Dive Brief:
- Political affiliation often represents ideological divides among consumers on a number of issues, and that includes food, according to the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation’s 2016 Food and Health Survey.
- While both liberals and conservatives support sustainability, the specific aspects of sustainability they value most differ. Conservatives favor economic sustainability initiatives, such as conserving farmland over multiple generations (41%) and ensuring affordability of the food supply (47%), while liberals lean toward the environmental impact of sustainability, such as reducing carbon footprint (22%) and conserving natural habitats (51%).
- The two groups also differ on food safety issues. While liberals and conservatives both rank "foodborne illness from bacteria" as the top concern (55% and 58%, respectively), liberals were more likely to cite "pesticides" as a top food safety issue (38% vs. 24%), while conservatives were twice as likely to cite "carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals in food" (40% vs. 20%).
Dive Insight:
These types of statistics could be useful when manufacturers decide how to market a product to certain demographics. For example, liberals (56%) were more likely to say they would pay more for sustainably produced products than conservatives (35%).
Political affiliation may not always be a key characteristic when food and beverage manufacturers consider their target demographics, but that can change during an election year. With a more rapid and constant stream of political news across communication channels and at dinner tables and water coolers across America, this is the most sensible time for a company or brand to support a social or political issue, such as LGBT rights or gender parity, or even a candidate.
Or the opposite may occur. Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to print a letter to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, published July 17, the day before the Republican National Convention began. Tetrick didn't mention his company, just his own name and a phone number alongside his words for Trump, which were that his campaign was "un-American" and Tetrick could not personally support his candidacy.