Recently, food waste generated by food consumption has become an environmental issue. One significant reason for food waste is that consumers are reluctant to buy or consume suboptimal food. However, in Korea there is insufficient research on unattractive-looking food. It is currently unclear which factors explain consumers’ non-preference for suboptimal products. Therefore, this study was conducted as an experimental study designed to find out the difference between consumers' emotional and cognitive responses according to the degree of product shape abnormality, organic labels, health consciousness, and the impact on their purchasing intention. The results were as follows. First, the findings indicated differences among consumers’ positive emotion, negative emotion, and perceived quality concerning food shape (normal, abnormal, extremely abnormal). Second, the results showed a significant interaction effect for food shape and organic labeling. Positive emotion and perceived quality toward an extremely abnormally-shaped apple were higher if an organic label appeared on it. Third, it was shown that positive emotion and perceived quality had a positive (+) effect on purchase intention. Fourth, there was a significant interaction between food shape and health consciousness. Perceived quality toward an extremely abnormally-shaped apple was lower if consumers had a high interest in health consciousness. This study provides academic and practical implications for food research on unattractive products.

Ugly food, Organic label, Sustainability, Consumers’ emotion, Halo effect