Constructing Guilt-Free Indulgence
Discourses of Plant-Based and Cultivated Meat Marketing
Abstract
This paper examines how plant-based and cultivated meat are constructed in the promotional web discourse of twelve alternative-protein companies. Using corpus-assisted discourse analysis, it explores how brands combine sensory pleasure with ethical responsibility. Both product categories promote guilt-free indulgence, but through different strategies: plant-based brands normalize novelty through taste, familiarity, and lifestyle, whereas cultivated-meat brands legitimize it through science, safety, and animal-welfare claims. The findings show how marketing makes ethical consumption pleasurable, desirable, and compatible with eating practices.
Presentato: 29 Luglio 2026 | Accettato: 01 Settembre 2026 | Pubblicato 22 Ottobre 2026 | Lingua: it
Keywords Corpus-assisted discourse analysis • Guilt-free indulgence • Cultivated meat • Evaluation • Plant-based meat
Copyright © 2026 Gianmarco Vignozzi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2026/16/003