Imagine you are walking through your local supermarket. You see a massive display of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. It’s on sale for $0.79 a can—a great deal!
Next to the display, there is a prominent sign. In one version of this experiment, the sign says:
“Limit 12 per customer.”
In another version of the same experiment, the sign simply says:
“No limit per customer.”
The Result: When the “Limit 12” sign was up, shoppers bought an average of 7 cans each. When the “No limit” sign was up, shoppers bought an average of only 3 cans.
The Perplexing Situation
Why would telling people they can’t buy more than 12 actually cause them to buy more than double what they normally would? The price was exactly the same in both scenarios, and tomato soup isn’t exactly a rare luxury.
What do you think happened here?
- Was it the “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO)?
- Did shoppers suddenly realize they were “low” on soup?
- Or was their brain being “weighed down” by a specific number?
Find the intriguing answer here.
Share this with a friend who always buys too much on sale!
