Fact-based environmental messaging did not influence Australians' attitudes and intentions towards cultivated seafood

Abstract

Our oceans currently experience perilous times from a worsening climate crisis and other human impacts. Wild caught and farmed seafood production represents a primary human impact on marine ecosystems. Urgent action must be taken to reduce the effects of these impacts while simultaneously considering the protein needs of a growing global population. Cultivated seafood is a food product of the cellular agriculture industry, which seeks to create alternative seafood production methods. Cultivated seafood has the potential to significantly reduce our reliance on wild-caught fish and aquaculture systems. Consumer perceptions will play a vital role in the acceptance and uptake of such products. We investigated consumer perceptions of cultivated seafood for Australians (N = 1005). Using a 2 × 3 factorial design, we tested whether fact-based environmental messaging influenced attitudes and intentions to try and eat cultivated seafood, and seafood from wild-caught and farmed production systems. We also investigated whether demographic variables related to attitudes and intentions for each seafood production type. We found that environmental messaging did not influence consumers attitudes and intentions towards cultivated seafood. However, it did reduce participants attitudes and intentions to consume wild-caught seafood. Males and younger participants reported more favourable attitudes and intentions towards cultivated seafood. Higher preferences for seafood saw stronger attitudes and intentions towards consumption of all seafood production systems. Understanding drivers of consumers' attitudes and intentions towards cultivated seafood will inform communication approaches highlighting the positive potential of cultivated seafood and contribute to its successful introduction to the mass market.