Pre

This study tested whether exposure to information about foie gras production is associated with increased intention to reduce chicken consumption. Respondents reported their motivation to reduce chicken consumption and agreement with the statement “I should eat less chicken” both before and after reviewing information about foie gras, including written messages and images. After exposure, respondents showed a statistically significant increase in both motivation to reduce chicken consumption and agreement that they should eat less chicken. These results suggest that foie gras–focused campaigns may have broader downstream effects on attitudes toward chicken consumption, beyond support for the foie gras ban itself.

increased 32% (p<.01) relative to pre-test following exposure to foie gras ban messaging.

among the same individuals, rather than differences between groups. All respondents viewed the same set of messages and images, designed to simulate what voters would encounter during a ballot initiative campaign.

chicken."

(p<.01) relative to pre-test with the statement “I should eat less chicken” after exposure to foie gras ban messaging and photos. Taken together, these two measures point in the same direction, strengthening confidence that exposure was associated with a meaningful shift in chicken- reduction attitudes. Motivation increased more than agreement with the “I should” statement to an extent that approaches significance (p=.053), a pattern that is consistent with increased personal readiness rather than simple endorsement of a socially desirable norm.

motivation to reduce chicken consumption from pre-test to post-test, while 53% reported no increase. This indicates that the observed average increase reflects broad movement across respondents, rather than being driven by a small number of outliers.

700 registered voters recruited via Prolific (AZ, CA, CO, MI, NV, OH, OR, and Washington, D.C.) completed a pre/post survey measuring motivation to reduce chicken consumption and agreement with “I should eat less chicken.” All participants viewed the same set of foie gras and factory-farming messages and images (message order randomized). Pre/post analyses exclude respondents who reported that they don’t eat chicken; those respondents were retained for analyses of how convincing each argument was. Results reflect within-respondent changes in self-reported attitudes and intentions, not observed consumption behavior. Participants were paid $1.20. 33 respondents who failed an attention check were excluded. Detailed statistical outputs available upon request.

support of the foie gras ban, including four campaign-style messages and one additional message included for exploratory comparison (the Pope quote).

persuasiveness but do not isolate the effects of any single message on changes in chicken-reduction attitudes or voting intention.

Animal Cruelty: Ducks and geese raised for foie gras endure painful force-feedings several times a day where a thick pipe is forced down their throats. These birds frequently develop painful punctures in their beak and throat and become too heavy for their legs to hold them, with many of them dying before they can even make it to the slaughterhouse. A ban on foie gras will end this unnecessary cruelty. Factory Farming: Factory farms, like those that produce foie gras, pack animals into cruel, cramped conditions where they can barely move, causing intense suffering through injuries, disease outbreaks, and extreme stress. This often leads to cannibalism and premature death– regular losses that factory farmers bake into their prices. Animals deserve not to be treated like warehouse inventory. Environment: Industrial factory farms, like those that produce foie gras, pollute our water, spread disease, and confine animals in inhumane conditions. They seek to maximize corporate profits at the expense of consumer health, environmental safety, and animal wellbeing. This measure is a small but important step away from factory farming. Health: Studies show that consuming foie gras dramatically increases risk of heart disease, and it contains proteins linked to amyloidosis, a condition associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Farms and factories that raise and process animals for foie gras are also hotbeds for zoonotic disease, including bird flu. Eliminating the sale of foie gras is critical to protecting consumer health. Pope: Consider the following quote from Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, "Animals, too, are God’s creatures….Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens live so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."