Forget "meatless Mondays" as more than 90% consumers eat meat

Lead authors Yoon and Danny Kim, a doctoral researcher in the UB School of Management, conducted a series of studies with nearly 1,500 consumers and a variety of meat options, including chicken, beef and pork. In each study, they elicited feelings of guilt by asking people to think about the animals’ emotions and humanlike characteristics; in one case, they even adapted a real campaign run by animal welfare groups that featured a pig saying, “I am me, not meat!” Then, the subjects chose between two meat dishes (for example, healthy grilled chicken vs. deep-fried chicken nuggets) or two nonmeat options (hearty grilled veggies vs. teriyaki stir fry). The researchers analyzed the data and found that the relatively small number of people who reported a low commitment to eating meat did opt for a vegetable-based dish.