Home  About us  Contact
 

Conscious Consumers (conscious + consumer)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Consumer preference for production-derived quality: analyzing perceptions of premium chicken production methods

AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009
Brian Innes
The authors assess consumer interest in a food product containing production-derived attributes. They use the French Label Rouge system in the Ontario chicken market as an example of a producer-controlled quality system. Conjoint analysis reveals a significant proportion of respondents value nonprice attributes; medication and housing had the highest importance scores, followed by price and brand ownership. Cluster analysis of the part-worth utilities revealed three consumer segments: price conscious consumers; consumers focused on naturalness; and those focused on animal health. Segments do not appear to differ on the basis of socioeconomic and demographic profile of respondents. However, multiitem scales reflecting attitudes towards production systems vary significantly across segments. Price-conscious respondents show agreement with use of medication and express concern over quality. Respondents in the naturalness segment express concern over quality, locality of production and impact of production methods on own health. Animal-health-conscious respondents show agreement with the use of medications, concern over quality, locality and impact of production methods on own health, but neutrality towards byproducts and traditional production methods. [EconLit citations: D120, Q130]. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

RHEOLOGY AND TEXTURE OF SET YOGURT AS AFFECTED BY INULIN ADDITION

JOURNAL OF TEXTURE STUDIES, Issue 6 2008
TATDAO PASEEPHOL
ABSTRACT The effect of inulin addition on rheology and texture of nonfat yogurt (NFY) was studied by the large (texture analyzer) and small (dynamic oscillatory rheometry) deformation tests. Skim milks (12% solids) were supplemented with three commercial chicory inulins with different chain lengths at 4% level and inoculated with mixed cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Textural and rheological tests were conducted after an overnight storage at 4C and during a shelf life of 28 days. A good correlation was observed between the two tests. During storage, all inulin-containing yogurts in comparison with the control NFY were characterized by lower values of firmness, apparent viscosity, yield stress, complex viscosity, storage modulus and loss modulus. NFYs supplemented with long-chain inulin demonstrated a rheological behavior closer to that of control full-fat yogurt. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The use of inulin and oligofructose in the food industry has grown recently because of their interesting nutritional and technological properties. In the work presented here, three commercial inulin products with different chemical composition and functions were added to yogurt milk, and changes in rheological properties of yogurt were investigated in comparison with nonsupplemented control yogurts. According to the manufacturer's specifications, Raftiline HP and Raftiline GR are suitable for fat replacement because of the presence of long-chain inulins, while Raftilose P95, being rich in mono- and disaccharides, is highly recommended for sugar replacement. The knowledge obtained from this study may be applied for the development of nonfat yogurts to satisfy the nutritional expectations of ever-increasing health conscious consumers and at the same time to match the sensory and textural characteristics of full-fat yogurt. [source]

Making the Market: Specialty Coffee, Generational Pitches, and Papua New Guinea

ANTIPODE, Issue 3 2010
Paige West
Abstract:, Today the commodity circuit for specialty coffee seems to be made up of socially conscious consumers, well-meaning and politically engaged roasters and small companies, and poor yet ecologically noble producers who want to take part in the flows of global capital, while at the same time living in close harmony with the natural world. This paper examines how these actors are produced by changes in the global economy that are sometimes referred to as neoliberalism. It also shows how images of these actors are produced and what the material effects of those images are. It begins with a description of how generations are understood and made by marketers. Next it shows how coffee production in Papua New Guinea, especially Fair Trade and organic coffee production, is turned into marketing narratives meant to appeal to particular consumers. Finally, it assesses the success of the generational-based marketing of Papua New Guinea-origin, Fair Trade and organic coffees, three specialty coffee types that are marketed heavily to the "Millenial generation", people born between 1983 and 2000. [source]

Green segmentation and environmental certification: insights from forest products

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2010
Derek W. Thompson
Abstract Firms engage in environmental marketing in order to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. Within the context of the forest product industry, this research uses data from two studies to empirically test whether a relationship exists between demographic/psychographic characteristics and reported environmentally conscious intentions. In both studies, the results indicate that the environmental marketing of certified/ecolabeled forest products appeals to a segment of environmentally conscious consumers. This appeal occurs for both a value-added product (furniture) and a non-value-added product (plywood). Thus, there is support for the argument that environmental marketing to environmentally conscious consumers can result in ,green segmentation'. Key findings from this study suggest that those consumers reporting the strongest preferences for environmentally certified forest products were more willing to pay a premium for certified products, more likely to display environmentally conscious behavior and more likely to perceive that green consumer purchases effectively benefit the environment. These characteristics were most common among females and those familiar with the concept of environmental certification. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and EPR Environment. [source]