US and UK Consumer Adoption of Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study

Abstract

Despite growing evidence of the environmental and public health threats posed by today’s intensive animal production, consumers in the west remain largely attached to meat. Cultivated meat offers a way to grow meat directly from cells, circumventing these issues as well as the use of animals altogether. The aim of this study was to assess the overall consumer markets and a range of preferences around cultivated meat in the US and the UK relating to nomenclature, genetic modification, health enhancements, and other features. To this end, we recruited large representative samples to participate in an online survey about cultivated meat, and subsequently analyzed segments (a) in the early majority population (guided by the Diffusion of Innovations Model), (b) by generation, and (c) in the general population. Our findings showed a high level of openness (80%) in both the US and UK populations, with 40% somewhat or moderately likely to try and 40% highly likely to try. Younger generations had the greatest openness: 88% of Gen Z, 85% of Millennials, 77% of Gen X, and 72% of Baby Boomers were at least somewhat open to trying cultivated meat. All segments envisioned cultivated meat to be nearly half of their total meat intake. Findings show that consumers prefer the terms ‘cultured’ and ‘cultivated’ over ‘cell-based’ and ‘cell-cultured’ for use in a social context and on packages, even though they perceive these terms as less descriptive. The most important on-package label was one indicating government assurances, and participants preferred non-GM products over GM products. We also found that US consumers prefer nutritionally superior meat over nutritionally equivalent meat. We discuss implications for product development, messaging, and understanding the likely adoption path of this food innovation.

South African Consumer Adoption of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat: A Segmentation Study

“…Overall consumers appear to be motivated by the multi-dimensional benefits of plant-based and cultivated meat, including both altruistic and personal benefits. This finding is consistent with cross country comparison studies, including a recent study comparing cultivated meat adoption in the US and UK (Szejda et al, 2021) and a study comparing plant-based and cultivated meat adoption in the US, China, and India . We observed these motivators to be more influential than demographic factors in predicting the likelihood of purchasing plant-based or cultivated meat.…”

“…Additionally, these generational differences suggest there will be increasing adoptions over time with changing cohorts, which is especially pertinent given South Africa's young population (Statistics South Africa, 2021). This is in line with a recent generational assessment of US and UK consumers, in which younger generations showed the highest adoption potential (Szejda et al, 2021). Future adoption levels will also likely increase as alternative meat products become better-known and more widely available, since our regression analysis revealed prior familiarity to be the strongest predictor for purchase likelihood of both plant-based and cultivated meat.…”

“…The cultivated meat stimulus also included an explanation of the growing conditions in a bioreactor and included a short graphic describing the production process using a greenhouse analogy. We opted to use the term "cultivated meat" to describe the technology, as this term (as well as the term "cultured meat") is a descriptive, non-advocacy term explicitly preferred by consumers (Szejda et al, 2021). The introductory text and plant-based and cultivated meat technology descriptions are available in the Supplementary Materials.…”

“…Understanding the attributes of generations is important to consumer adoption in South Africa, with its relatively young population (United Nations Department of Economic Social Affairs, 2019). Generational differences have been found within adoption of emerging technologies such as the sharing economy (Hollowell et al, 2019); and also toward food, including for example, organic food purchasing (Kamenidou et al, 2020), morality beliefs toward meat consumption (Pribis et al, 2010), and cultivated meat specifically (Szejda et al, 2021). Because generational cohorts can share similar attitudes and purchasing behavior, segmentation by generation is an important strategy for both effective marketing (Dabija and Bǎbu, t, 2019) and understanding long-term adoption potential.…”

“…The bulk of research conducted on consumer perceptions of plant-based and cultivated meat conducted to date has neglected emerging markets in developing countries, especially in the African continent. Numerous studies have been carried out in the United States and across multiple Asian and European countries, focusing on consumers' perceptions toward cultivated meat (see, for example, Verbeke et al, 2015;Hartmann and Siegrist, 2017;Wilks and Phillips, 2017;Bryant and Barnett, 2018;Stephens et al, 2018;Bryant and Dillard, 2019;Chriki and Hocquette, 2020;Szejda et al, 2021). Similarly, multiple studies have investigated consumers' perceptions toward plant-based meat (Pohjolainen et al, 2015;Bryant, 2019;Parry and Szejda, 2019;Vainio, 2019;Dent, 2020;Faber et al, 2020;International Food Information Council, 2020;Leiserowitz et al, 2020).…”