Vegan food 'should be given more masculine names' to make more men go meat free claim scientists
The study wanted to investigate why men were far less willing to go vegan in comparison to women
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Men are unlikely to become vegan because meat-free products are described using more feminine language, scientists have claimed.
A study has suggested that brands should use words that will appeal more to men to attract them to the plant-based diet.
For example, brands could describe a burger as a “beast burger” rather than a “wow-factor burger” to entice men to forego animal products.
The study, conducted by Alma Scholz at the University of University of Würzburg, wanted to investigate why men were far less willing to go vegan in comparison to women.
The findings suggest that marketing could be used to make a plant-based diet seem less feminine
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Half the people in the study were given meals that had masculine descriptions of the food, including the words “smoky”, “greasy” and “juicy”.
Meanwhile, the other half of participants were given meals that had more neutral language, such as “creamy” and “delicious”.
The findings suggest that marketing could be used to make a plant-based diet seem less feminine.
Scholz, the study lead, said: “Men might be less inclined to consume vegan food due to the need to appear masculine.
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“Perhaps if we used even more masculine language to describe this food, we could make men more willing to eat it.”
Participants had to rate the suitability of the food from one to seven – the closer to seven the score was, the more suitable it was for women.
When people were shown the masculine targeted products, the average score was 3.98.
This was a small increase from the average score of 3.68, which was given to the meals that used more neutral language.
The 3.98 average showed that the participants thought the manly meals were equally suited to both men and women.
More masculine language could convince men to give up meat
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The increase in the average showed that descriptions of vegan food for men can affect whether or not they want to eat it.
The study authors noted that men appear to be more sensitive to whether consuming certain foods would make them look less like a traditional man.
However, between both groups, participants overall decided that the meals were more catered towards a female audience.
They also said that despite the different marketing strategies, many were still not convinced that they would buy or try the dishes.