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10/24/2005: Since Halloween is right around the corner...
Double helping of candy bowl research: “David Kessler of MIT informs us of an unplanned experiment with a candy bowl:
MIT Sloan School has lots of candy sitting around on the various desks. I work in a cube where all the students and administrators come to drop off forms, ask questions, get guidance on a range of B-school miscellany. On the reception desk for them is a bowl of candy. It used to brim with a variety of candies but has slowly been whittled down to the one kind of candy that no one seems to like -- banana flavored Laffy Taffy.
The bowl was too big for it's space, so someone took it away and left the Banana Laffy Taffy in a small pile where the bowl was. No one touched the Banana Laffy Taffy. Some people even commented that it was so sad how no one liked this candy -- and they didn't take it either.
Today, Brian Pope, one of the students, arranged the Banana Laffy Taffy in 2 neat columns, and over the past hour since I've seen at least 4 people take one. Yup, a candy that no one has taken for a couple of weeks has suddenly started going like gangbusters because it is set out in orderly rows.
This comes on the heels of other candy bowl research news. An Associated Press report explains:
Scientists studying candy-jar psychology have confirmed what most of us know instinctively: Out of sight is out of mind.
Secretaries who were given Hershey kisses ate more of them when the jars were clear or on their desks than when the chocolates were in opaque containers or placed a short distance away....
The study was led by Brian Wansink, a Cornell University food marketing and eating behavior expert....”
BUT I like the Banana Laffy Taffy™. (Remember it's the Candy Corn™ everyone HATES!!)
*wink*
Karen on 10.24.05 @ 08:18 AM CST
