Southeast Asia is home to over nine billion farmed land animals and presents both unique opportunities and challenges for promoting plant-based diets. While many Western strategies fall flat in this diverse region, a new study from Faunalytics and Good Growth Co. helps fill the gap. By combining a literature review with social media analysis (“social listening”) across six countries, the study identifies which audiences are most open to plant-based diets, what influences their food choices, and which messages resonate most. With insights specific to Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia, this research gives advocates powerful tools to fine-tune their strategies and make a greater impact for animals.
https://faunalytics.org/plant-based-messaging-in-southeast-asia
Background
Southeast Asia is a critical region for animal advocacy. Home to over nine billion farmed land animals, diverse religions, and a myriad of languages and cultural contexts to navigate, the region is a crucial but challenging arena in which to create positive impact for animals — especially in regards to plant-based diet change.
Previous research has identified unique advantages and disadvantages of plant-based advocacy in the region. For example, while Western consumers may consider plant-based meat products less healthy due to their processing in factory facilities, this may not be a major health concern for Southeast Asian consumers (Good Growth and GFI, 2024). However, the same study also found that only 21% of Southeast Asian consumers express an intention to reduce meat consumption, while the same proportion want to increase their meat intake, particularly of chicken and fish. Still, it’s not clear what the most effective messaging strategies are since most plant-based consumer studies focus on Western contexts.
To address this research gap, this study identifies key audiences in Southeast Asia that are most open to pro-animal diet change, examines their sources of influence, and pinpoints which messages may resonate best with consumers. To arrive at our conclusions, we used a combination of a literature review and “social listening” — a method of methodically analyzing social media comments to determine beliefs. We analyzed social media discourse in six countries: Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
These findings present a key opportunity for advocates to better understand how this crucial region views plant-based diets and products — and, more importantly, they demonstrate how advocates can fine-tune their strategies to maximize positive impact for animals.
Key Findings
- Key consumer segments that show an openness toward plant-based diets in Southeast Asia tend to be higher income, well educated, health conscious, and older than 55. While specific segments may vary across countries, advocates should consider targeting these groups with diet-change campaigns. People looking for protein diversification and to reduce red meat may also be most interested in plant-based meat alternatives.
- The three biggest motivations for adopting plant-based diets are health (43% of total motivation mentions), animal protection (17%), and environment (12%) — but barriers persist. For example, while users mentioned disease prevention, weight management, and overall well-being as health motivations, 23% of mentions related to barriers to adoption of plant-based diets expressed skepticism about nutritional sufficiency, energy, and protein. Animal protection and ethical concerns were the second-biggest motivation, but this motivation appears to be primarily driven by passionate supporters of the cause rather than mainstream consumers, which suggests that the influence of such narratives may be limited. Finally, consumers linked plant-based diets to reducing carbon emissions and deforestation and mitigating climate disasters. However, some dissenting voices challenge the environmental impact of animal agriculture, arguing that livestock contributes to soil regeneration and food resilience.
- Common Southeast Asian religions — including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam — have different impacts on attitudes to plant-based diets, both positive and negative. Buddhism and Hinduism encourage plant-based diets, with many followers committing to vegetarianism during religious holidays and as acts of thanksgiving. This motivation was particularly strong in Malaysia and Thailand, where 12% of motivation-related posts referenced religious reasons for meat reduction. In contrast, Islamic traditions like sacrificial slaughter and strong cultural beliefs around meat can act as a barrier to meat reduction, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia, where 12% of barrier-related posts referenced religious norms.
- Cost and accessibility concerns deter many consumers across Southeast Asia, but cost-savings from adopting plant-based diets are also a motivation for a few consumers in Indonesia and Vietnam. Around 16% of barrier-related posts cited cost as a major deterrent. Plant-based meat is significantly more expensive than meat in many countries, and is viewed as a luxury. However, a minority of social posts in Indonesia and Vietnam (3%) referenced reducing meat due to rising prices, suggesting an opportunity to position plant-based diets as cost-effective in some markets.
- Negative perceptions of pro-plant-based advocates can create resistance, especially in Singapore and Thailand. Roughly 10% of barrier-related posts expressed negative views of vegans and plant-based advocates, describing them as judgmental, overly critical, or idealistic.
- Meat cravings and taste preferences limit long-term adoption for some, particularly in the Philippines, but many who have embraced plant-based diets see taste more as a motivator than a barrier. About 7% of barrier-related posts in the Philippines specifically referenced meat cravings, the highest among all study countries. Across the region, many consumers are more open to occasional meat reduction rather than full vegetarianism or veganism, and some are only willing to replace red meat but not seafood or poultry. Taste remains an issue, but mostly for those unfamiliar with plant-based alternatives. Among those who have embraced plant-based diets, taste was five times more likely to be mentioned as a motivation than a barrier in their social media posts.
- Key sources of influence for opinions on plant-based diets are celebrities (21% of total mentions), news and media (13%), and advocacy groups (12%). Other sources included academia, brands, religious leaders, supranational organizations (e.g., the UN, WHO), local communities, and governments. The outsized mentions of celebrities — which included people like Fujii Kaze (Japanese musician), Nadine Lustre (Filipino actress), and Lewis Hamilton (F1 driver) — and films like Okja and You Are What You Eat suggest that these may be key ways to promote plant-based eating to consumers.
Conclusions
This study highlights the importance of highly targeted strategies when promoting plant-based diets across Southeast Asia, given the region’s diversity.
Health emerged as the primary motivation for adopting a plant-based diet, far surpassing other motivations. This reinforces the idea that people are most influenced by clear, personal benefits — what’s in it for them. This finding aligns with numerous other studies (GFI and Good Growth, 2024; Kamal and Leby, 2023) and suggests that health should be the leading angle for campaigns seeking to recruit more people into the movement.
The influence of religious and cultural traditions also emerged as more complex than expected. In some contexts, religious values encourage plant-based eating, while in others, they reinforce meat consumption. When it comes to religion, working within existing beliefs and traditions, rather than attempting to challenge them, could be a more effective approach. For example, instead of positioning plant-based foods as an alternative to (meat-heavy) religious feasts, highlighting how most plant-based foods already adhere to religious dietary guidelines could make them feel like a natural and acceptable choice rather than a disruptive one.
A research gap this study reveals is the extent to which discussions around plant-based diets remain largely advocate-driven rather than mainstream. Ethical and environmental concerns, while present, appear to be predominantly voiced (on social media) by those already aligned with the movement, raising the question of whether this reflects a lack of awareness among the broader public or a deeper resistance to these messages. A consideration for future research is how to assess whether exposure to advocacy messaging actually shifts perceptions or reinforces pre-existing divisions between advocates and others. It may also be useful to explore the extent to which negative perceptions of plant-based advocates themselves play a role in shaping public attitudes. In some cases, advocates are seen as overly critical or idealistic, which could create an unintended barrier to engagement. Repositioning “the advocate” through more inclusive, culturally embedded, or everyday role models may be as important as tailoring the message itself.
Finally, cost perceptions around plant-based diets appear to be highly inconsistent. While affordability is often cited as a barrier, some consumers reduce meat for financial reasons. This raises the question of whether the idea that plant-based diets are expensive is based more on perception than reality.
Ultimately, the findings demonstrate that a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to succeed in Southeast Asia. Effective advocacy requires a nuanced, country-specific strategy that aligns with the values, motivations, and barriers of each market.
