Can Informative Videos Reduce Meat Consumption?

Documentaries and other forms of informational video are often used by animal advocates to spread awareness and promote animal welfare. While many surveys of people following plant-based diets suggest that videos are a useful tool in changing opinions, experimental evidence for the effectiveness of many of these videos is underwhelming, with many failing to produce an observable change in the audience’s dietary choices.

One possible explanation is that the quality of the video itself plays a role in how likely audiences are to respond to its message. To test this, a pair of researchers from Canada looked at how audiences chose to eat after watching a 16-minute segment of the movie Dominion, an Australian documentary that’s received much praise from both audiences and critics since its release in 2018. The segment they chose focused on industrial-scale pork production.

Participants were asked to complete a survey and select a meal from a local cafe’s menu before watching the video, immediately after watching the video, and one week later. The menu consisted of a base meal (bagel sandwich, asado bowl, arugula salad, or curry couscous) and a protein (bacon, chicken, steak, tofu, or none). To counteract the effect of social desirability bias, participants were incentivized to answer honestly by being given a 50% chance to receive a voucher for one of the meals they selected.

The experiment also included a control group who watched a 16-minute segment from The life of the forest. Fungi, a documentary about fungi in forest ecosystems.

The surveys recorded participants’ basic demographic information, their immediate emotional response to the video, their comprehension of the video, and how much they felt the video changed their worldview. Participants were also asked how often they consumed mushrooms, chocolate, pork, and other types of meat, and a series of questions intended to find out how receptive they were to opposing views.

In total, 1,149 participants completed the initial survey, and 1,111 completed the one-week follow-up. Since the study drew from a business school’s student research pool, the sample was composed entirely of undergraduates participating for course credit.

The researchers found that the group who watched Dominion were significantly less likely to choose a meal with meat afterward. The share of participants selecting a meat option dropped by 27% immediately after watching the video, and was still 13.5% lower one week later. Meanwhile, they were more than 3.5 times as likely to choose a plant-based meal, which held at over twice as likely at the one-week follow-up. There was no statistically significant shift toward meatless meals in the control group, indicating that the video made the difference.

Additionally, participants’ self-reported consumption habits changed between the start of the study and the one-week follow-up. The group who watched Dominion reported eating less meat overall than they had prior to watching the video. While the control group also reported lower total meat consumption, the Dominion group’s reduction was significantly larger.

Women were more likely to change to a meatless meal after watching Dominion, as were those who reported that the video changed their worldview. Interestingly, although participants reported high levels of sadness and disgust in response to the video, only shame was significantly linked to going meat-free afterward. Those who selected bacon as their protein choice before watching the video were also more likely to switch to a meatless option, likely because the Dominion segment focused on pigs.

It’s worth pointing out that this study was performed with university students, and only included two weeks of self-reported consumption behavior (the weeks before and after watching the video). As such, these results may be different if the experiment was repeated with an older audience or over a longer time frame.

That being said, the study offers evidence that videos can be a persuasive tool in encouraging people to eat less meat in the short term. However, video quality is an important factor, and people may be more likely to respond to standout films like Dominion. The findings also reveal that women and people who feel more ashamed in reaction to the video might be more prone to behavior change. Finally, as the pig-focused Dominion segment significantly reduced demand for pork, advocates may want to consider using videos specific to the behavior being encouraged. At the same time, the video also reduced demand for other types of meat even though the segment never mentioned chickens or cows, suggesting that a broader portrayal of industrial animal agriculture could be even more effective in reducing overall meat consumption.