What’s bugging you?
Sure they’re sustainable, abundant, and high in protein and other nutrients, but so far, emphasizing the environmental and health benefits of eating bugs hasn’t done much to sway popular Western opinion. And as the findings of a new study suggest, the solution may lie in advertising.
According to research published in Frontiers in Nutrition, forgoing virtuous messaging in favour of focusing on pleasure thwarted the ick factor prevalent in the West. In fact, emphasizing taste and indulgence when advertising an insect food product enhanced the subjects’ enjoyment of it.
Researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland appealed to members of the public in Cologne, Germany to participate in the study, which involved looking at advertisements for insect-based foods. Some of the messaging accentuated health or environmental benefits while others focused on features like flavour.
Subjects were then offered a mealworm chocolate truffle and asked to complete a questionnaire detailing their expectations and taste experience. The researchers found that ads highlighting health or environmental advantages were much less persuasive than those portraying insect-based foods as desirable and luxurious.
“These results challenge the effectiveness of existing campaigns that aim to promote insect consumption by highlighting its environmental and health benefits,” the researchers wrote. “Rather, our findings suggest that interventions emphasizing the delicious and unique culinary experience lead to a higher increase in insect consumption.”
Eating insects is commonplace in much of the world. Entomophagy, the practice of consuming bugs as food, occurs “in at least 113 countries with over 2,000 documented edible species,” according to a 2017 study. The benefits are innumerable. Insects are nutritious and sustainable: they produce lower greenhouse gas emissions and require less water and land than traditional livestock.
“Insects have numerous health benefits as a source of protein and dramatically outperform conventional meats in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,” Sebastian Berger, lead author of the study, said in a statement. “Therefore, insect-based food might help in the fight against climate change.”
Berger told CNN that the ick factor plaguing insect food products is, for the most part, an emotional response. Countering a psychological reaction with a rational argument laying out the sustainability of insect farming or nutritional profile of cricket powder is unlikely to change minds. Appealing to instant gratification, a pleasurable eating experience for instance, “works better,” he said.