A new research from Ohio State University has discovered that shoppers need a bit of persuading when it comes to picking up wonky veg in the supermarket. 

he study found that consumers can be very picky when it comes to choosing their carrots. Using hypothetical shopping scenarios, the researchers discovered that participants needed to be told wonky carrots were just as good for them as so-called ‘perfect’ ones.

And not only that, display marketing also needed to inform them that buying ‘ugly’ carrots would help reduce food waste too.

The researchers found that this double-edged approach was the most effective way of driving sales and that one message alone wasn’t as effective.

The findings also showed that shoppers would buy mixed bunches - containing straight and crooked carrots - but they needed a discount incentive to do so. They’d only buy them if 60 per cent of the bunch were the usual ‘perfect’ carrot, too.

Interestingly though, consumers at farmers markets were much more willing to buy less than perfect bunches when they had green leaves attached.

This may reveal that these shoppers are expecting carrots to look more realistic and as if they have come ‘straight out of the ground’ instead of the pre-washed and sometimes even pre-chopped veg found in supermarkets.