Can Collective Action Campaigns Drive Dietary Change? Evidence from the Netherlands

Since 2018, major food retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, and consumer organizations in the Netherlands have jointly organized a nationwide campaign encouraging consumers to abstain from animal-based foods for one week each year. The campaign spans all major media channels and virtually every retail store, achieving a share of voice and geographic reach comparable to large-scale marketing initiatives. Using household scanner data and a border-based difference-in-differences design comparing the Netherlands with Germany, we find that the campaign produces a substantial short-term increase in the purchase share of plant-based meat alternatives but does not substantially reduce animal-meat purchases. The 10-week cumulative effect is 2.60 percentage points, only marginally larger than the immediate effect. Its impact is therefore large but transient, dissipating quickly after the campaign period.