Brand-building company Caliber has released its “Food & Beverage Global Reputation Report 2024,” which reveals a disconnect between consumer priorities and behavior, especially as it relates to environmental, social and governance topics, according to a news release.
Globally, only 12% (U.S. 13%) of people view food and beverage companies as part of the problem when it comes to their role in reducing packaging waste, while 46% (U.S. 40%) see them as part of the solution and 42% (U.S. 47%) view them as neither, the release said.
Though 50% of global respondents said they are very likely to stop buying products from a company if they learned it was causing environmental damage, only 17% cited sustainability as an important factor when choosing to buy a food or beverage product.
When asked how likely they would be to stop buying products from a company if they learned it was causing environmental damage, 50% of global respondents said very likely, 39% said somewhat likely and 11% said not at all likely, the research said.
In the U.S., 49% of respondents said very likely, 40% said somewhat likely and 11% said not at all likely.
When it comes to the most important issues for food and beverage producers to address, 46% of global respondents and 38% of U.S. respondents answered with reducing environmental impact.
Both globally and in the U.S., respondents said that price, taste and quality are the top three most important factors when choosing to buy a food or beverage product.
“There’s a clear disconnect between consumer emotions and behavior in the food and beverage sector, and that’s significant for brands to pay attention to as overall goodwill towards the food and beverage sector plateaus,” Caliber founder and CEO Shahar Silbershatz said in the release. “Large brands cannot take consumers’ emotional attachment to brands for granted and must focus on long-term and large-scale initiatives that will build trust, including among the environmental and societal categories that consumers deem the sector’s responsibility.”
The companies with the best reputation — as measured by Caliber’s Trust and Like Score — in the U.S. are Del Monte, Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, Chobani and General Mills, according to the release.
