Brand-name recycled goods preferred.

Consumers like products better if they are recycled, but only if the goods have a brand name they already know and trust. An Ohio State University study found that buyers gave higher marks to greeting cards and facial tissues advertised as recycled when they had the well-known brand names of 3M and Bounty. However, these recycled products received no ratings boost over non-recycled versions when they were given the fictitious brand names of Halo and Silx.

"If people have any lingering doubt about the quality of recycled products, they would rather buy them from a brand name manufacturer," points out Rao Unnava, associate professor of marketing at the university's Max M. Fisher College of Business. "The brand name is like insurance that the product, even if it is recycled, is of good quality."

The subjects were shown mock ads for a greeting card and a facial tissue brand. Some saw ads mentioning that the products were made of recycled material; others didn't cite recycling at all. Some were shown ads with well-known brand names, while others...