Research: Can bonus packs deceive consumers?

Bonus packs do not deceive consumers according to the law. However, consumers are likely to overestimate the volume that they get for free in bonus packs, due to the anchoring bias. Consumers look at the coloured area on pack (the anchor) and this influences their estimate. Anchoring is a one of the most robust biases in decision making, which has often been shown and has replicated. In a recent paper published in the Journal of Consumer Policy, researchers provide empirical support that consumers are indeed deceived by oversized coloured areas on pack for the extra free volume, in a small-scale experiment. Consumers think they get more product for free than they actually do (News Item WUR, 16 May 2017).
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