No abstract

The plant-based alternative meat products market has attracted attention in recent years, as the demand for these products has grown worldwide. To meet the needs of this promising market, marketers must pay attention to the expected benefits of consumers and the insights that can be gleaned from comments posted on social media. This article proposed an investigation of the potential of the content analysis of comments posted on the Instagram social network of food companies that manufacture plant-based alternative meat products to understand the expected benefits by end consumers from the perspective of the classic marketing mix variables. The content posted voluntarily by consumers was organized into 13 categories of expected benefits analyzed within a proposal of evidence from the perspective of the marketing mix. The results showed that, among the insights obtained, 63% were related to the place variable, 21% to the product variable, 11% to the price variable, and 5% to the promotion variable. The insights reinforce the notion that marketing mix variables are crucial factors for companies to make products available in the right place, in the right quantity, and at a fair price, in addition to engaging with consumers through social media.

Recent research has consistently related the production and consumption of meat with environmental degradation, health problems, and damage to animal welfare. However, meat consumption represents a well-established eating behavior among many consumers. After all, meat is a central food in many cultures, and changing eating habits can be very challenging. Nevertheless, there is a group of consumers who have reduced the consumption of meat in their diet. Understanding the facilitators and barriers that influence these behavioral changes in different cultures and contexts can help to promote future collective reductions in meat consumption. This article investigates the main facilitators of and barriers to the reduction of consumption in the largest meat-consuming market in the world to contribute to the advancement of knowledge on meat-reduced diets. In order to achieve this objective, semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers who reduced their meat consumption. In this context, a content analysis was conducted to identify 22 facilitators and 15 barriers classified according to the COM-B system. This system conceptualizes Behavior, which can be influenced by Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. The results of this research corroborate previous discoveries or confirm the presence of a set of facilitators of and barriers to the reduction of meat consumption previously suggested in the literature.