Honest Tea says Hawaii, Alabama most honest in United States

HONOLULU, July 24 (UPI) -- Beverage company Honest Tea says its unattended drink experiments in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., found Hawaii and Alabama to be the most honest.

The company said it compiled the National Honesty Index with experiments in all 50 states involving kiosks loaded with Honest Tea bottles and a locked box labeled to accept $1 payments for the beverages, The Indianapolis Star reported Wednesday.

Honest Tea said the experiments determined the tea drinkers across the United States were honest an average 92 percent of the time, while people who took bottles in Hawaii and Alabama were honest 100 percent of the time.

"We've conducted our experiment in different cities over the past few years, but this is the first time we've conducted the experiment on a national scale," said Seth Goldman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Honest Tea. "Even though my bicycle was stolen the same day as our D.C. experiment, it's reassuring to know that 92 percent of Americans will do the right thing even when it seems no one is watching."

The company said all of the money collected during the experiment is being donated to non-profit FoodCorps, which aims to feed children.