Political perspective

This page is discussing nudge marketing from a political perspective. Questions that will be answered are how and when nudge marketing can be successfully implemented as a policy tool to promote a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, insights will be given into the advantages and reservations regarding nudging as political instrument and as last point, a framework of how to develop a nudge is provided.

“There has been the assumption that central government can only change people’s behaviour through rules and regulations. Our government will be a much smarter one, shunning the bureaucratic levers of the past and finding intelligent ways to encourage, support and enable people to make better choices for themselves.” (Coalition Commitment, May 2010; Burgess p. 5, 2012)

Context

Overweight – caused by multiple-factors and requiring more than one single solution – affects six of ten adults in the UK which costs the economy around £7 billion per year (Gov UK, 2007). The UK is one of the first countries which applied behavioural science to political considerations and involves a Behavioural Insights Team in policy-making. Previous political programs aiming to improve population’s health status often provided limited success, for instance the fat taxation in Denmark which was abolished one year after implementation or restriction-guidelines for marketing to children (Hagenaars et. al, 2017).

An emerging governmental tool

Nudging is next to restrictions (regulations), incentives and education (persuasion) a governmental tool aiming to influence human behaviour (Ly et. al, 2013). It can positively influence individual decision-making by making healthier choices easier without limiting the right to freedom of choice and thus, it gains more attention in politics recently (August, 2015). Behavioural science can help to understand the decision-making of consumers and help to construct policies supporting consumers in decision-making rather than restricting their choices (Team, 2010). This will both improve the outcome of policies as well as reduce regulatory interventions and public spending, because the budget is spent in a cheaper and more effective way by focussing on disease-causing behaviour instead of addressing its outcomes (Team, 2010). A guide when to nudges can be a useful policy tool is depicted in figure 1 below.

Examples of political interventions which aim to subconsciously influence citizen’s behaviour are nudges to increase organ donations, to reduce waste or to eat healthier in U.S. and UK (August, 2015). According to Whitehead, 136 countries already use behavioural sciences in public policy making to achieve benefits for society (Whitehead, 2014).

Advantages

“If you put up some cues that remind people of their weight or healthy eating, without hitting them over the head, they will go and choose healthier items.” (Lowe, psychology professor; Moss p. 4, 2013)

Nudge-marketing already succeeded in increasing purchases of produce by showing the consumer a visual prompt at the shopping trolley what was shown in a pilot experiment by Collin Payne of New Mexico State University College of Business (Team, 2010).

Due to the abundance of advertisements nowadays, consumers who are highly influenced by marketing are prone to make “wrong” choices which are damaging both their own as well as societal well-being (Rayner et. al, 2011). Thus, politicians have to interfere (August, 2015) and nudge-marketing can be used as a tool to tackle obesity by competing against currently used marketing-strategies like placing sweets on the eye level or impulse purchases at the checkout and drive consumers to make healthier food choices (Moss, 2013). Implemented in the right way, it can offer guidance on how to make healthy food choices, without forcing consumers to do so – consumers are free, but not required to change their behaviour (Rayner et. al, 2011).

Changing the obesogenic environment

“Changing the environment will make people more likely to make voluntary decisions that they would like to make and yet ordinarily fail to do so.” (Rayner, public health professor; Oliver p. 1, 2011)

This approach starts with addressing the environmental determinants, which must be more investigated in policy formulation to achieve an effective public health outcome and tries to shift from an obesogenic towards a healthy environment (Haveman-Nies et. al, 2017). Policy makers create decision-making contexts (the environment) which help consumers to make healthier choices – this is called “choice architecture” by Thaler and Sunstein (Thaler et. al, 2008).

Guide for choice architects: The process on how to develop a nudge (www.rotman.utoronto.ca/-/media/Images/Programs-and-Areas/behavioural-economics/GuidetoNudging-Rotman-Mar2013.pdf)

Step 1: Building a collaboration with stakeholders of private and public sectors due to the interdisciplinary and experimental nature of this process

Step 2: Examining the decision-making process of the consumer and conducting a decision-making-map (analysis of context tasks of the consumer, Map the context)

Step 3: Selecting the nudge – Which bottlenecks do consumers face e.g. emotions, available and what can be a solution for them?

Step 4: Selecting the levels for nudging (analysis of limitations in implementation)

Step 5: Designing and iterating (combination and prioritization of nudges when required)

Step 6: Testing for effectiveness in randomized control trials (RCTs) (use of “test, learn, adapt”-strategy)

Reservations

“Policy actions focusing on behavioural lifestyle determinants are often considered moralistic, because they interfere in people’s private lives.” (Haveman-Nies et. al, 2017)

As nudge-marketing influences behaviour, it carries ethical issues and opponents argue that it is a form of manipulation, limiting the right to choice and autonomy (August, 2015). Moreover, the effectiveness is mainly depending in the context of the individual consumer and thus, cannot be guaranteed (Ly et. al, 2013). This could increase the amount of food waste, in case consumer buy more produce, but do not consume them afterwards. Furthermore, nudges do not provide any education or learning effect for the consumer and it is likely that consumers stop making healthier choices as the nudge stops (Burgess, 2012).

Conclusion

All in all: Nudge-marketing cannot be seen as a solution as on its own, but more as an additional tool to other governmental instruments which together can tackle obesity (Rayner et. al, 2011). Nudging as political instrument provides an example of coordinated action in public health where various actors like local institution, supermarkets and civil society collaboratively encourage a healthier lifestyle and introduce innovative policy solutions (Team, 2010). Thus, visual prompts should not exclusively be used by supermarkets and the food industry, but also by the government, because they carry the potential to alter consumer-behaviour towards purchasing healthier foodstuff (Team, 2010). Especially in times, when public resources become scarce, nudging with its low-cost-implementation can be an effective tool for the government (Ly et. al, 2013).