Would you bring home ugly produce? Motivators and demotivators for ugly food consumption

Investigating consumers' behavioral intentions toward suboptimal produce: an extended theory of planned behavior – a cross-cultural study

“…Although previous studies name suboptimal fruits and vegetables as "ugly" or "imperfect" produce, this study will use the term "suboptimal fruits and vegetables" or "suboptimal fresh produce" as the terms "ugly" and "imperfect" generally evoke negative perception toward different produce (Xu et al, 2021). Bunn et al (1990) define suboptimal produce as products that deviate from optimal or standard produce with regard to size, shape, weight or color.…”

“…For instance, Aschemann-Witzel et al (2021) investigate the relation between consumers' food waste-related lifestyle segments and choices for suboptimal food, and self-reported food waste in five Northern and Western European countries. Additionally, Xu et al (2021) examine motivators and demotivators for suboptimal food consumption through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) US panel members. Further, Hingston and Noseworthy (2020) explore why consumers avoid fruits and vegetables as a result of aesthetic beauty incorporating their prototypes in Canada.…”

“…Several previous research studies have demonstrated that attitudes positively affect behavioral intentions . The relationship between consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions has long been recognized in the context of food consumption behaviors (Xu et al, 2021). Previous research has found that attitudes could significantly predict behavioral intention regarding organic food consumption (Armitage and Conner, 2001;Asif et al, 2018;Le-Anh and Nguyen-To, 2020).…”

“…In the context of suboptimal food products, Wong et al (2018) find that consumers' attitudes are the main predictor of their intention to purchase suboptimal foods. Recently, Xu et al (2021) find a positive relationship between attitudes and purchase intentions of suboptimal food. It has been assumed that "although many people think of themselves as individuals, people, most of the time, look to others for guidance in how to behave" and they may perceive "unwanted emotions" and inconvenience when not acting like others (Nguyen, 2020).…”

From Waste to Taste: How “Ugly” Labels Can Increase Purchase of Unattractive Produce

“…Recent research has started to identify factors that might increase consumers' acceptance of unattractive produce, including marketing message framing (Grewal et al 2019;Shao et al 2020;Van Giesen and De Hooge 2019), reduced pricing (Aschemann-Witzel, Giménez, and Ares 2018), and individual differences in environmental awareness (De Hooge et al 2017;Makhal et al 2020;Xu et al 2021). Most relevant to the present investigation, Grewal et al (2019) proposed that consumers devalue unattractive produce, in part because imagining eating it negatively affects how they view themselves.…”