A Qualitative Exploration of Stakeholder Perceptions and Evaluations of the “More to Meat” Campaign in Australia

The “More to Meat” campaign in Australia aimed to increase public awareness of the red meat industry in regional communities through transparent communication. To better understand the strategic development and implementation of this campaign, we completed a case study using semi-structured interviews with participants from four stakeholder groups. Participants were sought through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were collected over Zoom, transcribed through Otter.Ai, and analysis conducted using in vivo coding and thematic creation. Research question one yielded four themes: 1) Changing our story, 2) There’s more to processors than meets the eye, 3) Arming the industry for the future, and 4) Empowered by insights. Research question two yielded three themes: 1) Nothing but positivity for the campaign, 2) Putting the industry’s best foot forward, and 3) Room for improvement. Research question three yielded three themes: 1) Perceptions are shifting in the right way, 2) Let’s not drop the ball now, and 3) Representing regional communities. Results indicated the campaign had increased awareness of the red meat industry and participants supported continuing the campaign. Future research should include a content analysis of the campaign content and interviews with additional stakeholder group representatives.