Roughly 40 percent of produce in the United States goes uneaten, and a significant share of that waste comes from fruits and vegetables that never make it to consumers’ plates. This is not because they’re spoiled, but because they’re unattractive. Bruised apples, spotted bananas, and oddly shaped strawberries are often tossed aside by farmers, retailers, and shoppers due to their appearance.
While businesses have taken great efforts to counteract this waste by issuing discounts, labeling produce as “ugly but delicious,” or highlighting ugly produce’s peculiar personality, they have had mixed results.
A new study by Columbia Business School’s Gita Johar, Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, together with Professor Shilpa Madan of Singapore Management University and Professor Krishna Savani of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, offers a deeper psychological explanation. Their research suggests that consumers’ willingness to buy unattractive produce may be influenced by a broader belief system: that people’s outward appearance reflects their inner character. Those who hold this belief appear to generalize it beyond people, judging ugly produce as low quality even when it’s not.
The researchers developed a simple and scalable intervention that makes consumers more open to unattractive-looking fruits and vegetables—one that could spell success for businesses without dividing customers.
How the Research Was Done
The researchers conducted five core studies involving over 2,400 participants in the United States and Singapore, as well as tens of thousands of impressions in an A/B test on Facebook. The initial studies assessed participants’ belief in the “appearance-reveals-character” lay theory, and then examined how strongly that belief influenced their willingness to buy unattractive produce.
Participants were shown images of attractive and unattractive fruits and vegetables, such as strawberries and sweet potatoes, and asked to indicate their willingness to pay or the discount they would require to purchase the less visually appealing options.
Subsequent experiments manipulated this belief directly. Participants read brief articles either reinforcing or refuting the idea that people’s appearances reveal their inner character. Afterward, they evaluated unattractive produce in simulated grocery shopping tasks, allowing the researchers to observe effects on perceptions of quality and willingness to pay for the produce.
To test practical applications of their findings, the team partnered with a food conservation organization to design a visual intervention, a flyer showing attractive and unattractive produce side by side with the tagline “Different Outside. Same Inside.” This was tested in a real-world field experiment outside a supermarket in Singapore, and in a digital context through a Facebook ad campaign comparing three different ad formats. Across these settings, the intervention was evaluated against common industry tactics like encouraging consumers to “try ugly produce” or emphasizing quality alone.
What the Researchers Found
Consumers who believed that people’s appearances reveal their inner character were more likely to assume that unattractive produce was lower in taste, nutrition, and texture. This belief led them to demand higher discounts or avoid purchasing the produce altogether.
Crucially, the intervention emphasizing that appearance doesn’t reflect inner quality reversed this tendency. In one study, U.S. participants who saw a flyer comparing attractive and unattractive strawberries with the tagline “Different Outside. Same Inside.” were significantly more willing to buy unattractive fruit. The effect was strongest among those who endorsed the aforementioned belief.
In Singapore, a country where belief in the appearance-character link is especially strong, the flyer increased actual consumer selection of unattractive produce by 15% in a real-world field test. On Facebook, the same message generated a 1.92% click-through rate—outperforming both a control ad and an ad that focused only on nutritional benefits.
Why the Research Matters
Reducing food waste is a global sustainability challenge.
The researchers’ findings theoretically show how a lay belief rooted in social perception can cross over into consumer judgments about food, intensifying wasteful behavior. Practically, they offer marketers and policymakers a powerful, low-cost tool to combat food waste without requiring complex consumer segmentation.
The intervention is especially relevant for grocers, nonprofits, and direct-to-consumer startups aiming to sell less-than-perfect produce. Because the message works even without knowing whether a consumer holds the belief, it can be widely applied in signage, packaging, and advertising, both online and in stores.
FAQs:
Q: Why do consumers reject "ugly" produce?
A: Because many people believe outward appearance reflects inner quality, they extend this bias to food, assuming unattractive produce tastes worse or is less nutritious.
Q: How can this behavior be changed?
A: A simple message -- such as “Different Outside. Same Inside” -- shown alongside unattractive produce increased consumer willingness to buy it in both field tests and digital ad campaigns.
Q: Who can benefit from this research?
A: Grocers, nonprofits, and startups focused on reducing food waste can use this messaging in packaging, signage, and ads to increase acceptance of ugly produce.