-Single bananas also want to be bought
Bananas grow in bunches, which is how they are typically sold. But no one catches the unfortunate bananas that separate and remain single — which end up going to waste. Unless they look sad…
Bananas are a sociable fruit. They are created in clusters, connected by a unifying stalk that brings them together happily in a curved yellow glow.
But what happens to those that separate from the bunch? Left aside as individual entities, they are isolated and alone.
In one you drove recently, Lisa Eckmanprofessor of Marketing at the University of Bath, in the United Kingdom, found that some buyers feel sorry for these singles.
And this could have big implications for dealing with food waste, explains Eckman in an article published in .
In effect, the lonely bananas that unsoldmore likely to be thrown away than bananas not sold in bunches, are one of the types of most wasted food all over the world.
Various studies and plans reducing food waste mention that they are one.
This is a different issue than the “ugly fruit phenomenon” — consumers who reject fvegetables and vegetables that do not meet aesthetic standardss. In these cases, shoppers may be put off by strange shapes or lack of coloring, despite the food being perfectly tasty and nutritious.
But apparently the perception of the “imperfections” of fresh products may also be related to the how these are presented., explains Eckman. And the problem is particularly serious no case of bananas which have been separated from the bunches in which they normally come.
Many consumers prefer to buy bananas by the bunchcustomizing the curls according to your needs, tearing out the ones that don’t want. Individual bananas are left behind.
One strategy used by retailers to increase sales of imperfect foods is price discounts. But German supermarket chain REWE experimented with a technique of grouping individual bananas together and labeling them as “single women” who wanted to be bought.
Lisa Eckman’s team teamed up with REWE to develop this approach, building on previous research that found that making imperfect foods look more human — giving them facesfor example, or suggesting shapes body, makes them more appealing.
The researchers created three labels to place on top of individual banana boxes. One of them showed a “sad” banana with the mouth turned down and the message: “We are sad singles and we also want to be bought”.
Svenja Gerecht
We are sad singles — and we also want to be bought
One second showed a “happy” banana with a smile and a message to match, while a third showed no banana, but the words: “Here are single bananas that also want to be bought“.
Rotating the posters every hour, observed 3810 buyers of bananas for eight days in two stores, and found that it was much more likely that chose individual bananas when the sad signage was presented.
Banana split
In a subsequent online experiment, researchers found that sad individual bananas evoked compassion in consumersmotivating them to “save” the individual product abandoned who longed for company.
O effect of sad emotional expressions It also didn’t just save the hapless single bananas – it also proved effective in an experiment with single tomatoes.
A need to belong It’s a fundamental human motivation that we’re all more or less familiar with, explains Eckman. Witnessing someone (or in this case, something) express sadness over this lack of connection felt particularly effective in eliciting a desire to help.
To the transform rejection into compassionretailers can encourage consumers to choose products that would otherwise be overlooked, preventing them from going to waste.
This simple, low-cost intervention serves as a reminder that emotional connections can lead to significant changes in attitudes and behaviors.
With annual global food waste predicted to reach 2.1 billion tons by 2030, solutions like these can help increase the awareness for the implementation of measures towards sustainable use of resources.
In industrialized countries, a significant part of today’s waste results from trade regulations and consumer preferences that prioritize the perfect appearance of fresh produce.
Putting a sad face on a unique or imperfect product It’s not the most effective way to get people to buy them (we found elsewhere in our investigation that price discounts continue to be more effective). But is a strategy that retailers can use.
And it’s a useful reminder for shoppers who want to reduce food waste that no one, including bananas, wants to be left on the shelf.
