slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
By Karen Kaplan
December 4, 2013, 4:43 p.m.
Scientists have come upon two magic words capable of making consumers believe a plain old cup of coffee tastes better and should be more expensive: "eco-friendly."
In a series of experiments, researchers asked people to sample two identical cups of coffee brewed from the same batch of arabica beans using a "standard model coffee machine," according to a report published Wednesday by the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers told the study volunteers that one of the cups was made with "eco-friendly" coffee beans and the other was not. Over and over, people who said they cared about the environment gave the "eco-friendly" coffee higher marks.
"With the right convictions, an 'eco-friendly' label is sufficient for a product to taste better than a non-labeled objectively identical alternative," they wrote (italics are theirs).
The research team used a questionnaire to assess the value volunteers placed on recycling, sustainability and other environmentally themed activities. (Sample question: "Do you feel guilt when you buy non-eco-friendly alternatives?") The responses were used to sort coffee-tasters into "high sustainability" and "low sustainability" groups.
In the first experiment, 74% of the high sustainability consumers said they preferred the "eco-friendly" coffee to the "not-eco-friendly" alternative and gave it higher ratings for taste. They also were willing to pay about 25% more for it. Meanwhile, the low sustainability volunteers were basically split between the two options and weren’t willing to pay extra for the goodie-goodie joe.
In the next experiment, volunteers were not told which cup of coffee was "eco-friendly" until after they had tasted both samples. In that case, the label didn’t influence their ratings for taste.
However, high sustainability volunteers were still willing to pay more for the "eco-friendly" coffee even when they were told their preferred cup of coffee was of the "not-eco-friendly" variety.
"This finding indicates that their willingness to pay a premium for eco-friendly alternatives is – at least in part – based on altruistic (e.g., for the sake of the environment) rather than on more self-serving reasons (e.g., biased taste preferences)," according to the study.
cont at
http://www.latimes.com/science/scie...-better-20131204,0,157226.story#axzz2mZHfBCOp
December 4, 2013, 4:43 p.m.
Scientists have come upon two magic words capable of making consumers believe a plain old cup of coffee tastes better and should be more expensive: "eco-friendly."
In a series of experiments, researchers asked people to sample two identical cups of coffee brewed from the same batch of arabica beans using a "standard model coffee machine," according to a report published Wednesday by the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers told the study volunteers that one of the cups was made with "eco-friendly" coffee beans and the other was not. Over and over, people who said they cared about the environment gave the "eco-friendly" coffee higher marks.
"With the right convictions, an 'eco-friendly' label is sufficient for a product to taste better than a non-labeled objectively identical alternative," they wrote (italics are theirs).
The research team used a questionnaire to assess the value volunteers placed on recycling, sustainability and other environmentally themed activities. (Sample question: "Do you feel guilt when you buy non-eco-friendly alternatives?") The responses were used to sort coffee-tasters into "high sustainability" and "low sustainability" groups.
In the first experiment, 74% of the high sustainability consumers said they preferred the "eco-friendly" coffee to the "not-eco-friendly" alternative and gave it higher ratings for taste. They also were willing to pay about 25% more for it. Meanwhile, the low sustainability volunteers were basically split between the two options and weren’t willing to pay extra for the goodie-goodie joe.
In the next experiment, volunteers were not told which cup of coffee was "eco-friendly" until after they had tasted both samples. In that case, the label didn’t influence their ratings for taste.
However, high sustainability volunteers were still willing to pay more for the "eco-friendly" coffee even when they were told their preferred cup of coffee was of the "not-eco-friendly" variety.
"This finding indicates that their willingness to pay a premium for eco-friendly alternatives is – at least in part – based on altruistic (e.g., for the sake of the environment) rather than on more self-serving reasons (e.g., biased taste preferences)," according to the study.
cont at
http://www.latimes.com/science/scie...-better-20131204,0,157226.story#axzz2mZHfBCOp
