Thirsty? Well, just how honest are you? A recent marketing campaign by a Maryland-based beverage company called Honest Tea aimed to find out. Company execs created popup mobile "Honest Stores," where refrigerated bottles of their newest iced tea flavors were displayed at unstaffed kiosks, and passersby were asked to pay $1 for each bottle snatched. At the end of the day, the accounting was easy: The number of bottles remaining was compared to the number of dollars in the kitty. The company even had hidden cameras tracking consumer behavior.

The experiment was played out in cities across the country to stir up interest in the tea and get tongues wagging. So who ranked highest in honesty? Beantown. Bostonians scored a whopping 93.3% on the honesty scale, looming over the shady characters in L.A. (75%) and Chicago (78%), and edging out Atlanta and New York (tied at 89%), and San Francisco (91%). Washington, D.C., was nipping at Boston's heels with 93%.

Using a social experiment to gain attention

According to self-proclaimed TeaEO (get it?) and co-founder of Honest Tea, Seth Goldman, the idea for the Honest Stores came about by accident. "We were doing some sampling in San Francisco with a cooler full of drinks," he says. "Our guy ran out of ice, and put up a 'Do Not Touch' sign while he went to get more ice. But he kept watching and noticed that people were still coming over to the cooler and helping themselves to a tasty, cold drink. People couldn't resist, even with the sign posted," Goldman says.

The Honest Tea guy put down his bag of ice and stepped into the shadows (figuratively). He noticed that some people looked around to see whether anyone was watching before they scored a drink. Other people just grabbed and were gone. A few people looked around for a place to pay. And thus, a great guerilla marketing concept was born. One clarification: The Honest Store isn't actually a store. The popup has a permit, and the bottles aren't for sale. All money is donated to local charities. In Boston and Chicago, for example, the funds went to City Year, a nonprofit AmeriCorps organization.

It occurred to Goldman et al that this might be a fun way to introduce a new product. Goldman, the son of an economist (Wellesley College's Marshall Goldman) also pondered how the concept of "social capital" might pertain to scoring a bottle of iced tea. The assumption is that one bad apple (one selfish, iced-tea-grabbing person) can reduce the available social capital of a whole network -- or city population -- by depressing the "honesty" quotient of the city as a whole.

The mall facts: How honesty varies by location

Goldman was curious how individual behavior would vary over locations and situations, so the kiosk was moved to different sites in each city. In Boston, it was outside at the Prudential Center for a few days, then made a cameo appearance in Harvard Square. One interesting observation from Goldman: People are a lot less honest in malls. Fewer than 40% of the bottles in shopping malls were paid for. Ponder that, you social ethicists.

Goldman admits that this is not a true social science experiment ("It is, after all, just a marketing idea," he says), but he agrees that it provides provocative data about how people behave when they think no one's looking. In L.A., a local TV news team got wind of the experiment and was actually doing color commentary as one guy seemingly grabbed three bottles and put only one dollar in the till. Hoots, hollers, possibly social shaming! (On closer inspection of the film, it became clear that the three-bottle guy had actually put a fiver into the till, an overpayment of $2, therefore subsidizing three other thieves.)

Next steps for the Honest Store include taking it to college campuses, and to the town that advertises itself as the "most honest city in America" -- Lakeside, Ohio. Lakeside: You are on notice. The people of Boston will be watching.

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