The use of traditional chicken breeds with a dual purpose (egg and meat production) has become a relevant topic in Germany mainly due to animal welfare concerns and the importance of conserving genetic variability in poultry farming. However, consumers have little knowledge about the different chicken breeds used in the industry; making it challenging to communicate traditional breeds and their advantages to consumers. Hence, this study takes the approach to look at consumers’ perceptions of different breeds. We analyze consumers’ evaluations of pictures showing four dual-purpose chicken breeds. First, an eye-tracking study (n = 24) and think-aloud protocols (n = 28) were used to obtain open associations consumers make with each breed. Based on the results, an online survey was conducted (n = 933) to quantify consumers associations with different breeds and consumers’ interest in meat products with animal pictures on the packaging. Results show that consumers’ attention to pictures of chickens is mostly focused on their body and head, particularly with the Vorwerkhuhn. Consumers associate white breeds to white egg and meat production, while brown breeds are associated to brown egg production. Only a smaller segment of consumers (32%; n = 292), who are more engaged to animal welfare, accept pictures of animals on meat packages. We conclude that the marketing of meat products of traditional chicken breeds by using pictures is not a useful approach for the mass market. However, within smaller market concepts, such pictures can be used to communicate an alternative chicken meat production system that may lead to purchases of traditional dual-purpose breeds.

中文翻译：

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我的肉没有羽毛：消费者协会与不同品种鸡肉的图片

使用具有双重目的（产蛋和产肉）的传统鸡品种已成为德国的一个相关话题，这主要是由于动物福利问题和在家禽养殖中保护遗传变异的重要性。然而，消费者对行业中使用的不同鸡种知之甚少。使向消费者传达传统品种及其优势变得具有挑战性。因此，本研究采用这种方法来考察消费者对不同品种的看法。我们分析了消费者对展示四种两用鸡品种图片的评价。首先，使用眼球追踪研究（n = 24）和大声思考协议（n = 28）来获得消费者对每个品种的开放联想。根据结果​​，进行了一项在线调查 (n = 933)，以量化消费者对不同品种的联想以及消费者对包装上带有动物图片的肉类产品的兴趣。结果表明，消费者对鸡图片的关注主要集中在它们的身体和头部，尤其是 Vorwerkhuhn。消费者将白色品种与白鸡蛋和肉类生产联系起来，而棕色品种与棕色鸡蛋生产相关联。只有一小部分消费者（32%；n = 292）更关注动物福利，他们接受肉类包装上的动物图片。我们的结论是，使用图片营销传统鸡种的肉制品对于大众市场来说不是一种有用的方法。然而，在较小的市场概念中，