Abstract

Mistakenly remembering an energy inefficient appliance as efficient and vice versa can have undesirable consequences. Within the European Union, household appliances (e.g., refrigerators) are assigned energy labels that indicate energy efficiency. Recently, the European Union moved from an old scale (with energy labels A+++, A++, A+, A, B, C, D) to a new scale (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). We investigate how these energy labels are processed from a memory perspective. The results of two experiments found that the “A+ classes” in the old scale were all seen as environmentally friendly. This similarity was associated with worse recall fidelity at a later memory test, suggesting poor distinctiveness in memory. The old scale produced lower recall accuracy and larger confusion errors (e.g., a poorly performing product was mistakenly remembered as highly energy efficient). We identify novel psychological consequences of ecolabeling and discuss their implications for marketing and consumer behavior.