Sustainable consumption: How does social media affect food choices?

Simeone, Mariarosaria; Scarpato, Debora

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124036

Cited by 84 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The internet also consists of the use of social networks. The use of social networks has been shown to change the way that consumers search for information and select products; they are becoming prominent sources of information, including for food choices (see [ 43 , 44 ], for example). From this perspective, social media can influence information strategies in two ways: Reducing the cost of releasing information, compared to that of traditional mass media (i.e., television or radio), and making specific consumer groups more easily targeted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Information provision to promote sustainable and healthy diets could be carried out through educational campaigns (e.g., relating to the inclusion of sustainability in dietary guidelines) or improved sustainability labelling on packaging. Social media could be used to change social norms and food culture towards healthy diets and waste reduction, as recent studies have demonstrated that social media information also affects environmental awareness and consumer information and choices relating to sustainable food [ 44 ]. Further research is necessary to examine the role of the Internet in food information more closely, as well as the sources which are judged as most reliable by respondents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian Consumers

Wongprawmas

Mora

Pellegrini

et al. 2021

Foods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Healthy food choices are crucial for a healthy lifestyle. However, food choices are complex and affected by various factors. Understanding the determinant factors affecting food choices could aid policy-makers in designing better strategies to promote healthy food choices in the general public. This study aims to evaluate the food choice motivations and to segment consumer groups, according to their food choice motivations, in a sample of 531 Italian consumers (collected by convenience sampling), through offline and online survey platforms. K-means cluster analysis was applied to identify consumer groups using six food choice motivation categories (health, emotional, economic and availability, social and cultural, environmental and political, and marketing and commercial). The results suggest that the strongest determinants for the food choices of Italian consumers are Environmental factors and Health. Two consumer profiles were identified through the segmentation analysis: Emotional eating and Health-driven consumers. The respondents were found to have a good awareness of what comprises a healthy diet. There is a potential market for healthy and sustainable food products, especially products with minimal or environmentally friendly packages. Food labels and information strategies could be promoted as tools to assist consumers to make healthy food choices.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian Consumers

Wongprawmas

Mora

Pellegrini

et al. 2021

Foods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fleming-Milici and Harris [ 51 ] identified adolescents’ social media engagement with food/beverage brands. Simeon and Scarpato [ 52 ] reported the negative effects of gathering information on social networks, which tend to homogenize consumption and decrease consumers’ sustainability awareness. Social networks can be searched for recipes [ 53 ] and information on diets [ 54 ], and can be a good source of dietary information, such as food reviews [ 52 ] or advice for feeding young children [ 55 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthy Food on the Twitter Social Network: Vegan, Homemade, and Organic Food

Pilař

Stanislavská

Kvasnička

2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Online social networks have become an everyday aspect of many people’s lives. Users spend more and more time on these platforms and, through their interactions on social media platforms, they create active and passive digital footprints. These data have a strong potential in many research areas; indeed, understanding people’s communication on social media is essential for understanding their attitudes, experiences, behaviors and values. Researchers have found that the use of social networking sites impacts eating behavior; thus, analyzing social network data is important for understanding the meaning behind expressions used in the context of healthy food. This study performed a communication analysis of data from the social network Twitter, which included 666,178 messages posted by 168,134 individual users. These data comprised all tweets that used the #healthyfood hashtag between 2019 and 2020 on Twitter. The results revealed that users most commonly associate healthy food with a healthy lifestyle, diet, and fitness. Foods associated with this hashtag were vegan, homemade, and organic. Given that people change their behavior according to other people’s behavior on social networks, these data could be used to identify current and future associations with current and future perceptions of healthy food characteristics.

show abstract

“…Well thought changes in the canteens, as well as education (e.g., curricular "greening"), could influence some students to rethink the way they choose to eat. These results can be explained in a way that, often, new generations are more involved in environmental problems, through the social media [46]. Also, young adults appear to reduce their consumption due to environmental or health concerns [47].…”

Section: Discussion On the Awareness And Willingness To Reduce Meat Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Campus Decarbonization: Students’ Perceptions for Reducing Meat Consumption in a Portuguese University

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study is focused on perceptions regarding meat consumption, targeting university students. This is a timely topic in a context of climate change (CC), sustainability in agri-food systems and in universities. Recently, some universities adopted food-related CC mitigation measures, by removing some types of meat from their canteens. This research intended to find trends, at a Portuguese university, on consumption habits and on willingness to reduce meat. The methodology follows a quantitative and descriptive approach. The universe is the students’ community from the University of Aveiro, with a random sample of 876 valid questionnaires. Although results show that meat is a substantial part of students’ diet, most of them are willing to reduce this product, and mainly for environmental reasons. Undergraduate students have higher level of awareness in this matter, namely from Natural Sciences. Female students are more receptive to diet changes. Further studies and educational actions on Diet-CC should be promoted in all levels of Academy, especially in PhD, Social Sciences and with gender differentiation. Such results may support an effectively participatory discussion to better decide on decarbonization of the Campus through the diet.

show abstract

Sustainable consumption: How does social media affect food choices?

Cited by 84 publications

References 39 publications

Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian Consumers

Food Choice Determinants and Perceptions of a Healthy Diet among Italian Consumers

Healthy Food on the Twitter Social Network: Vegan, Homemade, and Organic Food

Campus Decarbonization: Students’ Perceptions for Reducing Meat Consumption in a Portuguese University

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About