Australia-Meat trade targeting women.

7 April 2009 | by FarmingUK Team |

AUSTRALIA-TARGETING YOUNG LADIES TO EAT MEAT.

Australian red meat consumers can be broken up into countless demographic groups based on age, gender, income, ethnic background and other criteria.

But one of the key consumer groups seen as a ’target of interest’ in terms of building beef and lamb loyalty is girls and young women in the 14 to 24 age range.

Meat and Livestock Australia’s domestic marketing manager David Thomason recognises the challenge that exists in retaining loyalty to red meat among some young women.

"There is no question that for some women and girls in this 14-24 age bracket, their red meat consumption does not grow at the same rate as it does for males in the same age group," he said.

"I would not describe it as a cycle or trend – it tends to be a stage that many young girls go through, and it has been happening for some time."

A consumer survey conducted for MLA by the Roy Morgan Group each year since 2001 reveals some interesting trends. Young women across Australia are asked each year about their habits and preferences regarding meat consumption.

As the accompanying graph illustrates, the results from year-to-year for those acknowledging that "The food I eat is all, or almost University of Sydney in collaboration with Professor Samir Samman, which found that almost one third had iron levels below the ’normal’ human range, and one in 12 were deficient in vitamin B12. These readings were serious enough to impair mental and physical performance and leave women exposed to more frequent infection.

The results contained a powerful message in the industry’s ability to restore red meat intake among young women.

Other trends, such as the move away from ’Double Zero’ sized models in the fashion world, could also help red meat’s cause.

"Part of this could be in culturing acceptance of other female role models who are not necessarily underweight – be they from sporting or other backgrounds," Mr Thomason said.

So why not simply place favourable red meat nutrition advertising in mass market teen magazines?

"We did explore that option several years ago based on some RMIT research. We thought it may well be a precursor to an advertising campaign in teen publications," Mr Thomason said.

"But because the issue is so complex we believed that trying to resolve it with a single message was not the most effective answer."

Some of the other factors were more fundamental in nature.

Many young women growing up in cities these days had lost all connection with the land, and the understanding that meat comes from animals. Nor did they understand that farm animals are well cared-for, by landholders who are passionate about their welfare.

Reaffirming those basic messages is seen as part of the answer. Some of this is happening through ’coalface’ industry integrity and nutritional work being done at events like the Brisbane Ekka.

Others include nutritional awareness work with doctors and nutritionists.

Aiming at beef’s ’14-24’ target all vegetarian" shows some volatility.

However the important longer-term trend, indicated by the solid line, is that the number of respondents has dropped from 16pc to 12 pc – a 25 percent decline in eight years.

"Hopefully, that suggests some of our reinforcing messages are getting out there," Mr Thomason said.

However the results also show a ’spike’ in responses for a period around 2006. Generally, this could be linked to specific signals or comments from celebrities or other high profile people, or negative media stories in support of a low-meat or vegetarian diet, Mr Thomason said.

Apparently, a comment in favour of vegetarianism from a Jennifer Hawkins or a Heidi Klum can have a strong, shorter-term impact on young girls’ decision-making, which can be difficult to defend against with a single message.

Mr Thomason said the choice to reduce or exclude red meat from the diet seemed to be based on emotion for some young women.

"Therefore it is not a challenge that can necessarily be resolved by the presentation of cold, hard facts."

"The good news is that survey data tells us that once these young women start having children of their own, they come back to meat – in a big way.

So the choices of younger women are more of a temporary aberration, rather than a trend where they might avoid eating red meat for the rest of their lives."

Asked what drove young women to decide to move away from beef, Mr Thomason said it was a complex set of issues. He accepted that the fashiondriven push for ’ultimate thinness’ and the awareness of animal death as necessary part of the meat production process could be contributing. But these were not the only causes.

"Peer pressure can also play a part, as can physical appearance, body shape and other issues."

Asked what MLA was doing about the phenomenon, Mr Thomason said the industry was undertaking a complex of activities, some specifically targeted at young women and others more general.

MLA recently undertook a study of 300 young female students at the University of Sydney in collaboration with Professor Samir Samman, which found that almost one third had iron levels below the ’normal’ human range, and one in 12 were deficient in vitamin B12. These readings were serious enough to impair mental and physical performance and leave women exposed to more frequent infection.