What's in a Name? Branding Reclaimed Water
| Author(s) | Ellis, Sean F. | |
| Author(s) | Savchenko, Olesya M. | |
| Author(s) | Messer, Kent D. | |
| Date Accessioned | 2018-10-03T15:47:38Z | |
| Date Available | 2018-10-03T15:47:38Z | |
| Publication Date | 2018-09 | |
| Abstract | Reclaimed water is often presented as a cost-effective, reliable, and safe solution to increasingly common water shortages in the United States and across the globe, but studies have shown that consumers tend to object to the use of this water. Broad adoption of this technology will require consumer acceptance or at least tolerance of it, and studies have suggested that better branding could minimize or even overcome their concerns. This study uses an experimental approach to test consumer preferences for twenty-one potential branding names for reclaimed water and to determine whether an opportunity for consumers to try this water can change their preferences. The results suggest that the common names for this water, such as Recycled, Reclaimed, Nontraditional, Treated Wastewater, and Reused, are the least appealing, as they all scored at the bottom. In contrast, names that invoke desirable characteristics of the water—Pure, Eco-Friendly, and Advanced Purified, were viewed significantly more favorable than the others. Having an opportunity to taste this water seems to clarify consumers’ preferences by increasing the differences in favorability between the names. Based on these results, it appears that while there are a couple of appealing names, the most preferred is Pure Water. For | en_US |
| Sponsor | Funding support for this research was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture and the Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR). The authors acknowledge the support of Julia Kesselring for assistance in preparing this manuscript and Natalie Brassill for obtaining potable reclaimed water. | en_US |
| URL | http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/23867 | |
| Publisher | Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE. | en_US |
| Part of Series | APEC Research Reports;RR18-07 | |
| Keywords | Reclaimed water | en_US |
| Keywords | Recycled water | en_US |
| Keywords | Reused water | en_US |
| Keywords | Food labeling | en_US |
| Keywords | Branding | en_US |
| Keywords | Drinking water | en_US |
| Keywords | Iriigation water | en_US |
| Title | What's in a Name? Branding Reclaimed Water | en_US |
| Type | Working Paper | en_US |