Choosing vegan feels good, doesn’t it? Effects of gender-congruency cues on vegan-labeled products
(A2023-114174)

AUTHORS

Fernanda Carneiro-Otto, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Yasemin Boztug, University of Goettingen

ABSTRACT

The number of products carrying a vegan label is growing. Veganism is still associated with femininity, and some companies are adapting the packaging of their products to reflect this gender schema. The interaction effect of combining a vegan label with other gendered packaging elements on product evaluation is unknown. Based on gender-congruency theory, the current study addresses this gap by investigating how the interaction of the vegan label, the packaging color, and the consumer’s gender affects purchase intention through warm-glow. Our results show that for women, the vegan label increases predicted warm-glow and purchase intention independent of packaging color gender. However, for men, the predicted warm-glow only increases when the packaging color is gender-incongruent (i.e., brown). Food marketers and policymakers aiming to promote sustainable eating habits in the general population should take these results into consideration.