Promoting the impossible to possible identifying effective message themes for marketing alternative proteins on social media

Abstract

Despite the growing popularity and prevalence of alternative proteins (APs) in Singapore, little is known about the effectiveness of advertising such AP products to consumers on social media. This research project conducted two studies to address the research gap. Study 1 aimed to understand message appeals and persuasive techniques widely used by advertisers in Singapore, and Study 2 aimed to test the effectiveness of these message appeals on different AP types. Study 1 results showed that the most popular appeals are Easy Preparation Method and Tastes Like Meat, and that the most commonly used persuasive techniques were displaying recipes and using images of the APs looking like the original food. Study 2 results found that (1) Tastes Like Meat is the most effective message appeal and Increases Popularity is the least effective, (2) plant-based meat is the most accepted AP types while insect-based meat is the least accepted, and that (3) each meat type had some message appeals that worked better or worse for them. Practical and theoretical implications are also discussed. Keywords: alternative proteins, plant-based, insect-based, cultivated meat, advertising appeal, social media