Mobilising Consumers for Food Waste Reduction in Finnish Media Discourse

Abstract

Raippalinna explores how consumers are mobilised for food waste reduction in media discourse. Food waste reduction initiatives are often criticised for putting the responsibility on individual consumers, but little research exists on the mobilisation of consumers in actual contexts. Through critical discourse analysis of media texts, Raippalinna investigates how the food waste problem and consumers are constructed in relation to each other in Finlands leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat 2010–2017. The analysis demonstrates that the discourses of consumer mobilisation appear mostly as consumer education where the consumer’s role is to manage individual consumption and household practices. The theoretical framework combines governmentality studies with a practice theoretical approach on consumption. Raippalinna discusses if and how media discourse can contribute to a transformation of food (waste) related practices.