Why do unpopular candies keep getting handed out?

I won't name names, but you know them: they're the brands that are always left in the bowl, uneaten, & taken into the office the next day.

A couple of easy obvious reasons:

+ They're often cheap.

+ they come in big bags bundled with the good candies.

+ They're easy to find & buy in every dang store in the country.

But here's one more interesting reason people keep buying & handing out candy that nobody wants: the ABILENE PARADOX. . 

Quite simply, everyone THINKS that everyone else wants that thing. But no one will ask to confirm that. And nobody will speak up or do what THEY want to do (get better candy, f'rinstance).

So the Abilene Paradox keeps subpar candies afloat because even tho nobody likes them, everyone THINKS that everyone else does.

Turns out this is a very common phenomenon for things regularly brought to parties. Like beer. And chips. And cookies. So people show up with Bud Light or Coke or Ruffles because they think everyone else would prefer it. "Safe bets." 

(btw: The Abilene Paradox was coined by management science prof Jerry B. Harvey in 1974, to name a thing that happens among crappy management teams. In his parable, a family takes a trip to Abilene Texas. Everyone hates it. But they went because they all thought that the OTHERS wanted to go.)

Some market forces are weirder than others. Because humans are pretty weird.

Some lessons: 

🔸 Understand how weird humans are.

🔸 Look for logical AND psychological reasons for stuff in the market.

🔸 Communicate, people! :-)