“Calling it vegetable ‘prinskorv’ actually bothers me quite a lot” - How mythologies are shaping the marketization of plant-based protein products

Abstract

Mythologies are guiding consumption practices, thus, shaping how markets are perceived. However, the two concepts of market mythologies and marketization have conjointly received limited attention. In this study, the plant-based protein product market is used as an epistemological window to investigate how the binary oppositions of a myth create tension that shapes how the market of plant-based protein products is perceived. Based on desk research and netnography, an historical genealogy was developed to understand how the market of plant-based protein products has been created and evolved over time, thus performing a context-of-context. To extend the profoundness of the research, we conducted netnography and eight in-depth interviews which resulted in identifying four mythological processes through which the Swedish market of plant-based protein products is shaped. We understand mythological processes as the translations of tensions to the self and society, and our findings suggest that there are four modes of tensions: satisfactory vs unsatisfactory, old vs new, masculine vs feminine, and left-wing vs right-wing. By illustrating how mythological tensions are associated with individuals' utopian ideals, we conclude that mythologies guide consumption practices and (re-)shape markets through mythological processes. Further, our findings reveal that myths are constructed around tensions and that the tension brings about two myth markets. Concluding, our findings discern important marketing implications by illustrating how mythological processes can be used as a tool to understand and (re-)shape markets.