School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao, China.
Management College, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangdong, China.
Appetite. 2024 May 1;196:107272. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107272. Epub 2024 Feb 26.
Keeping a distance from food animals helps alleviate moral conflicts associated with meat consumption. Prior research on the 'meat paradox' has shown that physical distance from animals reduces negative emotional responses when consuming meat. However, even with physical distance, the presence of animals in meat advertisements and packaging can establish psychological contact. The impact of psychological distance on meat consumption and purchase inclinations has not been well explored. Through four experiments, we discovered that animal anthropomorphism psychologically brings consumers closer to food animals, resulting in reduced intentions to consume and purchase meat. Anthropomorphized animal images notably reduced social psychological distance for consumers with moderate to high (vs. lower) levels of anthropomorphic tendencies. Furthermore, the effect of anthropomorphism was influenced by moral self-efficacy. Specifically, when social psychological distance was reduced, consumers with higher (vs. lower) moral self-efficacy exhibited a significant decrease in their willingness to consume and purchase meat. These findings expand our understanding of the role of anthropomorphism in meat marketing, its limitations, and offer insights for sales strategies. Additionally, the research could inform public health policies on meat consumption, addressing environmental and ethical concerns tied to meat production amid growing worries about animal welfare.
与食用动物保持距离有助于减轻与肉类消费相关的道德冲突。先前关于“肉类悖论”的研究表明，与动物保持身体距离可以减少食用肉类时的负面情绪反应。然而，即使有身体距离，动物在肉类广告和包装中的存在也可以建立心理联系。心理距离对肉类消费和购买倾向的影响尚未得到充分探索。通过四项实验，我们发现动物拟人化在心理上将消费者与食用动物拉近，从而降低了他们食用和购买肉类的意愿。对于具有中等到高水平（与较低水平相比）拟人化倾向的消费者来说，拟人化的动物形象显著降低了他们的社会心理距离。此外，拟人化的效果受到道德自我效能感的影响。具体来说，当社会心理距离缩小时，道德自我效能感较高（与较低）的消费者明显减少了他们食用和购买肉类的意愿。这些发现扩展了我们对拟人化在肉类营销中的作用、其局限性的理解，并为销售策略提供了见解。此外，该研究可以为公共卫生政策提供有关肉类消费的信息，解决与肉类生产相关的环境和伦理问题，同时缓解人们对动物福利日益关注的问题。
