Promoting Vegetarianism through Moralization and Knowledge Calibration

ABSTRACT

This research extends the theories of moralization and knowledge calibration to vegetarianism. In two studies involving interviews with vegetarians, and meat-eaters; we investigated consumer attitudes toward vegetarianism. Our text analysis results revealed that emotionally calibrated consumers are ‘moral vegetarians’ who find meat repulsive, and make ethical food choices. In contrast, cognitively calibrated consumers are ‘health vegetarians’ who scan the nutrition information, avoid meat due to health restrictions, and embrace vegetarianism for healthy life. Finally, we provided insights into how faux meat companies can promote their products and transform consumer behavior toward vegetarianism by advertising ethical and environmentally friendly foods, and healthy and anti-obesity foods to moral and health vegetarians, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• emotional versus cognitive calibration
• faux meat
• meat consumption
• moralization
• text-analysis software
• vegetarianism

Note

Notes

1. https://www.ota.com/resources/market-analysis