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Reactions to Food Scares and Safety |
Background
Our client wished to explore general consumer attitudes towards media coverage of food scares,
and what impact they have on behaviour, purchase and attitudes.
Objectives
Overall, the aim was to examine general attitudes towards food safety and food scares. Key areas to study included defining ‘reasonable government control’, the ideal communication, standardisation and regulations to allow for informed consumer choices and areas and sources of consumer confusion in relation to food issues.
Approach
A series of group discussions was held in the South and East of England, amongst both male and female respondents. Two groups were held with adults with children under 16 and two groups with respondents without children.
Outcome
We found a high level of fatigue, cynicism and apathy towards food scares and safety issues, with respondents believing that no food was absolutely safe. Respondents expressed a great deal of trust and loyalty towards supermarkets, but less so in food manufacturers. TV News was the main source of information regarding food issues, but conflicting reports caused wariness. TV documentaries and consumer programmes, however, were generally felt to be credible as both sides of the story were heard. The level of information required for decision making was fairly basic, except in the case of baby foods and allergies. Government information was deemed to be inconsistent, unclear and often the government intervened too late or over reacted. Despite this, our respondents maintained that they had faith in Government information and would act on the basis of their advice.
The findings were subsequently used for lobbying purposes and published in Which? Magazine, (thus we are able to reveal more detailed findings here).
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Case Studies