Scientists have suggested that the use of graphic labels on packaging could be employed by governments to shame people into not eating meat.
Graphic labelling telling the general public that “Animals suffer when you eat meat” and “The Amazon rainforest is destroyed when you eat meat” can be used to shame people into not buying and consuming meat products, scientists have claimed.
It is the latest development in a trend that has seen actors — who believe they are doing good — +push for people to stop eating meat products, with the topic of cutting down on meat consumption being a significant talking point at the World Economic Forum’s Davos conference this year.
In service of this end, Scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands believe they have found that slapping graphic labelling on meat products similar to those found on cigarette packaging can prevent people from eating meat.
The scientists particularly advocate the use of so-called “meat-shaming” labels that tell consumers that they are bad people for eating meat, which they found turns people away from the products.
“Meat-shaming entails often drastic communication that publicly criticizes consumers for their meat consumption behaviour with the goal to make them feel ashamed and ultimately change their behavior,” the study reads.
The study ultimately finds that the use of such labelling is effective at turning off the general public, especially when the consumer feels that the warning on the packaging is coming from those in authority, such as the government, the United Nations, Greenpeace or a private corporation that pushes environmentally friendly eating.
The study into how to help prevent people from eating meat is only the latest chapter in a growing trend to kill consumer appetite for animal products, with powerful individuals and corporations becoming increasingly keener to see the likes of beef and chicken go the way of the dinosaur.
Preventing meat-eating in order to solve climate change came up as a topic of conversation at this year’s World Economic Forum conference at Davos, with the head of German industrial megacorp Siemens saying that he wants to see hundreds of millions of people across the world stop eating meat.
“If a billion people stop eating meat, I tell you, it has a big impact,” he said during a panel at the globalist conference. “Not only does it have a big impact on the current food system, but it will also inspire innovation of food systems.”
The movement to push people into not eating meat is no longer merely theoretical either, with German supermarket chain Lidl announcing earlier this month that it plans to cut down on the number of meat products it is selling in stores.
According to the chief purchasing director at the shopping giant, Christoph Graf, Lidl was making the decision as “there is no second planet”, with the official adding that he hoped the move would “motivate” buyers into choosing plant-based alternatives.