay was significantly higher in the environmental than sensory (p = 0.0005) or control (p < 0.0001) contexts, which did not differ significantly (p = 0.49). For all four measures, higher ED foods were rated significantly more positively than lower ED (p < 0.001), while the effect of environment on purchase price was magnified by higher ED foods (p < 0.001). Positive framing statements were rated significantly higher than negative framing for liking (p < 0.001), wanting (p < 0.001) and recommending (p = 0.022), but not for purchase (p = 0.30). When habitual diet (plant-based or not) was included in the exploratory analyses, it only altered acceptance of lower energy-dense products in the control context. Overall, these data suggest that the use of environmental descriptors may enhance consumer expectations and willingness to pay more to the same degree as sensory descriptors, providing various strategies for marketers and product developers to promote PBFs based on messages that best fit the brand identity and expand the PBFs narrative beyond health.