Quickie: Does Your Partner Always Want to Try Something Unusual?

It’s all about building an experience resume

Is your partner trying to get you interested in skydiving? Swimming with sharks? Eating cockroaches? You may think they’re just trying to annoy you, or they may have some kind of weird fetishes, but according to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, these strange experiences are attractive because they help to build our “experience resume.”

“Such gastronomic innovations include tequila-mustard sorbet, bacon-flavored ice cream, and chocolate truffles with vinegar and anchovies.”

Study authors Anat Keinan and Ran Kivetz explain the phenomenon this way: “A fascinating example is the increasing popularity of ice hotels, where visitors sleep on beds made of ice in frigid temperatures of 25° F. A similar trend is observed in consumers’ dining preferences: Many restaurants are trying to attract consumers by offering unusual entrees and desserts. Such gastronomic innovations include tequila-mustard sorbet, bacon-flavored ice cream, and chocolate truffles with vinegar and anchovies. Marketing trends suggest that many consumers are attracted to unusual and novel consumption experiences and choose vacations, leisure activities, and celebrations that are predicted to be less pleasurable and enjoyable.”

Why would our partners subject themselves, and us, to these unusual experiences? It could be, in part, because people want to feel like they’re always being productive — even on vacation. And this fact is something that companies use to their advantage.

“Our findings suggest that marketers of unusual consumption experiences and innovative products should target consumers who are concerned with being productive (and collecting experiences),” Keinan and Kivetz wrote in their study.

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Source:

Would you sleep on a chunk of ice? Building your ‘experience resume’. Journal of Consumer Research. https://www.jcr-admin.org/pressreleases/101810122009_Kienanrelease.pdf