The Effects of Cause Marketing on Taste Perception

The experience of taste goes beyond simply picking up on direct sensory information provided by the food or beverage being consumed. For example, taste perception can be altered by providing the taster with information related to the price, country of origin, or brand of a product. This study predicted that participants would prefer chocolate linked with values they endorse to chocolate linked with values they disagree with. Participants received information about a chocolate company that linked that company with either marriage equality or traditional marriage. Participants then consumed the company\u27s chocolate and rated the chocolate on taste. Ultimately, the value information that the participants received failed to influence either their reported liking of the chocolate or the amount of chocolate that they chose to consume. Possible explanations for this finding include the value connection being made too weakly, the participant pool being unrepresentative of the general population, or experimental error