Trial reportAppetite2022
A dynamic social norm messaging intervention to reduce meat consumption: A randomized cross-over trial in retail store restaurants.
Trial report in Appetite, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Meaningfully reducing consumption of meat and animal products is an unsolved problem: A meta-analysis.Appetite · 2026Pooled it
- Investigating intervention components and their effectiveness in promoting environmentally sustainable diets: a systematic review.The Lancet. Planetary health · 2024Pooled it
- Testing the effect of a dynamic descriptive social norm message on meat-free food selection in worksite cafeterias: a randomized controlled trial.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Impact of an Intervention on Healthy Offerings and Allergenic Food Management in Restaurants: A Parallel Randomized Controlled Study.Nutrients · 2023Trial
- Social norm intervention in real-world supermarkets in the Netherlands: A quasi-experimental evaluation of effects on perceived social norms and meat substitute purchases.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2026Article
- Food labeling strategies to alter meat analogue consumption willingness in Midwestern adults.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Impacts of ecosystem service message framing and dynamic social norms on public support for tropical forest restoration.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025Article
- Article
- How can restaurants entice patrons to order environmentally sustainable dishes? Testing new approaches based on hedonic psychology and affective forecasting theory.Journal of sustainable tourism · 2024Article
- The effect of social norms on vegetarian choices is moderated by intentions to follow a vegetarian diet in the future: Evidence from a laboratory and field study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Legumes or Meat? The Effectiveness of Recommendation Messages towards a Plant-Based Diet Depends on People's Identification with Flexitarians.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Perceptions of social norms around healthy and environmentally-friendly food choices: Linking the role of referent groups to behavior.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Perceptions of social norms around eating behavior can influence food choices. Communicating information about how others are changing their eating behavior over time (dynamic descriptive social norms) may motivate individuals to change their own food selection and consumption. Following a four-week baseline period, 22 in-store restaurants of a major retail chain across the UK were randomized to display a dynamic descriptive social norm message intended to motivate a shift from meat-to plant-based meals either during the first two, or last two weeks of the four-week study period. A linear regression model showed there was no evidence of an effect of the intervention (β = -0.022, p = .978, 95% CIs: -1.63, 1.58) on the percentage sales of meat- vs plant-based dishes. Fidelity checks indicated that adherence to the intervention procedure was often low, with inconsistencies in the placement and display of the intervention message. In four stores with high fidelity the estimated impact of the intervention was not materially different. The lack of apparent effectiveness of the intervention may reflect poor efficacy of the intervention or limitations in its implementation in a complex food purchasing environment. The challenges highlighted by this study should be considered in future design and evaluation of field trials in real-world settings.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.