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Are consumers wilfully ignorant about animal welfare?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

E Bell ,
F Bailey Norwood  and
JL Lusk
E Bell
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, 308 Agricultural Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
F Bailey Norwood*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Oklahoma State University, 426 Agricultural Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
JL Lusk
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 W State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: bailey.norwood@okstate.edu
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Abstract

Wilful ignorance is a documented human behaviour whereby people deliberately avoid information. Although much work has documented consumer attitudes toward farm animal welfare, few studies have questioned whether people even want to know how farm animals are raised. Using an internet survey of 1,000 subjects from the US state of Oklahoma, it is shown that around one-third admit to being wilfully ignorant regarding pork production. One-third also chose to look at a blank screen rather than a picture of how pregnant hogs are housed. Avoidance of guilt is shown to be a motivator for this behaviour.

Keywords

animal welfareconsumer attitudesconsumer preferencesgestation crateswine productionwilful ignorance
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , November 2017 , pp. 399 - 402
Copyright
© 2017 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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