"It was a very difficult period," Brown tells Fortune, recalling how the accusations clashed with an internal marketing phrase his company had been using as a touchstone at the time: "There's goodness here." He reflects on the deep belief that their product produced "goodness for the human body, climate, and animals," which was abruptly challenged by the negative campaign, and notes with dismay that consumers began to question the health benefits of plant-based products.
The campaign, fueled by anonymous funding from restaurants and food companies, used television ads and full-page spreads in major newspapers to raise doubts about plant-based meats. The messaging effectively planted seeds of skepticism, questioning whether these products could truly be healthier than traditional meat. Their rhetoric notably shifted consumer perceptions, with over half of survey respondents doubting the health benefits that once attracted them to plant-based alternatives.
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