The Plant-Based Meat: a study of packaging to communicate a sustainable food product’s innovation.

Abstract

Looking at the sustainability trend applied to the food sector, during the last years factors as green consumerism, environmental pollution, and the increased attention on people’s health and wellness have led to the diffusion of new eating habits: vegetarianism and veganism are just some of them. Among all these, one recurrent topic is the intention to significantly reduce meat consumption due to ethical, environmental, health or, even taste motivations. In this given framework, some companies operating in the food sector have recently started to make a product able to recreate the aspect, the texture, and the taste of traditional meat but composed of plant-based ingredients only: the so-called plant-based meat. Taking the perspective of such an innovative food product, this thesis aims to study how perceptions vehiculated through its packaging change according to consumers’ different eating habits and different motivations in choosing this type of food. To reach this purpose, this study exploits both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Thus, neuromarketing techniques, such as the implicit associations one, are then used to define how different packaging variables affect different perceptions in consumers’ minds so their buying behaviour. To conclude, further implications are then discussed considering the direction that these traditional meat’s alternatives are taking in the road through sustainability, like, for example, synthetic meat.