They say honesty is the best policy, but how many of us live by that rule? Coca-Cola Iberia have carried out a daring honesty experiment to find out, using the backdrop of two high-profile, high-tension football matches: El Clásico – the classic football match between Barcelona and Real Madrid; and a match between the two biggest teams in Portugal – rivals Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.

With tickets scarce and very expensive to buy, Coca-Cola planted ten wallets in a Real Madrid ticket shop and a Benfica ticket shop, just days before the big matches. Each wallet contained two tickets and membership cards for the rival teams. The results of the honesty experiment were overwhelming and inspiring. In both cases, nine out of ten people who found a wallet returned it!

“With this experiment we wanted to show that human values such as integrity, honesty and responsibility are still very much alive despite the economic crisis, and rise above team colours,” says Carlos Chaguaceda, Corporate Communications Director, Coca-Cola Spain.

As a reward for their honesty, Coca-Cola surprised the people who returned the wallets with two of their own tickets to enjoy the match. And to add to the excitement, the field scoreboard showed a secretly taped video of the experiment during half time.

February 9, 2012 | Filed under Community and tagged with feel good, Football.