Co-creation platform "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" announces consumer awareness of ethical food as seen through a food truck event

2022.04.15 Press Releases
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.

- Is the menu you choose ethical?! Or non-ethical?! -

CCC Marketing Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Makoto Tashiro) is working on the "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab," a co-creation platform that utilizes T's unique data*1 and assets to think about and take action on ethical food actions that lead to the global issue of "sustainable food," through dialogue with stakeholders with a wide range of knowledge across industries, primarily consumers, to address issues that would be difficult to solve by a single region or company alone.

From Friday, March 25th to Sunday, March 27th, 2022, a food truck event called "(N)EF TRUCK (Ethical Food Truck)" was held at Daikanyama T-SITE (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo) to examine consumers' awareness of ethical food, and the results of the event have now been announced. https://ethicalfoodlab.tsite.jp/neftruck/) will be done.

(N)EF TRUCK offers an "ethical" menu that is considerate of the environment, animals, people and society, and a menu that does not appear "non-ethical" at first glance but is not ethically considered (in fact it is an ethical menu), and tests were conducted to see which product menu consumers would choose. The products offered were coffee, fish burgers, and chocolate banana sandwiches, and the social issues themed around each product were "fair trade" and "unfair trade" for the coffee, "sustainable fishing" and "IUU fishing (illegible, unreported, and unregulated fishing)" for the fish burgers, and "fair trade and organic" and "child labor" for the chocolate banana sandwiches. For all three items, the "ethical" and "non-ethical" versions are priced exactly the same, and the difference between "ethical" and "non-ethical" is clearly stated in the product menu descriptions.

Coffee: Social issue is "fair trade"

[Ethical menu description]
The raw beans, purchased from a small-scale farming association, are carefully roasted to create a coffee with a well-balanced flavor. This is a special cup that conveys the producer's thoughts.

[Non-ethical menu description]
Made with plenty of carefully selected coffee beans, this coffee offers a rich flavor at a reasonable price. This is a special drink that you will surely feel like you are getting a great deal like no other.

Fish Burger: Social issue is "IUU fishing"

[Ethical menu description]
Yellowfin tuna from the South Pacific, caught through fishing that takes environmental and resource conservation into consideration. This juicy tuna is imported and processed and then made into a patty.

[Non-ethical menu description]
Fresh yellowfin tuna is caught in abundance in the beautiful southern seas. Fresh tuna is procured through a secret, proprietary route and immediately processed to create patties.

Chocolate Banana Sandwich: The social issue is "child labor"

[Ethical menu description]
The fragrant bread is sandwiched with chocolate cream made from organic bananas and cacao from a village where fair trade is practiced and smiles abound. It's a sincere taste that's been painstakingly crafted.

[Non-ethical menu description]
The farms where the produce is produced are filled with the smiling faces of hardworking children. These premium bananas, which have passed strict quality standards, go perfectly with the chocolate cream.

Customers who purchased products from (N)EF TRUCK checked the menu description before selecting and purchasing a product. They were then given a menu card with the answer as to whether the product was ethical or non-ethical, revealing the truth on the spot. This created an opportunity for customers to understand and become interested in ethical food through the contrast between ethical and non-ethical.

Answer check menu card

As a result, 63.7% of consumers overall chose "ethical" products, and it was found that nearly half of them had a strong intention to purchase "ethical" products based on the menu descriptions. Looking at each menu item, 64.5% of consumers chose ethical coffee, 56.9% chose fish burger, and 71.7% chose chocolate banana sandwich.

The verification results of this food truck event to think about ethical food showed that it provided an opportunity for consumers to check whether a product was ethically considered when selecting and purchasing it, such as "It's a good deal for consumers, but producers are suffering," "The environment and animals are being neglected in order to increase production efficiency," and "The rights of producers are not taken into consideration." It also led to a greater understanding of ethical food among consumers.

"T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" will continue to promote awareness and understanding of ethical food by taking steps to make ethical food more accessible to consumers and by holding events with a similar concept to this food truck event in various locations from time to time.

CCC Marketing will work with all stakeholders involved in food, including consumers, manufacturers, and distributors, to help ethical food become more widespread in society, and each and every activity of the "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" will contribute to creating a food cycle that will connect to the future.

*1: Unique data refers to over 70 million single IDs, over 3.5 billion purchase transactions per year, 6 billion types of product data handled by a network of 150,000 stores, customer DNA persona data consisting of thousands of items, offline and online movement and behavior data, media contact data, and CCC Marketing Group's original enhanced data.

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Co-creation platform "T Card Everyone's Ethical Food Lab" announces consumer awareness of ethical food as seen through a food truck event

Inquiries regarding this matter
CCC Marketing Co., Ltd.
Public Relations Officer: Ando
TEL: 03-6800-4464