Cultural limitations of environmental appeals in meat-reduction

Given the significant impact of meat consumption on climate change, environmental NGOs are increasingly advocating for consumers to reduce unsustainable meat consumption by eating less or choosing better-quality meat. These campaigns typically use environmental appeals applied uniformly across countries. However, the effectiveness of such appeals may vary due to cultural differences that influence perceptions of the environment urgency and food choices. This research examines the effectiveness of these campaigns in five European countries, considering individual cultural orientations. Our findings reveal that while the country itself do not influence the effectiveness of environmental protection appeals, individual cultural orientations -such as masculinity and uncertainty avoidance-do. These results were consistent when applying animal welfare appeals in the same five countries. Based on these findings, we contribute to the literature on sustainability communication emphasizing the importance of cultural orientations and offer recommendations, suggesting international NGO managers to better tailor their campaigns.