Ninety Minutes to Reduce One's Intention to Eat Meat: A Preliminary Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Watching the Cowspiracy Documentary on Intention to Reduce Meat Consumption

Abstract

Whereas, past research has shown that using environmental arguments to reduce meat intake are unsuccessful in awareness campaigns, popular documentaries might have the potential to successfully change the public awareness of the environmental implications of meat consumption today. This preliminary study aimed to provide first empirical evidence of the potential effects of watching a popular documentary on a less-known environmental topic among a population that are habitual performers of the behavior under discussion. More precisely, the effects of watching "Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret" on the awareness of the environmental implications of meat consumption, the attitude toward eating less meat, and the intention to eat less meat in young adults who consume meat on an (almost) daily basis was studied. The potential impact of Cowspiracy was investigated from the Integrated Change Model perspective. Paper-and-pencil questionnaires were administered to N = 47 participants aged between 19 and 32 before and after watching either Cowspiracy (experimental group, n = 26) or Planet Earth (control group, n = 21). Controlling for the influence of predisposing factors (sociodemographic characteristics gender, age, and socioeconomic status), the results show that watching a popular documentary about the environmental impact of meat production (Cowspiracy) can have a significant effect on the awareness of the environmental consequences of meat consumption, the attitude toward eating less meat, and the intention to reduce meat consumption of young (almost) daily meat eaters. However, results should be interpreted with caution, given the preliminary nature of our study.

Examining dietary behaviours, diet quality, motives and supplementation use in physically active individuals following vegetarian‐based eating patterns

“…Documentaries such as ‘The Game Changers’ which promoted the potential benefits of a vegetarian‐based diet for athletes and attracted extensive media attention (Vitale & Hueglin, 2021 ) may be driving this shift. Similarly, popular documentaries such as ‘Cowspiracy’ outlining the environmental impact of meat production can have a substantial influence on consumer behaviour which may shape changes in vegetarian‐based dietary motives in both athletes and non‐athletes (Pabian et al, 2020 ).…”

How Helpful and What Is the Quality of Digital Sources of Healthy Lifestyle Information Used by Australian Adolescents? A Mixed Methods Study

“…Previous research suggested significant behaviour change can result through popular streaming programs, such as ‘What the Health’, which was the most popular streaming content reported by participants in the present study. Such programs have been criticised for having distinctive viewpoints, misreporting evidence, and cherry-picking studies [ 37 , 38 ]. Given the compelling way healthy lifestyle content can be presented and the global reach and exposure they have, the implications of this platform warrant further attention.…”

The Elephant Queen: Can a nature documentary help to increase tolerance towards elephants?

“…There are signs that documentaries and other animal imagery can have positive impacts on viewers (Beattie et al., 2011; Males & Van Aelst, 2021; Thomas‐Walters et al., 2020). Studies have shown that viewing Cowspiracy can reduce ones intentions to eat meat (Pabian et al., 2020). In one study, Blue Planet II was found to increase knowledge, but it did not translate into a willingness to pay to change the status quo (Hynes et al., 2021) or change viewers actual behaviours (Dunn et al., 2020).…”