New research reveals increasing consumer support for the MSC ecolabel

The biennial consumer survey conducted by Albemarle Marketing Research (AMR) seeks to understand consumer support for ecolabels in general, their attitudes towards sustainable seafood and MSC labelled products. In 2012, a total of 5,977 interviews were completed in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia. 

When shown the MSC ecolabel, stripped of all the text, 30 per cent of respondents (with variations across the 10 countries surveyed) said they had seen it before, and over 9 per cent of all respondents were then able to accurately describe, without any prompting, what the MSC ecolabel stands for – up from 5 per cent in 2010. 

Recognition of the MSC ecolabel is going from strength to strength in Northern Europe. It has leapt to 55 per cent in Germany (up from 36 per cent in 2010), 44 per cent in Netherlands (up from 34 per cent in 2011), 38 per cent in Sweden (up from 28 per cent in 2011) and 31 per cent in the UK (up from 18 per cent in 2010).

In Japan and France there is a small but encouraging increase in recognition: just over one in six Japanese and just over one in five French consumers recognise the MSC debranded ecolabel.

In the first survey carried out by AMR in Denmark and Australia, 35 per cent and 12 per cent of consumers respectively reported awareness of the MSC ecolabel for sustainable and well-managed fisheries.