Consumer Perceptions of the U.S. Agriculture Industry Before and After Watching the Film Food, Inc.

Abstract

As the divide between consumers and producers in the agricultural industry increases, consumers are becoming less connected with the food they purchase. Without first-hand knowledge about the agricultural industry, consumers are relying more on the media to inform them about how their food is produced and processed. A growing form of media available to consumers is entertainment media, including documentary films. This research focuses on the ability of entertainment media to impact consumer perceptions about the agricultural industry, using the documentary film Food, Inc. The film Food, Inc. highlights aspects of the agricultural industry, including animal husbandry practices, governmental regulation of food production, and working conditions in food processing plants. This research uses a pretest and posttest to compare respondents' perceptions about the agricultural industry before and after watching the film. Findings indicate that consumers' perceptions were altered about the agricultural industry by watching the film. Based on this research it is recommended that future researchers and professionals in the agricultural industry work to positively influence and educate consumers about the agricultural industry through entertainment media. AbstractAs the divide between consumers and producers in the agricultural industry increases, consumers are becoming less connected with the food they purchase. Without first-hand knowledge about the agricultural industry, consumers are relying more on the media to inform them about how their food is produced and processed. A growing form of media available to consumers is entertainment media, including documentary films. This research focuses on the ability of entertainment media to impact consumer perceptions about the agricultural industry, using the documentary film Food, Inc. The film Food, Inc. highlights aspects of the agricultural industry, including animal husbandry practices, governmental regulation of food production, and working conditions in food processing plants. This research uses a pretest and posttest to compare respondents' perceptions about the agricultural industry before and after watching the film. Findings indicate that consumers' perceptions were altered about the agricultural industry by watching the film. Based on this research it is recommended that future researchers and professionals in the agricultural industry work to positively influence and educate consumers about the agricultural industry through entertainment media.

The Pastoral Fantasy on the Silver Screen: The Influence of Film on American Cultural Memory of the Agrarian Landscape

“…Entertainment media remain an understudied entity within agricultural communications scholarship: To date, only Ruth, Lundy, and Park's (2005) analysis of reality program The Simple Life and Holt and Cartmell's (2013) study of the documentary Food, Inc. populate the canon of entertainment-media research. This study, therefore, represents a preliminary attempt to delineate the sociocultural influence of entertainment media portrayals of food and fiber production across time.…”

“…To date, little research has been done to describe and catalog entertainment media portrayals of food and fiber production and their influences on public perception (Holt & Cartmell, 2013;Ruth, Lundy, & Park, 2005). As part of a larger endeavor to aggregate and analyze media texts that describe, discuss, or portray American agriculture, this study was undertaken to explicate how films have created and reified the pastoral ideal of rural American life in fulfillment of National Research Agenda Priority 1: Public and Policy Maker Understanding of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Doerfert, 2011).…”

Farmed and Dangerous? A Case Study of Chipotle’s Branded Entertainment Series and Polarized Reactions to its Satirical Depiction of Farming and Agribusiness

“…Unique persuasive effects and the cognitive nature of how satire is processed have been the focus of recent studies (LaMarre, Landreville, Young, & Gilkerson, 2014;Lee & Kwak, 2014). Recent research focused on the documentary Food, Inc. explored how perceptions toward agriculture can be influenced by entertaining media content (Holt & Cartmell, 2013).…”

Eating Animals: The Influence of Food-based Narratives

“…Meyers et al (2011) found that viewers of Food, Inc. and King Corn felt the narratives were onesided and did not accurately portray modern agricultural practices. Holt and Cartmell (2013) also studied the impact of Food, Inc. on viewer perceptions. After viewing the film, participants had more confidence in the safety of organic food than traditionally produced food.…”