Foxhound

Pepsi and Coke both claim that taste tests prove that their product tastes better. So who’s lying? Pepsi outperforms Coke on taste tests—but only the blind ones. When the loveable Coca-Cola branding is visible Coke crushes Pepsi. Something’s fishy, right? Turns out Coke actually tastes as good as it does because of the branding. Strip the branding from it and people get less enjoyment out of it. In steps Pepsi, with inferior branding and a superior drink and poof: things get baffling. I know it sounds ridiculous, I know. And here’s another weird one: energy drinks work better the more expensive they are. Even with identical products (with identical bottles and branding), when an energy drink is labeled as being more expensive people get a higher high from it. Simply messing with the price tags on something can influence how effective it is. Scarily enough, the same holds true for medicine. (more…)