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The Role Of Humanewashing In Grocery Stores - How Welfare Labels Affect Purchasing Behavior (Faunalytics)

#labelling #consumer_research

Confidential report, do not share widely

Key Findings

  1. The availability of products featuring unverified animal welfare claims and products without welfare labels didn’t affect the total number of animal products shoppers bought. Allowing participants to purchase animal products featuring the effectively meaningless term “Humanely Raised” didn’t result in shoppers buying any more or any fewer animal products. The same was true when participants were able to purchase animal products featuring no welfare claims at all. Participants always had the option to purchase welfare-certified products.

  2. Welfare labels weren’t clear to shoppers. When asked which standards apply to “Certified Humane” and unverified “Humanely Raised” claims, shoppers didn’t know. Only 9% of participants knew that “Humanely Raised” is an effectively meaningless, undefined term, and even fewer could identify each of the standards associated with “Certified Humane” products. Shoppers often associated the same characteristics with both labels. They also associated many characteristics with “Humanely Raised” labels more often than they did with “Certified Humane” labels. These findings imply that shoppers can’t tell the difference between certified welfare labels and unverified welfare claims.

  3. Welfare labels weren’t memorable to shoppers. After completing an online grocery shopping task, 44% of shoppers said they didn’t know if welfare-certified and “Humanely Raised” animal products had been available for purchase. Only 7% correctly recalled which of these product types were available. Even though the U.S. public voices concerns about animal welfare when surveyed, their dollars won’t fully reflect these concerns if welfare labels don’t make a strong impression.

  4. Shoppers didn’t show a clear preference for animal products featuring welfare certification labels over products with unverified welfare claims or products without any welfare claims. When given the choice between products featuring welfare certifications, products featuring unverified welfare claims, and products with no welfare claims at all, participants did not consistently choose the welfare-certified products. Interpretations of this finding must keep in mind both the confusing and forgettable nature of welfare labels and the polls that show the U.S. public’s concern for farmed animal welfare. As a result, it is quite possible that shoppers didn’t purchase welfare-certified products because they were unaware of or unable to understand the welfare labels on animal products.

  5. Charging more for welfare-certified products made participants buy fewer of them, but the total amount of animal products purchased didn’t change. Marking up the price of welfare-certified products didn’t make participants buy any more animal products or any fewer, but it did reduce the number of welfare-certified products they bought. Unlike with welfare labels, shoppers have little difficulty understanding what it means when a product is more expensive. Price could ultimately be a bigger factor than welfare for many shoppers, but this is complicated by the lack of knowledge many shoppers have around welfare labels.

Recommendations

• Educate consumers about animal welfare certifications. Shoppers don’t have a strong understanding of what animal welfare labels mean. Because of this, it can be difficult for them to tell the difference between labels that represent certain welfare standards and labels that are meaningless. Public education campaigns can alert the public to the misleading nature of many welfare claims.

• Make it easier for shoppers to know what they’re buying. Shoppers look to packaging to tell them about the welfare of the animals used for their food. Including explanations of welfare standards on packaging could help shoppers learn what welfare labels mean. Creating a single, easily recognizable, go-to welfare certification, similar to the “USDA Organic” label, could also help shoppers know what to look for.

• Demand higher welfare standards for farmed animals. Even if all animal products met welfare certification standards, there would continue to be massive amounts of farmed animal suffering. These standards may be slightly preferable to the conditions on factory farms without any animal welfare certifications, but they are not enough. As long as animals continue to be raised and killed for human consumption, advocates must continue to fight for certification organizations to improve their standards and to lobby governments to strengthen regulations.

• Work to ban deceptive welfare claims. Some advocacy organizations are working to prove that animal agriculture companies are falsely advertising their products. Combined with legislative and regulatory efforts, these approaches can help get rid of welfare claims that are little more than marketing ploys. This will enable consumers to make informed decisions about their purchases. Combined with education and clearer labeling, this could help minimize the proportion of animal products coming from animals raised with weak welfare standards. Animal advocates may be able to learn from or collaborate with climate advocates who are interested in banning “greenwashing.” Advocates may also be able to mobilize companies that use welfare certifications to lobby against competitors who use unverified welfare claims.

• Researchers should investigate how price affects the purchase of welfare-certified animal products. In particular, researchers should explore how the cost of different welfare standards is passed along to consumers and if knowledge about the specific reasons for higher prices influences shoppers’ willingness to purchase these products.

• Push plant-based alternatives. Ultimately, the most effective way to minimize the suffering of farmed animals is to lower demand for animal products. Working to make plant-based products cheaper and more widely available is a key way of achieving this. Lobbying Congress, state legislatures, and the USDA for better welfare standards may be fruitful, even if it’s an uphill battle. This strategy can raise the welfare floor, while efforts to increase subsidies and investments in plant-based alternatives help lay the infrastructure for a plant-based future.