Honest Tea Declares Chicago Most Honest City, New York Least Honest

Would you still pay a dollar for Honest Tea if you could take it for free? On July 19, the company conducted an Honest Cities social experiment—it placed unmanned beverage kiosks in 12 American cities. There was a box for people to slip a dollar in, but there were no consequences if they did not pay.

Turns out, Americans (or at least Americans who like Honest Tea) are pretty gosh darn honest. Chicago was the most honest city, with 99 percent of people still paying a dollar. New York was the least honest city—only 86 percent coughed up the buck.

The full results:

Chicago: 99%
Boston: 97%
Seattle: 97%
Dallas: 97%
Atlanta: 96%
Philadelphia: 96%
Cincinnati: 95%
San Francisco: 93%
Miami: 92%
Washington, DC: 91%
Los Angeles: 88%
New York: 86%

Honest Tea is donating all of the money collected, nearly $5,000, to Share Our Strength, City Year and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. The company is matching the total, bringing the total donated to $10,000.

Watch Honest Tea's hidden camera video below:

Comments

[srooge]

12:37 PM on 07/25/2011

Their only doing what they learn from goldmansucksFed

[cinemaven]

03:13 AM on 07/25/2011

The NY results are probably from one person taking multiple free bottles because most people are honest everywhere.

I go to a roadside stand for my asparagus, corn, blueberries and strawberries and a few years ago, the owner stopped sitting out and instead had an honesty box. Last year, she was out replenishing the asparagus and I told her I missed her and she explained that the box was supposed to only be for emergencies but the day she put it out, she got almost twice as much as she should have and almost every day, she gets more than she was getting when she was taking the money.

I believe her because I'll often drop more money in than I owe just in case someone underpays and I guess everyone else does it too.

I figure most people are honest because I am and my life has pretty much proven me to be right.

[Koeiseun]

09:19 PM on 07/24/2011

In Detroit, the kiosk would have gotten stolen....

[oftenon]

01:43 PM on 07/24/2011

Overall, very encouraging results.
I'm sure those NYers went straight home and wrote checks.

[Katie0815]

02:27 PM on 07/23/2011

The results are good for every city including New York. Really, would anyone have expected these results? Interesting experiment.

[Curvatude]

12:45 PM on 07/23/2011

you people trying to defend nyc's results and bringing up all kinds of silly comparisons need to go sip some tea and chill...

it was a random sampling of a small group of people for a fun social experiment...and a way for honest tea to get some good exposure.

i am a chicagoan and new yorker and while i think the results for all the cities are interesting, on any other given day, they could all be different.

[FOXYROSE]

11:20 AM on 07/23/2011

New York emulates it's law makers!

[avastyenamchi]

10:11 AM on 07/23/2011

I'm not feeling confident in the government if people in Washington, D.C. are less honest than people in Chicago.

[Jordan23387]

09:00 AM on 07/23/2011

even tho i live in the UK i'd like to know the flavours

[Vgman]

05:46 PM on 07/22/2011

Good for Honest Tea, shame on those in N.Y. and other cities that could not fork over at least a buck for your tea.

[jondom22]

01:54 PM on 07/26/2011

i think everyone should have stolen them and given the drinks to homeless people

[bar1ed]

04:23 PM on 07/22/2011

How could it be dishonest if you had a choice? Cheap yes, but dishonest!

[IfIonlyknew]

12:41 PM on 07/23/2011

I didn't see a sign that said pay if you want,The choice was to pay for it or steal it.

[bar1ed]

08:25 AM on 07/24/2011

I think you should re-read that first paragraph again. " no consequence " ring a bell! Now You Know!

[MikeyJaii]

07:21 PM on 07/21/2011

How else could you have make your fortune in NY?

[anothervoter]

03:12 PM on 07/21/2011

Voter fraud!

[truthinperson]

01:59 PM on 07/21/2011

Not the smartest move to alienate such a large market by calling it dishonest.

[IfIonlyknew]

08:36 AM on 07/24/2011

Like the people in NY don't know.

[truthinperson]

12:15 AM on 07/25/2011

Most of us are brutally, uncomfortably honest. We'll tell somebody where to shove their honesty-measuring tea faster than they can say, "Hey, you gonna pay for th-- OOH s*** that's cold!"

[CharlieCheerio]

12:51 PM on 07/21/2011

How honest is it to sic hidden cameras on unsuspecting participants who perhaps don't want to appear in Honest Tea's video footage?

[IfIonlyknew]

12:43 PM on 07/23/2011

Smile...You are on camera.

[jondom22]

01:56 PM on 07/26/2011

ya, seriously...i think the voyeurism is more of a crime than taking a bottle of tea.