Dive Brief:
- A new study shows that consumers will pay on average 30% more for products bearing a Fair Trade logo than their conventionally produced competitors, according to researchers from the University of Bonn, whose study results were published in "Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience."
- When presented with Fair Trade products, "activity in the brain's reward center increases and thereby alters willingness to pay computations," according to PhysOrg.
- Study participants even found that products bearing the Fair Trade logo tasted better, even though they were presented with the same product both with and without the label.
Dive Insight:
When consumers are willing to pay more and believe products taste better all because of a label, food manufacturers listen up. More companies are importing fair trade products, from coffee and sugar to produce and seafood. Fair Trade-certified fruits and vegetable imports increased by 26%, from 155 million pounds to 195 million, from 2013 to 2014, according to third-party certifier Fair Trade USA.
Unilever's Ben & Jerry's uses fair trade ingredients for all of its ice cream products as of earlier this year, though it has used some fair trade ingredients for a few years now. Before merging with Keurig, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters had already long used fair trade coffee. General Mills' Cascadian Farms brand also uses Fair Trade Certified ingredients in some of its products.
Food and beverage companies are beginning to see how much a label can affect consumer preferences, particularly when that label has something to do with health or sustainability, such as fair trade or non-GMO.