Genetically Modified Food
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GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS IT AND COMMUNICATION TO IMPROVE THE CONSUMER’S PERCEPTION OF IT LIES GOETHALS Thesis Meertalige Bedrijfscommunicatie 2006-2007 Promotor : Prof. Dr. E. ROEGIEST I Beschrijving van de stage Bedrijf Stagebegeleider Afdeling VIB Ann Van Gysel Communicatie Rijvisschestraat 120 Sooike Stoops 9052 Gent tel. 09 / 244 66 11 fax. 09 / 244 66 10 www.vib.be Taakbeschrijving Talen Periode *Verwerking van een enquête rond de Nederlands 22/04/2007 tentoonstelling DE ZAAK DNA. Engels tot *Opstellen van een brochure om 01/06/2007 middelbare school-studenten aan te zetten levenswetenschappen te studeren. *Meewerken aan events zoals Scientists @work en sportdag. *Rondleidingen geven in de labo’s op Vlaanderendag. II A word of thanks to… ... my promoter Prof Dr Roegiest and, in particular, Luc De Bie. I can honestly say that without them and the liberating phone call that I got one year ago, I would never have come this far. I would also like to thank them for the help, tips and tricks concerning the theoretical part of my thesis. ... Ann Van Gysel who gave me the opportunity of doing this traineeship in a pleasant environment like VIB (Flemish Institute for Biotechnology). … Sooike Stoops who guided me during the 6 weeks of my internship, for everything she taught me, for her patience, her enthusiasm and the support she was for me. For the tips and tricks, her corrections, her chats to check if everything was alright … ... the other VIB colleagues of the communication department: Evy, Inge, Joke, Jonas and Niels for sharing their experience, for lending a helping hand, for the nice chats. It was a real pleasure to be a part of their team. ... my fellow MTB students who have made this year a year full of nice memories which I will never forget. … An-Sofie, Nele and Bram for being my careful readers. ... my family and friends who were always interested in my well-being and took my mind off things if necessary. I want to thank them for being so supportive and keeping faith in me. ... my parents. Last but not least I would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to be part of the MTB programme. All this wasn’t possible without their help and unconditional support during my studies. Thanks for everything! III Content table Preface……………………………………….……...……………………………………………….....……………………..1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Chapter 1 : Presentation of vib and its departments ............................................................ 3 1 The history of VIB ................................................................................................ 3 2 The structure of VIB............................................................................................. 5 2.1 The overall structure..................................................................................... 5 2.2 The employees............................................................................................. 7 2.3 The financial structure .................................................................................. 7 3 Corporate identity ................................................................................................ 9 3.1 Mission statement ........................................................................................ 9 3.2 Vision and strategy..................................................................................... 10 4 Products ........................................................................................................... 11 4.1 Knowledge................................................................................................. 11 4.2 Patents ..................................................................................................... 12 4.3 Biotechnology information ........................................................................... 12 5 Clients and their profile....................................................................................... 13 6 The competitors................................................................................................. 14 7 SWOT-analysis................................................................................................... 16 7.1 Strengths .................................................................................................. 16 7.2 Weaknesses............................................................................................... 16 7.3 Threats ..................................................................................................... 16 7.4 Opportunities ............................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2 : Theory ........................................................................................................ 18 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 18 2 What is a gmo?.................................................................................................. 19 3 Background ....................................................................................................... 19 4 Legislation......................................................................................................... 19 5 Consumer behaviour .......................................................................................... 20 5.1 The different attitudes ................................................................................ 20 5.2 How consumers form attitudes towards gmo’s ............................................... 21 6 Miscommunication due to mistaken marketing assumptions .................................... 24 6.1 Mistaken marketing assumption 1: The biotechnology controversy will be forgotten .............................................................................................................. 24 6.2 Mistaken marketing assumption 2: Science sells and fear fails ......................... 25 6.3 Mistaken marketing assumption 3: Consumers buy products, not processes ...... 25 6.4 Mistaken marketing assumption 4: Good for medicine means good for food...... 26 6.5 Mistaken marketing assumption 5: Biotechnology education is a trade association IV issue …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………27 7 Effective strategies............................................................................................. 27 7.1 Roles played by different groups to accelerate the acceptance of genetically modified food ........................................................................................................ 28 7.2 Which communication for which consumer behaviour?.................................... 29 7.3 Packaging.................................................................................................. 33 7.4 Pricing....................................................................................................... 34 7.5 Placement ................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 3 : Internship.................................................................................................... 35 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 35 2 DE ZAAK DNA.................................................................................................... 35 2.1 Background ............................................................................................... 35 2.2 Briefing ..................................................................................................... 37 2.3 Stepwise description of my task ................................................................... 39 2.4 Evaluation ................................................................................................. 45 3 Brochure “Become a scientist” ............................................................................. 46 4 Vlaanderendag................................................................................................... 47 5 Scientists @work ................................................................................................ 47 6 Sports day......................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 4 : Conclusion ................................................................................................... 49 1 Experience on a professional level........................................................................ 49 2 Experience on a personal level............................................................................. 50 3 Evaluation of the MTB programme ....................................................................... 50 1 Preface Last year I obtained a master in biotechnology. During my thesis I worked in a laboratory of VIB, conducting strategic basic research 1 on plants. When I visited to my former VIB colleague researchers in February 2007, I mentioned that I was looking for a place in a communication department to do my internship. Immediately, they all enumerated a lot of biotechnological and chemical companies where I could apply. They indicated that VIB itself also has a communication department and they gave me the e-mail address of the communications manager, Ann Van Gysel. Because they were extremely enthusiastic about the communication team, they made me eager to get this job. After all, this job fitted in perfectly