Understanding why consumers do or do not choose higher welfare food products is essential for designing effective campaigns and market interventions that improve animal welfare.
Consumer psychology research reveals a consistent gap between professed concern for farm animal welfare and actual purchasing behaviour. Price is the primary barrier, but research shows that reducing the friction of welfare-positive choices - through better product placement, clear labelling, and default higher welfare options - has significant effects even without price changes. Narrative and emotional messaging using individual animal stories outperforms statistics in motivating behaviour change. Social norm communication ('most people in your area choose higher welfare chicken') taps into conformity motivations. Institutional default changes such as higher welfare catering by default in universities and hospitals produce large welfare improvements through choice architecture rather than individual persuasion.