A stand of unguarded tea bottles sat in Free Speech Plaza on Friday to test University students’ honesty.
Each bottle cost $1, but the tea was sold on an honor system — anyone could take a cold bottle for free, but students were held to their honor to place a dollar in an unattended glass box as payment.
Honest Tea, an independent subsidiary of Coca-Cola, placed the stand there as part of a social experiment.
“People are actually shocked at how honest people are,” said Patrick Jammet, field marketing director for Honest Tea. “It’s skeptical.”
The website also allowed online users watching the experiment to participate by paying to receive a coupon for a bottle of tea, or choosing to receive one for free. Even online, 90 percent of participants paid, Jammet said.
“Even though I’m broke, it doesn’t seem like that much,” said sociology senior Emily Berkey, who paid for her bottle of tea. “The fact that it’s called Honest Tea makes me want to buy