Year: 2018
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Changes are seen in our eating habits. We eat differently than we did in the past. Functional food and organic food are here to stay. The desire for health and well-being is a strong driver in food marketing (Goetzke and Spiller, 2014). Next to these changes, humanization—or anthropomorphism—of pets by their owners is seen in consumer behavior. These changes have effect on pet related sales and marketing (Boya et al., 2012). Research of the combination of these two effects is the aim of this study and ads to literature a next layer on the dog-human relationship related consumer behavior and provides marketers with a more detailed perspective on targeting the dog owners. In recent years research has been done on the usage of functional and organic food products. Consumers are becoming more demanding about the products they consume. Health and well-being are receiving more interest from consumers. This is reflected in the way they are looking at functional foods and organic foods (Goetzke and Spiller, 2014). Other research was done on the dog-human relationship including the bond the dog owner has with its dog. Relationships going from companionship to friendship (Holbrook, 2001; Holbrook, 2007; Cavanaugh, 2008) to unconditional love and affection are even resulting in anthropomorphism (Boya et al. 2012). Anthropomorphism or personification is the attribution of human characteristics to pets. Boya et al. (2012) describes three clusters of ownership; ―dog-people‖, dog owners who see their dog as a child; it sleeps on their beds, these owners celebrate the dogs‘ birthday, etcetera. There is a strong bond and a strong doghuman relationship. Another cluster is ―pet-owner‖, this dog owner sees the dog as a companion, this companion is still seen as an animal and it is treated well, but is kept as you keep any animal. The intermediate cluster is called; ―dog-parent‖, this dog owner is seeing the dog as a buddy. Research from Tesfom and Birch (2010) indicated that American pet owners are more concerned about the healthy food for their dogs than for themselves. Goetzke and Spiller (2014) found claims that health is an important motivation for consumers for the consumption of both functional and organic foods and Boya et al. (2014) saw differences in purchasing behavior of dog-related products from the pet owners in connection with the bond, the owner has with its pet. Are pet owners who use functional and/or organic food also worried about the health of their pets and are they for that reason looking for functional and/or organic pet food for their dogs? Is the relationship Boya et al. (2014) found of influence on this decision making process? This research examines and combines earlier studies on the usage of functional and/or organic products by dog owners and the dog-human relationship these owners have with their dogs. It also studies the position of the dogs in their families and the willingness of these dog owners to purchase functional and/or organic pet food products. Functional and or organic pet food is called specialized pet food.
Author: Ernst Walet
Institution: Hill's Pet Nutrition (United States)
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2415622681