Consumer skepticism, the MAHA movement, and what food brands can do now.

By Andy Woolard
EVP, Strategy
BarkleyOKRP

Consumer trust in the food system is being stress-tested in public on social feeds, in comment sections, and across a growing ecosystem of beliefs often lumped under the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement. 

MAHA is a cluster of anxieties about health, transparency, sustainability, and control, amplified by social media and stripped of nuance.

For brands, this changes the game. 

Trust is no longer assumed because you are established, regulated, or science-backed. 

It is earned daily through consistency, clarity, and proof.

The Big Shift: From authority to credibility.

Food system brands are often the most informed voices in the room and the least credible inside MAHA-driven echo chambers. Expertise alone does not cut it when skepticism is the default.

What does work? Credible messengers. 

Farmers. Dietitians. Clinicians. Employees. Parents. 

People who translate complexity into lived experience. 

Brands need better narrators.

Sustainability cannot live in a silo.

Sustainability emerges as both an opportunity and a friction point. 

Regenerative agriculture, for example, resonates as a shared priority across the value chain, but often, brand storytelling and translating the real benefits can lag behind what is admirable action.

Without consistent standards, accountability, and aligned messaging, even meaningful progress gets lost in translation.

The opportunity: sustainability as a system-wide storyline.

Partnering both up and down the food value chain – with growers, suppliers, retailers, adds credibility and makes your message more authentic.

Your brand story starts well before your online presence. 

Where leaders should focus now.

Where brands should focus now:

1. First, collaborate across the value chain. Trust is built faster when companies move together through coalitions, shared standards, and unified narratives.
2. Second, start with real consumer benefits and category drivers. Abstract benefits do not land. Practical, personal impact does.
3. Third, align internally before going external. If employees cannot clearly explain what you stand for, consumers will not believe it either.

The bottom line.

Trust has always been an amplifier and asset for brands within the food system. But with the reality of MAHA, there’s never been a more critical time to earn that trust through collaboration, credible evidence, relatable storytelling, and leading the conversation.

In a world that leaves little room for nuance, leadership means bringing it back with credibility, truth and transparency.

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Turn trust into your most valuable business asset. Contact our Chief Growth Officer, Jason Parks, at jparks@barkleyokrp.com, to learn more.