Impossible Foods CEO Says The Plant-Based Sector Became Too 'Woke And Partisan'

Peter McGuinness, the current CEO of Impossible Foods, has said that the plant-based sector was previously too “woke” and “divisive” for mass appeal.

He also referred to the original marketing of Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat products as a solution to the climate crisis as a “mistake,” and called the original leaders “zealots.” He added, “People don’t want to eat tech food or climate food.”

McGuinness made the comments while speaking at the World Economy Summit earlier this month, as reported by Business Insider and Semafor.

He said that the plant-based sector has been “mismarketed and mislaunched,” and claimed that this is one reason that the meat alternative sales have dropped over the last few years, particularly in the US, after spiking between 2019 and 2021.

“It became woke and partisan and political and divisive,” said McGuinness. He added that plant-based food is “not in vogue right now,” and said this is “not our cultural moment.” However, he also noted that Impossible cannot “give up” on the US and its “massive, massive market.”

‘You don’t get them to try your product by insulting them’

McGuinness favorably contrasted Impossible Foods with Beyond, which experienced sliding shares earlier this month as investors reacted to its debt deal.

However, since then, the rival plant-based company’s shares have jumped by more than 1000 percent. Beyond announced it would drop the “meat” part of its name earlier this year as part of a major rebrand, while Impossible has pivoted to focus primarily on meat-eaters and flexitarians under McGuinness’s leadership.

“If you want to use less water, and have less GHG emissions, and use less land, you don’t target vegans, obviously,” McGuinness said. “You have to target meat eaters and get them to try your product, but you don’t get them to try your product by insulting them.”

Plant-based meat, climate change, and bipartisan solutions

Photo shows a grocery store refrigerator filled with Impossible Foods burgers — Adobe Stock Impossible Foods is not the only American company to distance itself from so-called “woke” marketing

In August, a report predicted that the plant-based food market could triple in value by 2035. The alternative protein market, specifically, is expected to more than double in value by the end of the decade. Outside of the US, plant-based milk and meat have become mainstream, particularly throughout Europe and the UK.

McGuinness has been CEO of Impossible Foods since 2022. In a blog post welcoming him to the company, founder Patrick Brown emphasized the need for innovative solutions to animal protein and the climate crisis, and to “reverse the collapse of global biodiversity,” both key parts of Impossible’s mission statement.

A wide range of American companies have sought to distance themselves from behavior that may be perceived as “woke” since US President Donald Trump began his second term, including long-established DEI initiatives, links to LGBTQ+ causes, charities, and events, and environmental pledges.

Six major US banks quit the Net-Zero Banking Alliance immediately after Trump was elected last year, well in advance of his taking office in January. International banks like HSBC and Barclays have since followed. Scientists have long highlighted that climate change and biodiversity loss will affect everyone, and have called for bipartisan and intersectional solutions to the worsening climate crisis.