Power-struggling partners buy food brands their other halves don’t like, study claims

Next time your partner buys Galaxy instead of Dairy Milk, you know why

Some 59 per cent of British consumers are specifically worried about the mounting cost of groceries (Getty)

In something of a pantry power struggle, people are deliberately filling their kitchen shelves with foods brands their partners don’t like.

For some people, it’s Heinz tomato soup or no tomato soup. Others will be outraged by being offered Pepsi instead of Coke. And for certain chocolate aficionados, Galaxy is a tragic substitute for their beloved Dairy Milk.

We all have our preferred brands, and new research has found couples are using this knowledge to try and gain some power over their other-half by not buying their partners’ favourites.

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire and Duke University looked into whether people were using their choice of brands as a way of taking out their frustrations.

They found that the concept of ‘oppositional brand choice’ - “when individuals choose a brand for themselves that is in opposition to the one they believe their partner prefers” - really happens when one person in a relationship feels they’re lacking power.

However the researchers discovered that these shopping choices aren’t usually conscious decisions - if you’re feeling annoyed because your partner forgot to take the bin out for the umpteenth time, you may find yourself buying Diet Pepsi instead of their preferred Diet Coke without even making the link.

“It may seem petty or spiteful to choose a brand that is in opposition to the one your partner prefers, so people may not acknowledge doing it. Or, they may simply not be aware of doing it,” said lead researcher Danielle J. Brick from the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.

It’s a way of venting your frustration towards your partner.

And whilst the more powerful person in the relationship will simply explain they’re annoyed and move on, “lower power partners have fewer means to express their frustration,” said co-author Gavan J. Fitzsimons from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. “This is where brand choice comes in.”

The researchers completed several psychological studies to reach their conclusion.

In one study, 292 volunteers in long-term relationships were asked which of two brands their partners preferred in various categories, and they also then rated their confidence in their convictions.

The participants were then asked to share their feelings towards their partners, including times they’d been exasperated with them.

Next, the volunteers were asked which brand they themselves preferred from the previous options before finally revealing their level of power in the relationship.

The study found that those participants who were both more frustrated with their partner and felt less powerful were more likely to make oppositional brand choices.