While the recent surge of meat-like items on restaurant menus has received considerable attention, little is known how to encourage consumers to choose such novel dishes. To address this gap, we investigate the role of various communication strategies in making plant-based menu items more attractive. The results from Study 1 suggest that using a social appeal in the ad increases consumers’ preference for plant-based menu items via anticipated pleasure, but a health appeal does not. The results from Study 2 demonstrate that information on social costs induces feelings of ambivalence toward meat eating, thus making plant-based menu items more desirable. However, information on health risks of meat consumption does not have such an effect. Practical implications for promoting plant-based menu items are discussed.

尽管最近在餐厅菜单上出现的类似肉类的热潮引起了人们的极大关注，但是鲜为人知的是如何鼓励消费者选择这种新颖的菜肴。为了解决这一差距，我们研究了各种交流策略在使基于植物的菜单项更具吸引力方面的作用。研究1的结果表明，在广告中使用社交诉求可以通过预期的愉悦度提高消费者对基于植物的菜单项的偏爱，而对健康的诉求却没有。研究2的结果表明，有关社会成本的信息会引起人们对吃肉的矛盾情绪，因此使基于植物的菜单项目更加可取。但是，有关食用肉类的健康风险的信息并没有这种作用。讨论了促进基于植物的菜单项的实际含义。