Recently I was in an Earth Fare supermarket with my wife, picking up a few grocery items. We weren’t ‘shopping’ per se. It was a tactical strike, get in and get out, don’t waste any more time than is absolutely necessary.

Laura, my aforementioned wife, had grabbed some goat butter and put it in our cart. Done. We were wheeling our way to the exit, from deep beside the dairy case, and there, stationed right near the vitamin and supplement section, sits a large man behind a table selling butter. Dairy-fresh, local, unsalted butter. Little pats of which are spread onto slices of a baguette, tempting us both as we try to sneak past.

But the man starts talking. Laura stops and takes a bite, and I am thinking at this point that we are going to buy some butter. His sales pitch is going well. I note the local dairy logo on the cooler positioned on the table, full of fresh milk. So I taste the butter. It IS good butter, but then things went awry.

Laura: “This is sooo much better than the Land O’ Lakes we typically buy.”

Salesman: “Yeah, I love it, too. But the doctor says I can’t have it any more on account of my heart. I had about 90% blockage in my arteries around my heart and they just put in a stint.”

I look at Laura and take a subtle step back, involuntarily trying to get away from the butter-that-kills. She looks at me, turns to the salesman and says “How much for the butter?” We bought $4 worth of the man’s product.

Here is the insight: Guilt and sympathy can overrule long-term health considerations in impulse purchases. In the car I am flabbergasted. “Why would you even want that butter after that man’s testimonial proof of heart attacks?” I asked Laura. She said “I just felt so bad for him, his awful sales technique, his pathetic situation, that I HAD to buy the butter.” She didn’t want the butter, she had already decided on another butter and had it in the cart, yet she put it back in favor of the heart attack butter.

Emotion Wins. When marketing, especially to women, never forget the emotional context of your message. She may have a rational reason to buy something, but she will draw on her emotional side to make the real decision.

To hear the female side of this story, read Laura’s telling here.