Science at UM [S02-ep07]: Consumer Profiles, the Legal History Library, and Courstache

[Podcast] - Published on November 18, 2022 in Science and Society

This week on *A l’UM la science*, Andrea Gourmelen from the Montpellier Research in Management Laboratory explains what kind of consumers we are. In the second half of the program, doctoral student Alexis Verhassel gives us a tour of the law library. Finally, Catherine Alix Panabière talks to us about La Courstache. A co-production of the University of Montpellier and Divergence FM.

And this week we’re in a hurry, because to tell you the truth, we’re running late! We haven’t prepared a single thing for tonight’s Divergence happy hour, so we’re taking you grocery shopping with us.
Let’s go! Let’s start with the chips…
– Oh no, sorry Lucie, chips are gross! They’re full of salt and hello cardiovascular disease… I don’t want to have a heart attack at 50!
– Okay, so should we get the ones with 25% less salt?
– No, that’s just marketing! Let’s get some cherry tomatoes.
– Cherry tomatoes in November? But they’re not in season at all, Aline, and tomatoes from Spanish greenhouses? No thanks…
– Okay! We can get some charcuterie then… That pork terrine looks really good, and it’s organic too…
– Oh no! Organic or not, pigs go through the same slaughterhouses—no way am I eating that, and don’t even get me started on the cancer! Almonds? Almonds are great—they’re good for your health…
– What about the drought in California, Lucie? The massive wildfires, the koalas in Australia! How about getting some sushi delivered?
– Fish is full of lead, and since—unfortunately for Divergence’s bottom line—lead doesn’t turn into gold (well, except for sushi sellers), let’s just forget it…
– Okay, shall we have some red wine?
– And beer…?

As you can see, today we’re talking about consumption, and more specifically, food consumption. According to experts, three main criteria are key to understanding the complex processes that guide each person’s food preferences and choices:
– product characteristics;
– consumer beliefs and knowledge;
– the consumption context.

Our guest is Andrea Gourmelen. She is a marketing researcher at the MRM Montpellier Research in Management laboratory and has focused on how consumers consider the consequences of their dietary choices. She has developed a typology of consumers. The results of her study, conducted in collaboration with a researcher from Grenoble, were published in the journal *Décisions Marketing*.  They were also featured in a “general public” article in The Conversation on November 3.

In the second half of the program, we’ll take you to the School of Law and Political Science, where Alexis Verhassel introduced us to the subject of his thesis: the library of legal history.

Finally, our last-minute guest will be Catherine Alix Panabière, a physician at the University Hospital and director of the Human Rare Circulating Cells research team. She will talk to us about La Courstache.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Adeline Floc’h

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Law, Research, Science, Company