This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Major cosmetics retailers such as Sephora, Ulta and Amazon now feature sections aimed at socially conscious consumers, highlighting products that are sustainable, eco-friendly, cruelty-free or packaged with recycled materials. This shift reflects changing consumer preferences.
Consumers are increasingly mindful of their purchases—often seeking products that are ethically aware—and manufacturers have responded by incorporating related claims into product webpages and labels designed to appeal to them. "Today, consumers may choose certain lifestyles not only to show who they are, but also to express their values through what they buy," said Mona Safizadeh, a doctoral candidate at the University of Rhode Island's College of Business who is studying this trend. The cosmetics industry has seen a surge in vegan and sustainable products in recent years.
Globally, the market for vegan cosmetics is worth billions of dollars. Yet despite growing demand, research examining the motivations, psychological processes and conditions that influence consumers' preferences for these products has been limited. Even basic questions, such as whether consumers are more influenced by animal-welfare or environmental-benefit messages, have remained largely unanswered.
"Although vegan cosmetics are growing in popularity, we still know relatively little about what influences consumers' decisions to buy them," said Safizadeh. Safizadeh's research focuses on how brand messages influence consumers' decisions to buy vegan cosmetics. While most previous research on vegan consumption has focused on food, research examining nonfood products such as cosmetics remains limited, especially in developed markets like the United States.
In her research paper, "Taking Pride in Vegan Consumption: A Construal Level Theory Account of Ad Message Appeal and Future Self Connectedness," published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed journal Psychology & Marketing, Safizadeh says that animal-welfare messages generally lead to stronger preferences for vegan cosmetics than messages focused on environmental benefits. She demonstrated this through three experiments. Participants viewed advertisements for vegan sunscreen, shampoo and hand lotion featuring messages focused on animal welfare or environmental benefits.
The researchers measured participants' interest in buying the products, their product choices and how much pride they expected to feel from buying vegan cosmetics. They also measured how much guilt participants expected to feel from buying nonvegan products. Researchers found that feelings of pride played a stronger role than feelings of guilt.
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