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Meat Less

Educate and empower people to reduce meat consumption

Category

Meat Less is a fun, lighthearted campaign that aims to educate and empower people to willfully reduce their meat consumption. The campaign includes an informative website and a text messaging service. The website provides bite-sized facts that reveal the impacts of one meat-based meal. Text messages remind and encourage users to commit to just one meat free day per week. Meat Less reframes the conversation and nudges a small change in individual eating behavior, gradually shifting the status quo.

 

Context

In the U.S., 99 percent of livestock animals are raised in factory farms, where the production of meat and dairy requires large amounts of fuel, feed and water. 50 percent of global greenhouse emissions are directly and indirectly caused by animal agriculture. Multiple studies have found excessive meat consumption linked to a higher risk of heart disease, certain cancers, and obesity. Yet Americans continue to fuel the demand for mass meat production by consuming more meat than most countries. The negative impacts of our current meat production is easy to ignore and difficult to discuss without aggressive tactics which often result in disengaging the public rather than enlightening them.

 

User Needs

My primary target users are young college students between the ages of 18 and 21.

Key user needs were:

  • Education. Most users are unaware of the environmental impacts that follow a low-meat diet. They need information that’s easy to read and understand at a glance.
  • Support. Users often feel dismissive and skeptical towards overtly aggressive activist organizations. In order to break down these barriers, the message should be approachable, friendly, and relatively neutral.
  • Convenience. Not another app to download and/or maintain. Channels of communication need to be simple and not invasive.

 

User Experience

Meat Less is geared toward people who are curious about better consumer behaviors, but aren’t sure where to start or why to even care. While the entry point may vary, the user journey generally flows as follows:

  • See. Users may see advertisements. These ads point towards questions that spark curiosity.
  • Learn. Advertisements point towards a website with bite-sized facts that help users understand the problem with excessive meat consumption.
  • Commit. The website asks users to sign up for reminders.
  • Act. Users receive and use these reminders to make more thoughtful, educated consumer choices.

 

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