The Influence of Price Discount versus Bonus Pack on the Preference for Virtue and Vice Foods

Abstract

We find that consumers prefer bonus pack, as opposed to price discount, for virtue foods but prefer price discount, as opposed to bonus pack, for vice foods. Past research has shown that cēterīs paribus consumers prefer bonus pack to price discount. We propose that this preference does not hold for vice food because consumers cannot generate good justifications for buying it with a bonus pack since it would mean consuming more of the vice. However, a price discount with a vice food can be justified as it acts as a guilt-mitigating mechanism. For virtue foods, the absence of both anticipated post-consumption guilt and the resulting need to justify leads consumers to prefer bonus pack over price discount. We demonstrate the proposed effect and test its underlying process across five experiments.

Keywords: price discount, bonus pack, guilt, virtue, vice, food, sales promotion, justification

JEL Classification: M30, M31, M37, M39