2. Taste
Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’ t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference is that it’s one person’s opinion. (46) We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca -Cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting.
We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for Coca--Cola Classic or Pepsi, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi. (47)
We ually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. (48)
Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 1 9 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. (49)
While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. (50)

• A. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we yzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guess - work could have accomplished.
• B. There are many Coca--Cola and Pepsi Cola fans around the world.
• C. These were people who thought they’ d have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.
• D. But because the two big cola companies--Coca - Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively (攻势地), we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty.
• E. The diet, cola drinkers did a little worse--only 7 to 27 identified all four Samples correctly.
• F. Our preference test result suggests that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and pric

Taste