Your Tote Bag and Your Grocery Basket

If you’re the type of grocery shopper who likes to bring your own bags to the market, the next time you make a trip, look at what you have in your basket. Are you buying organic? Do you also have some junk food in there?

The Atlantic reports on a study that examined whether people’s shopping habits changed if they brought their own grocery bags to the store and here’s what they found:

…people are 13 percent more likely to buy organic products when they bring their own bags — and they’re also 7 percent more likely to buy junk food, such as chips and cookies.

The reason why these shoppers buy more organic products is intuitive: If you’re bringing your own bags, you’re probably more conscious about the environment and what you put in your body. As for an explanation on the increased spending on junk food, well, they’ve got a theory:

Karmarkar and Bollinger chalk it up to what’s called the “licensing effect,” which describes the phenomenon that after people make a decision they consider responsible and noble, they feel justified in giving themselves a reward down the line.

It’s possible, but I am dubious. I bring my own canvas bags to the grocery store, but mostly because they’re easier to sling around my shoulder and carry home than the plastic or paper bags they give you. And when I pick up junk food at the store, it is a way of rewarding myself — but it’s usually for surviving a long week, and not because I brought along some totes I got for giving money to public radio.

The one group the study said canvas bags had no shopping effect on? Parents, who probably buy the same amount of junk for their families regardless of how they’re bringing it home.

Photo: Jessica Mullen

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