The influence of automatic associations on preference for milk type

In recent decades, organic milk has been an exception to the trend of decreased fluid milk consumption in the United States. However, the reasons behind consumer preference for organic milk over conventional and other milk types are ill-defined. The objective of this study was to use an implicit association test (IAT) and primed and unprimed preference testing to determine if fluid milk consumer preferences for milk types are influenced by implicit biases and, if so, to define these biases within the context of the consumer sensory experience. Self-reported fluid milk consumers (n = 473) participated in online IAT exercises where pairwise comparisons of milk types (conventional, organic, local, pasture-raised) were measured on both positive and negative dimensions related to cow-welfare, sustainability, health, trust, safety, and quality. Latency times from IAT responses were subsequently transformed into standardized D-scores to categorize bias effect sizes. Additionally, fluid milk consumers (n = 174) participated in preference tests that compared commercial milks representing different milk types through presentations where milk type was shown (primed) or hidden (unprimed). Following preference tests, consumers were asked to explain their preferred sample using check-all-that-apply tasks. Analysis of IAT results showed that conventional milk was more associated with negative dimension descriptors compared with organic, local, and pasture-raised milks. Additionally, a positive bias in favor of organic milk was expressed when compared with pasture-raised milk offerings; however, no differences were found in pairwise comparisons of other nonconventional milk type pairings, suggesting that consumers may conflate these designations. Blinded preference testing showed that milk preferences were largely dictated by flavor, with consumers differentiating milk types based upon flavors related to packaging, pasteurization method, and feeding systems. In primed evaluations, consumers generally expressed preferences that aligned with their explicit beliefs, and flavor considerations appeared to be a secondary differentiator of preference. Based on these results, conventional milk is associated with negative implicit beliefs related to production and product quality more often than other milk types, which was reflected in IAT evaluations and primed preference tests. However, the blinded tastings suggested that conventional milk was preferred, or competitive with, other milk types based on flavor alone. Findings from this study suggest consumer differentiation and preference of milks is significantly affected by perceptions and beliefs related to milk type. In particular, conventional milk was associated with relatively few unique belief descriptions, indicating strict utilitarian consumer categorization. Organic and local milks were comparatively associated with greater care for nutrition, sustainability, animal welfare, and local farm support. These results demonstrate a need for greater education related to conventional milk offerings to dispel factors influencing negative implicit bias. Furthermore, improving product narrative via label information and alignment with locality and regionality were identified as possible opportunities for improving consumer sentiments related to conventional milk. A more thorough understanding of these attributes may reinforce stated beliefs more effectively and stave off consumer losses to plant-based alternatives that fulfill similar beliefs.