Who needs cream and sugar when there is eco-labeling? Taste and willingness to pay for "eco-friendly" coffee

PLoS One. 2013 Dec 4;8(12):e80719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080719. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Participants tasted two cups of coffee, decided which they preferred, and then rated each coffee. They were told (in lure) that one of the cups contained "eco-friendly" coffee while the other did not, although the two cups contained identical coffee. In Experiments 1 and 3, but not in Experiment 2, the participants were also told which cup contained which type of coffee before they tasted. The participants preferred the taste of, and were willing to pay more for, the "eco-friendly" coffee, at least those who scored high on a questionnaire on attitudes toward sustainable consumer behavior (Experiment 1). High sustainability consumers were also willing to pay more for "eco-friendly" coffee, even when they were told, after their decision, that they preferred the non-labeled alternative (Experiment 2). Moreover, the eco-label effect does not appear to be a consequence of social desirability, as participants were just as biased when reporting the taste estimates and willingness to pay anonymously (Experiment 3). Eco labels not only promote a willingness to pay more for the product but also lead to a more favorable perceptual experience of it.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Coffee*
  • Female
  • Food Labeling*
  • Food Preferences / psychology*
  • Food, Organic / economics
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Taste / physiology*
  • Taste Perception / physiology*

Substances

  • Coffee

Grants and funding

These authors have no current external funding sources for this study. The funders (University of Gävle, Sweden, www.hig.se) had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.