GMO or GM No? Segmenting a consumer audience to examine their perceptions of genetically modified products

Shelli Rampold; Jamie Greig; Julia Gibson; Hannah Nelson

doi:10.37433/aad.v4i1.269

Authors

Shelli Rampold University of Tennessee, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4815-7157
Jamie Greig University of Tennessee, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7588-6374
Julia Gibson University of Tennesee, USA
Hannah Nelson University of Tennesee, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0963-1450

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37433/aad.v4i1.269

Keywords:

audience segmentation, education, income, genetic modification, shopper responsibility

Abstract

This study aimed to examine Tennessee consumers’ perceptions of genetically modified (GM) products and how those perceptions and preferences differ based on consumers’ characteristics. Survey respondents held overall neutral but slightly negative perceptions of GM products. While they agreed GM products could help increase food production, they also perceived GM products to cause illnesses such as cancer, autism, allergies, and gluten intolerance. Respondents also expressed beliefs that GM products are not good for the environment. Participants in the middle-income bracket had more positive perceptions of GM products than those in the lower and higher brackets. Respondents who always did the majority of the grocery shopping also had significantly more negative perceptions of GM products than respondents who were responsible for the majority of the grocery shopping about half the time. There should be targeted and simplified messaging for industry practitioners to reduce the information load. Specifically, research suggests GM messaging that emphasizes subjective norms, utilizes infographics, is congruent with consumer values, and highlights GM benefits rather than risks. Our results also indicate that information campaigns targeting different audience segments, namely income brackets, and grocery shopping responsibility, are viable solutions to increase consumer GM product perceptions.

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