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“Awww, That’s Such a Cute Lemon!” The Effect of Whimsical Cuteness on Willingness-to-Pay for Imperfect Produce

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“Awww, That’s Such a Cute Lemon!” The Effect of Whimsical Cuteness on Willingness-to-Pay for Imperfect Produce

Darriet, Camille (2019) “Awww, That’s Such a Cute Lemon!” The Effect of Whimsical Cuteness on Willingness-to-Pay for Imperfect Produce. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Abstract

Many consumers prefer to buy “perfect” produce (e.g., a shiny apple) while avoiding imperfect ones that may be dull in colour and/or odd in shape. In my thesis, I wanted to paint a portrait of this type of consumer. To do so, I looked at various demographic, psychographic and behavioural variables, and found that consumers avoid buying imperfect produce and have negative taste, health and effort perceptions. Further, this type of consumer does not connect the purchase of imperfect produce to food waste and/or environmental issues. Given the impact of food waste on environmental and societal well-being, I then examined a way to encourage consumers to purchase imperfect produce (and at more reasonable prices): more specifically, I tested whether “whimsical cuteness” might influence how much consumers are willing-to-pay for imperfect produce based on prior research showing that whimsicality results in greater usage, and consumption, of whimsical objects (Nenkov and Scott, 2014). I also tested whether this type of priming works through curiosity (Wang and Huang, 2018). Across two experiments, I found that when consumers were shown an advertisement for an oddly shaped lemon with (versus without) a characteristic related to whimsical cuteness (i.e., googly eyes), they were later willing-to-pay more for oddly shaped lemons. This effect remained even when I increased the time between purchase and consumption. The mediating role of curiosity, however, was unclear and should be re-considered in future research.

Divisions:Concordia University > John Molson School of Business > Marketing
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Darriet, Camille
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M. Sc.
Program:Marketing
Date:9 December 2019
Thesis Supervisor(s):Walsh, Darlene
ID Code:986443
Deposited By: Camille Darriet
Deposited On:26 Jun 2020 13:05
Last Modified:26 Jun 2020 13:05
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