Beyond Meat’s newest ad targets meat industry attacks about plant-based food being ultra-processed and unhealthy

• Beyond Meat just debuted a new ad featuring a fava bean farmer in North Dakota.
• The ad emphasizes the “goodness” in Beyond’s ingredients, a spokesperson said. 
• Groups connected to the meat industry have said for years that plant-based meats aren’t healthy.

Beyond Meat’s latest ad emphasizes the “goodness” in its products, showing a farm field and fava beans. But it also counters one of the most common criticisms of plant-based meats from the animal meat industry – that these products are highly processed and unhealthy to eat. 

The ad, which debuted last Friday and is titled: “There’s Goodness Here,” introduces viewers to a North Dakota farmer named Steven, who grows fava beans — one of the ingredients in Beyond’s products, according to Fast Company.

It “focuses on demystifying how Beyond Meat creates its plant-based proteins and celebrates the goodness in every step of the brand’s ingredients, process, mission and products,” a company spokesperson told Insider. “Beyond Meat is taking back the narrative to showcase why the clean and simple steps in its process should be celebrated,” they added. 

The spot comes years after the Center for Consumer Freedom, a group founded by corporate lobbyist Rick Berman, started targeting Beyond and other plant-based meat makers, Fast Company reported. The Center has ties to the meat industry, according to Fast Company.

In its own ads and messaging, the Center said that plant-based meat was “ultra-processed” and that the products posed health risks. Some prominent names in the food industry, such as Whole Foods co-founder and former CEO John Mackey, have also said they are worried about the health of plant-based meats. 

While Impossible Foods has been direct in countering claims that its products aren’t healthy, the new ad represents Beyond’s biggest attempt yet to do the same. Besides featuring sweeping shots of farm fields and highlighting the farmer behind the fava beans, the ad also reminds shoppers that Beyond’s plant-based steak recently won certification as a “heart-healthy food” from the American Heart Association. 

The ad comes as Beyond Meat, Impossible, and other plant-based meat makers deal with a slump in sales. In an earnings report this past February, the company attributed the decline in part to food price inflation, which is forcing some consumers to seek out less-expensive alternatives.