New Report Shows Tactics To Encourage Concern for Animal Welfare May Reduce Meat Consumption

(June 8, 2021 - New York, NY) — The Humane League Labs and collaborators have released a report revealing that individual consumption of meat may be effectively reduced by raising awareness of the poor welfare conditions that farm animals face on typical factory farm environments. The study, involving researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, Northwestern University and Harvard University, discovered that presenting evidence of the realities of factory farming using graphic footage, newspaper articles, documentaries, and virtual reality experiences can be effective and consistent in creating individual diet change, at least in the short term. The report was published in the journal Appetite.

“We discovered that developing simple, effective tactics to reduce meat consumption shows promising potential to effect widespread diet and lifestyle change,” said co-author Jacob Peacock, Director of The Humane League Labs. “In particular, studies that discussed or depicted animal welfare can be most effective, potentially yielding broad societal benefits, including improving human health, curbing environmental damage, and limiting the large-scale suffering of animals raised for food in factory farms.”

To capture the breadth of research on animal-related tactics to reduce demand for meat, the authors, led by Maya Mathur, PhD, Assistant Professor, Quantitative Sciences Unit and Associate Director, Center for Open and Reproducible Science at the Stanford School of Medicine, conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 100 studies measuring 24,000 people across 12 different countries. Established literature on the psychology of meat consumption suggests that appeals to animal welfare may work differently and for different people than health or environmental appeals to reduce meat consumption. The analysis found that, on average, across the many different tactics explored, individuals exposed to a meat reduction tactic were more likely to reduce their meat consumption than those not exposed. In fact, 83% of the studied tactics were associated with decreased animal product consumption. However, the quality of the studies analyzed was generally rated as moderate to low.

Studies have shown that excessive consumption of meat and other animal products can be detrimental to our health. With more than 94% of animals raised for food housed in factory farms worldwide, factory farms are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss. The industrialized practices also pose a risk to public health, promoting antibiotic-resistance and the spread of diseases. And of course, these practices contribute to the preventable suffering of an estimated 130 billion animals globally each year.

For more information about the report, please click here.

About The Humane League Labs The Humane League Labs is the research arm of The Humane League that conducts studies and makes practical recommendations to inform future strategies and tactics for the animal protection movement.

About The Humane League The Humane League is a global animal protection nonprofit that exists to end the abuse of animals raised for food. Since its founding in 2005, The Humane League has focused on effectively ending the worst abuses in factory farming, securing strong animal welfare commitments from major foodservice providers, restaurants, food manufacturers, and hospitality leaders around the world, changing the lives of billions of farm animals suffering every day. The Humane League Labs is the research arm of The Humane League. Labs conducts open scientific research and makes practical recommendations to inform strategies and tactics to end the abuse of animals raised for food.