Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 7:11:577111.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577111. eCollection 2020.

Two Birds, One Stone: The Effectiveness of Health and Environmental Messages to Reduce Meat Consumption and Encourage Pro-environmental Behavioral Spillover

Emily Wolstenholme  1 , Wouter Poortinga  1   2 , Lorraine Whitmarsh  3
Affiliations

Two Birds, One Stone: The Effectiveness of Health and Environmental Messages to Reduce Meat Consumption and Encourage Pro-environmental Behavioral Spillover

Emily Wolstenholme et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

There is a growing consensus that reducing excess meat consumption will be necessary to meet climate change targets, whilst also benefitting people's health. Strategies aimed at encouraging reduced meat consumption also have the potential to promote additional pro-environmental behaviors through behavioral spillover, which can be catalyzed through an increased pro-environmental identity. Based on this, the current study tested the effectiveness of a randomized two-week messaging intervention on reducing red and processed meat consumption and encouraging pro-environmental behavioral spillover. Participants were undergraduate students in the United Kingdom (n = 320 at baseline) randomly allocated to four conditions in which they received information about the health, environmental, or combined (health and environmental) impacts of meat consumption, and a no-message control. The results showed that receiving information on the health and/or environmental impacts of meat was effective in reducing red and processed meat consumption compared to the control group during the intervention period, with some effects remaining one-month later. However, the intervention did not have any effect on pro-environmental identity and there was little evidence of behavioral spillover. Implications for future research and interventions aimed at reducing meat consumption are discussed.

Keywords: environment; health; identity; intervention; meat; message; spillover.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Average red and processed meat consumption across time. Error bars represent standard error ± mean.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Participants average willingness to perform pro-environmental behaviors at time 2.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Participants average willingness to perform pro-environmental behaviors at time 3.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Allen M. W., Baines S. (2002). Manipulating the symbolic meaning of meat to encourage greater acceptance of fruits and vegetables and less proclivity for red and white meat. Appetite 32 118–130. 10.1006/appe.2001.0474 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amiot C. E., Boutros G. E. H., Sukhanova K., Karelis A. D. (2018). Testing a novel multicomponent intervention to reduce meat consumption in young men. PLoS One 13:e0204590. 10.1371/journal.pone.0204590 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bailey R., Froggatt A., Wellesley L. (2014). Livestock—Climate Change’s Forgotten Sector: Global Public Opinion on Meat and Dairy Consumption. Chatham House Report. London: The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
    1. Bajželj B., Richards K. S., Allwood J. M., Smith P., Dennis J. S., Curmi E., et al. (2014). Importance of food-demand management for climate mitigation. Nat. Clim. Change 4 924–929. 10.1038/nclimate2353 - DOI
    1. Bem D. J. (1972). “Self-perception theory,” in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 6 ed. Berkowitz L. (Cambridge, MA: Academic Press; ), 1–62. 10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60024-6 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources