The Nudge Evolution - PURE

The  Nudge  Evolution   Investigating  British  consumers’  attitudes  towards  nudging  as  a  social  marketing  strategy    

 

 

  By  Mia  Vestergaard  Andersen   By  Mia  Vestergaard  AAarhus   ndersenAarhus   U–niversity   –  aBnd   usiness   and   Social  Sciences   University    Business   Social   Sciences   January  2014  CCand.ling.merc.   and.ling.merc.Supervisor:   Erik  F2lyvholm in  English  –P  oul   January   014    

           

    Supervisor:  Poul  Erik  Flyvholm  

Characters:   142,930     C h a r a c t e r s :   1 4 2 , 9 3 0   Pages:  65   P a g e s :   6 5    

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Abstract     The thesis is written on the basis of a social constructivist and hermeneutic scientific approach. This allows the thesis to define meaning and understanding as concepts that are created in the social interaction between individuals. Further, the thesis illustrates that the complex and fragmented media landscape of the educated society, being a result of postmodernism, influences the communication between consumers and industries and consumers amongst. The industries’ competition for public attention allows consumers to disregard irrelevant marketing messages and only pay attention to the messages that appeal to them. Consequently, whereas nudging strategies have proven to be very effective in social marketing communication, traditional social marketing strategies tend to be overlooked and connected to negative associations by the consumers. Consumers are therefore assumed to have a different and thus more positive attitude towards nudging as a social marketing strategy. The thesis at hand tests the hypothesis that British consumers are more positively positioned towards such nudging social marketing strategies than they are towards communicative social marketing strategies that do not nudge. With the purpose of testing this hypothesis, selected British respondents were presented to five nudging examples and five non-nudging examples all dealing with corresponding themes within the field of social marketing communication. As a minimum, one nudging and one non-nudging strategy example was presented within each social marketing theme, so that it was possible to assess whether the respondents were more positively positioned towards a specific communication example merely because of the strategy presenting it. Selected respondent utterances about each strategy example were then analysed in a discourse analysis applying theoretical frameworks enabling an identification of positive and negative linguistic values. The purpose of the discourse analysis was to discuss and define, whether the linguistic elements incorporated in the utterances indicated a positive or negative attitude towards the strategy example in question. Overall, the results demonstrated moderate support for the hypothesis that the British consumers were more positively positioned towards social marketing messages presented to them through nudging strategies than towards social marketing messages that were not related to a nudging strategy. The reason for the respondents’ positive response to nudging was that they were more attentive and engaged in communication forms they were not used to. This also demonstrated that British consumers have new demands to how they want to be communicated with in relation to social marketing. It was also found that nudging strategies that were considered as fun and engaging and incorporated creative visuals instead of text evoked more positive associations and feelings than the strategies excluding these features. However, if these visuals did not fit into the nudge’s physical surroundings, the respondents were less positive towards the strategy.

 

 

p.  2  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

The thesis at hand offers essential insight into British consumers’ perceptions of and attitudes towards the evolving social marketing phenomenon nudging. However, as the investigated concept is only beginning to take hold in social marketing communication, there is still no resolute framework that definitively defines nudging’s generic influences on consumers.

Characters: 2975

     

 

 

 

p.  3  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Table of contents  

INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  THESIS  ...........................................................................................................  6   1.  Introduction  ............................................................................................................................................  7   1.1  Problem  statement  ................................................................................................................................  8   1.2  Delimitations  ..........................................................................................................................................  9   1.3  Thesis  Structure  ..................................................................................................................................  10   THEORETICAL  BACKGROUND  ............................................................................................................  12   2.  Theoretical  framework  ....................................................................................................................  13   2.1  The  modern  and  complex  consumer  society  ................................................................................  13   2.2  Postmodernism  ...................................................................................................................................  13   2.3  The  hypermodern  consumer  ...........................................................................................................  15   2.4  Characteristics  of  traditional  non-­‐nudging  marketing  communication  .................................  17   2.4.1  Relevance  criteria  ...........................................................................................................................  19   2.5  The  notion  of  nudging  as  social  marketing  strategy  ...................................................................  19   2.5.1  Processing  type  1  and  2  Nudges  ..................................................................................................  23   2.6  Nudging  as  persuasive  marketing  strategy  ..................................................................................  26   2.7  Attitude  formation  as  a  communicative  effect  .............................................................................  27   2.8  Positive  and  negative  attitudes  .......................................................................................................  29   2.9  The  language  of  positive  and  negative  emotions  .........................................................................  33   METHODOLOGY  .......................................................................................................................................  35   3.  Method  and  Data  ................................................................................................................................  36   3.1  Scientific  theoretical  approach  ........................................................................................................  36   3.2  Methodology  ........................................................................................................................................  38   3.3  Empirical  data  .....................................................................................................................................  40   ANALYSIS  ...................................................................................................................................................  44   4.  Analysis  and  discussion  ...................................................................................................................  45   4.  1  Practical  Complications  ....................................................................................................................  45   4.2  Analysis  ................................................................................................................................................  46   4.3  Discussion  ............................................................................................................................................  70  

 

 

p.  4  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

5.  Conclusion  ............................................................................................................................................  75   6.  References  ............................................................................................................................................  77   APPENDICES  .............................................................................................................................................  81  

 

 

p.  5  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS

 

 

p.  6  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

1. Introduction In the changed communication landscape of today’s society it has become difficult for social marketing managers to reach the busy and information-overloaded consumers. New media platforms allow the consumers to be constantly available to information and marketing messages, resulting in inattentive consumers that drown in noise from all angles of the consumer market; litter control signs are overlooked, warning signs are not taken seriously, and health campaigns are not noticed or cognitively processed. All this new noise means that even important social marketing messages aiming at helping people disappear in the immense amount of mixed messages as a result of a fragmented media landscape and a busy consumer lifestyle (Herbig and Kramer, 1994: 46). As the traditional communication strategies are overlooked and negatively perceived by consumers (Herbig and Kramer, 1994: 4-10), social marketing managers must consider other communication strategies to attract a more attentive and engaging audience. Thaler and Sunstein (2008, p. 95) seem to approach this idea with the following assertion: As the choices become more numerous and/or vary on more dimensions, people are more likely to adopt simplifying strategies.

This indicates that the answer to the problem that social marketing messages are being overlooked, lies in reducing and or simplifying the options and choices of the target group in a creative way. Thaler and Sunstein’s (2008: 6) suggested communication strategy is called Nudging, and despite the first recognition, nudging has always existed. Only now, there is a superordinate word for it when used in marketing. Nudging now defines how to ‘poke’ to or give the consumer a gentle ‘nudge’ in a certain direction. In this perspective, nudging can be associated with attitude and behaviour changing campaigns, as it seeks to spontaneously change the options and thereby the mind-set and choices of the consumer. All though creative nudges have existed for hundreds of years, whether they ere verbal or visual, the concept is currently in a storm of communicative evolution, as marketing specialists and policy makers have become more aware of the concept as an effective marketing tool. In fact, numerous experiments have already been conducted, showing that nudging with creative visuals and lettering does work in practice. For instance, Pelle Guldborg Hansen (iNudgeyou, 2013) conducted an experiment of trying to nudge people in Copenhagen to reduce littering in the streets. In a number of places he painted green footsteps on the pavement leading the pedestrians towards the litterbin, and the results showed a reduction of 46 per cent of littering in those specific areas. Instead of putting up more signs saying ’Please use the litterbin’, he nudged people by using green colours and footsteps communicating which direction the pedestrians

 

 

p.  7  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

should walk if they were carrying litter. He produced a creative and effective solution, without overloading the target audience with more direct messages. Thus, the nudge seemed more appropriate in this case. Another example of nudging inspired by Pelle Hansen’s nudging experiment was implemented in a Campus shop at a University in Wales with the purpose of persuading students to consume more fruit than candy. Green footprints were placed from the entrance of the shop, leading the customer towards the fruit shelves. And even though some students may have bought fruit instead of chocolate anyway, the purchase of fruit still increased with nearly 100 per cent during the six weeks of nudging. Now, these numbers clearly indicate that nudging has the ability to affect people’s choices. And as nudging in social marketing has proven to be immensely more effective than the traditional social marketing strategies, consumers are assumed to have a different and more positive view on messages communicated via nudging. But there is only very little, or almost no research illustrating whether or not consumers’ own susceptibility to and view on this communication strategy is different from their view on more traditional social marketing communication strategies (Monnerup, 2013). The lack of research within this matter may be due to the fuzziness of the concept of nudging, which makes the communicative effect of the strategy difficult to measure and define. Additionally, because the focus of experiments and research until now has been on the concluding measurements conducted in numbers, there are little or no surveys of individuals’ perception of and attitudes towards nudging. I will therefore investigate and compare the communicative attitudinal influences of different social marketing communication products in order to confirm or deny my assumption that nudges are associated with more positive thoughts and feelings than other social marketing strategies. This investigation focus will further be elaborated in the following section 1.1 Problem statement.

1.1 Problem statement The concept of nudging has become quite popular in the last decade because it reveals a new and effective way to communicate with consumers. However, little research focusing on consumers’ opinion of nudging strategies has been executed. This indicates that there is a lack of careful definitions of the communicative susceptibility and response in relation to the consumers’ attitudes towards nudging. Therefore, I find that there is a need for more research in the field of nudging as a communication phenomenon, however, with the consumers’ attitudinal response in focus, instead of effect measurements. Further, there is also reason to investigate, whether the consumers are more appealed by specific

 

 

p.  8  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

messages, merely because they are communicated through nudging instead of non-nudging, being traditional marketing strategies that do not nudge. Since nudging is very prominent in Britain and has proven to be significantly effective in that area (iNudgeyou, 2013) my focus is to study the British consumers’ attitude to how they are communicated with in social marketing campaigns through nudging and non-nudging, respectively. This leads me to an investigation focus and problem statement narrowed down to the following: My thesis is built on the hypothesis that British consumers are more positively disposed towards nudging as a social marketing communication strategy than towards non-nudging social marketing communication strategies and seeks to confirm or deny this hypothesis. Further, I will investigate to what extent these nudges create more positive message attitudes and emotional associations compared to social marketing communication strategies that do not nudge and why. The present thesis will seek to explore the problem statement through an explorative and empirical investigation revolving around a reception analysis of British consumers’ responses to and opinions of nudging and non-nudging communication forms presented in a focus group interview.

1.2 Delimitations A nudge that forces consumers in any physical way, and take away their free choice, will not be considered as a relevant nudging strategy to this thesis, as this does not correspond with the definition of a ‘true nudge’ (Thaler and Sunstein 2008: 6). All though the use of alluring smells, gravity and other physical influences are considered to affect people’s behaviour and decisions, this will not be included in the strategy examples presented to the focus group, as it would be difficult for them to describe how the unconscious physical impacts affects their cognitive response. Instead my focus will be the cognitive reception and deliberated opinions of the selected different social marketing communication products used in order to reach consumers. Further, when choosing which nudging and non-nudging examples to include in the thesis, the selection will be characterised by the conception that all strategies, in one way or the other, must be a part of a social marketing strategy. Thus, the selection of nudging examples is executed on the condition that the message must be aiming at non-profitable goals; for instance, the nudging example of placing footprints towards the fruit section in a shop may have caused increased fruit sales, however, it still promoted a healthier lifestyle to customers, thus representing a social marketing strategy.

 

 

p.  9  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Finally, the thesis will define what is considered to be traditional non-nudging strategies and what is considered to be nudging, but only to the extent relevant for the thesis. Therefore, the thesis is restricted from providing a detailed description of how communicative non-nudging strategies affect consumers, hence, focussing on investigating the relevant field of nudging’s attitudinal influences as a communication tool.

1.3 Thesis Structure The thesis at hand will be outlined in accordance with the spiral model starting with the greater perspective of the subject field narrowing down to more specific information and investigation in the following sections. As illustrated in Model 1 the first section presents the introductory phase, which includes; a short presentation of the subject field, the motivation for choosing this specific research focus, a presentation of the problem statement and the relevant delimitations as a final stage of the introduction. Model  1:  The  Spiral  model  

The next section of the thesis narrows down the thesis field by presenting theories and communication models relevant to the subject of non-nudging as traditional marketing communication strategies and nudging in marketing communication. This section seeks to create an overview of the theory and research conducted on the subject matter in order to further relate former research to my investigation focus (Learning Development, 2001: 4). This enables me to illustrate a gap in the knowledge field, which has lead me to my problem statement in the first place. The subsequent section Method and data will initially present the scientific theoretic position of the thesis within the social constructivist and hermeneutic paradigm. Further, the section will explain the data compilation and investigation approach, in relation to where, when and how it was conducted, and which materials and theoretical frameworks and procedures were used. Once the data has been fragmented and interpreted, the analysis and discussion of the findings will take place in the fourth section of the thesis. The results, the analysis and the discussion will be compiled under the same superordinate section, which contributes to a flowing and reader-friendly section.

 

 

p.  10  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Finally, based on the analysed and discussed key findings, the entire investigation focus will be summarised and my problem statement will be answered. The conclusion will ultimately put the thesis into perspective in relation to future research upon the matter.

 

 

p.  11  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

 

 

p.  12  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

2. Theoretical framework The following section will elaborate the theoretical framework of the thesis, while establishing the primary theories applied in the analysis. At first, the section establishes the notion of modern consumers and their social and communicative needs in the modern society of today. This leads to the matter of how current marketers communicate with consumers, which is why the section further elaborates theories of traditional marketing communication strategies and presents information on the development of consumer reactions and their evolved expectations to marketing communication. Subsequently, the research field of nudging and the creative communicative approach of this concept are elaborated in the final section of the theoretical framework. This section also presents results of former research and experiments of nudging communication, which finally illustrates a significant difference between, how the traditional nonnudging communicative strategies and the new creative nudging strategies are perceived by consumers.

2.1 The modern and complex consumer society The last decades of digital and information advances have changed our consumer society and communication methods in drastic ways (Smith & Taylor, 2004: 126). New media platforms arise, information becomes more and more accessible worldwide from digital options allowing consumers to be constantly online enabling them to only select the exact information they want to be exposed to (Herbig & Kramer, 1994: 45). With this in consideration, the following section will elaborate relevant changes in consumer society that have had an effect on the way consumers are communicated with and demands to be communicated with today.

2.2 Postmodernism In order to understand the communication habits and behaviours of today’s consumers, relevant perspectives of postmodernism needs to be taken into consideration. Since, postmodernism was a result of the rapid development of information- and communication technology, it was in this connection that the fragmentation of the communicating society started (Frandsen, 2005: 17). This development lead to a new perception of the world; it developed from many small separate worlds into a united one, as people were suddenly able to virtually access anything and everything online or by calling people in other countries world wide (Frandsen, 2005: 17). Thus, the segmented worlds became connected.

 

 

p.  13  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

With the increasing use of the internet, cell phones and access to world wide information 24 hours a day, postmodernism came with a desire to become detached from all metanarratives 1 that require conformity to a single way of perceiving reality (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993: 229). This illustrates that postmodernism called for acceptance of diversity, tolerance and differences in perceptions of the reality. Further, the postmodern society created a new perspective on marketing communication. It came with an abolition of differences (afdifferentiering in Frandsen 2005: 18) and was especially exemplified in the way the idea of marketing became diffused. This meant that the differences between how commercial and non-commercial organisations marketed and promoted themselves was completely eliminated. Thus, the development expanded the possibilities for all organisations and enabled them to market and promote themselves and their products in anyway they liked (Frandsen, 2005: 19). With the growing consciousness of postmodernism the perception of reality grew to be a fragmented (fragmentation in Frandsen, 2005: 18) view of modern society, in which each individual would undertake a specific role, values and opinions in accordance with his or her own perception of reality (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993: 232). In other words, the mass of consumers became a fragmented phenomenon established by different segments of certain people groupings determined by their chosen lifestyle, consumption habits, personal image and religion. This influenced the way marketing was executed, as organisations suddenly were able to learn how to appeal to the needs of specific consumer segments, and communicate with them in the ways the consumers preferred (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993: 232-233). In the postmodern society, the individual grew more obsessed with seeking a personal identity recognised by others, but based on what the person consumed (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993: 235). The individuals became more focused on consuming products that represented their identity in accordance with their self-established image, so to speak. According to Firat and Venkatesh (1993: 229) this is related to hyperreality, a condition of postmodernity in which images, symbols and signs become reality in the minds of the consumer, because of the way it is hyped through communication. In other words, the individual can put on a self-chosen mask signifying something different than its former referents, and thus the individual creates a new reality and presentation of itself (Firat & Venkatesh, 1993: 229). As consumers’ way of seeing themselves, and their relation to products changed during the development of the postmodern society, the communication and organisation methods of businesses also changed. In fact, the awareness of postmodernism transformed the mechanical organisation model, in which people were considered as a tool, into the human-resource model where people were as equally important as the organisations pure capital (Frandsen, 2005: 21). Simultaneously, the organisations’ focus                                                                                                                           1  Metanarratives:   Stories   which   dominate   and   determine   a   community’s   perceptions   of   what   the   human   condition,   the   universe   or   reality  

is  (Firat  &  Venkatesh,  1993:  228-­‐229).    

 

 

p.  14  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

on communicating with the market also changed from having a classic sender-oriented perspective, into having a postmodern interaction-oriented aspect, in which both sender and receiver of marketing messages interacted in the creation of the market (Frandsen, 2005: 21). This broadened marketing perspective is reflected in today’s consumer society, as consumers and organisations are well aware of the fact that their interaction creates needs, societal trends and movements (Frandsen, 2005: 21). Conclusively, the developments of postmodern society have had certain effects on individuals’ expectations to communication today, which will be further discussed in section 2.3 when describing the needs of the hypermodern consumer.

2.3 The hypermodern consumer As mentioned in the previous section, the information society has formed our current communication landscape in many ways. It has changed the character of communication into a hyper complex phenomenon that also shapes our culture: The potential integration of text, images, and sounds in the same system, interacting from multiple points, in chosen time along a global network, in conditions of open and affordable access, does fundamentally change the character of communication […] as we do not see […] reality as it is, but as our languages are (Castells, 2000: 356). This influences both the way organisations communicate with consumers and how consumers behave, react and socially interact with each other (Castells, 2000: 364). Because of the communication change, consumers now have different behavioural patterns and demands regarding which messages that appeal to them, and how attentive they want to be (Castells, 2000: 355-356). Further, there seems to be a craving among consumers of today’s society; a craving for interaction in media relations, in communicative marketing and online activities as well. Marketers are aware that their communication with consumers must be segmented, customised and individualised in order to obtain an active and engaged audience (Castells, 2000: 363-365). And the consumers are perfectly aware of the current competition for their attention. The rise of online communities has also given consumers the power to influence marketers’ way of communicating by evaluating products and sharing their opinions of organisations with other consumers in online platforms (Mangold & Faulds, 2009: 1). This enables consumers both to generate feedback to organisations, create consumer generated promotion or branding values, and to warn other consumers

 

 

p.  15  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

against certain organisations or services (Mangold & Faulds, 2009: 1). The communication between organisations, consumers and consumers amongst has become more authentic so to speak. Simultaneously, the consumers’ growing need to be listened to makes organisations strive not only for fulfilling consumers’ consumption needs but also for fulfilling their communicative needs (Mangold & Faulds, 2009: 1). Today, modern consumers demand a more social and authentic communication process to draw their undivided attention to a message (Gilmore & Pine, 2007: 16-19). Anything, even messages and products that are authentically presented, are perceived as real and true (Gilmore & Pine, 2007: 42). This raises new requirements for communicating with consumers today, as anything that does not seem authentic is ignored or regarded as untrue (Gilmore & Pine, 2007: 42). However, authenticity is a relative concept, as it is socially constructed and personally defined in the mind of the individual (Gilmore & Pine, 2007: 93). Therefore, organisations that want to reach consumers, must match their messages and offerings with a self-image that is regarded as authentic in the eyes of their target group (Gilmore & Pine, 2007: 94). Further, communication managers and marketers also need to value the free choice of people in their marketing communication, as freedom is what makes people feel independent and valuable as human beings (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 9). Thus, in the competition of acquiring consumer attention, a communicative message must be authentically presented as a free choice in the eyes of the receiver in order to survive consumers’ inattention caused by information overload. As it is essential to the problem statement of the thesis, the following section will define the marketing communication strategies that are regarded as traditional in this perspective.

 

 

p.  16  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

2.4 Characteristics of traditional non-nudging marketing communication According to Sepstrup (2010: 25-27) communication strategies have to be considered in three different communicative aspects in order to shape an effective communication product. The three subcategories of strategic communication are Mass Communication, Network Communication and Unconventional Communication (Sepstrup, 2010: 26). Mass Communication is defined as a form of communication in which the sender does not know the individual receiver. Further, the communication must be distributed through one or more media channels to a mass of receivers (Sepstrup, 2010: 26). Traditionally, TV advertisements, standard direct mails, billboard ads, radio ads and public signs and posters are categorised as mass communication. Network Communication is defined by Sepstrup (2010: 27) as individualised person to person communication that generates possible immediate responses. Network communication is an interpersonal communication in which sender and receiver know each other, and are therefore able to engage on a more personal level through letters, email, telephone, text messages and face-to-face correspondence (Sepstrup, 2010: 27). Finally, Unconventional Communication is (Sepstrup, 2010: 27) mass- or interpersonal communication that the receiver cannot immediately identify as strategic communication. That is, unconventional communication is in some ways strategic communication that has been camouflaged, so that the receiver is not directly aware of the sender’s identity and what the sender is trying to achieve through the communication. For instance, if a public sign says “Please use the litterbin provided”, it is obvious that the sender is the municipal authorities trying to prevent the public from littering. However, if it said ‘Beautiful and great people use the litter bin’, the receiver cannot immediately decode if the sender is the authorities, or someone else. Further, the receiver cannot directly decode, whether the aim is to give certain people a compliment, to make people actually use the litterbin or just to make the receiver smile. All though the message is written on a public sign, the rhetorical choice of words camouflages the strategic planning behind the message and the aim (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 67). Conclusively, in the light of Sepstrup’s (2010: 27) description of unconventional communication, nudging can be argued to be a subordinate unconventional communication strategy as nudging often is connected to messages that camouflage the sender and that cannot always be identified as strategic communication (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 10-11). According to Frandsen, (2005: 24-29) traditional marketing communication is defined as strategically planned communication targeted at a certain group of people with the aim of directing them in a certain

 

 

p.  17  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

way or reminding them of certain marketing messages. This aspect of marketing communication is based on the views of organisations and is linked to how organisations implement their communicative strategies on its market (Frandsen, 2005: 24-29). The traditional marketing communication theory generally revolves around maintaining a specific form of planned communication and communication product in a planned period of time in order to affect a specific consumer segment (Sepstrup, 2010: 23). The traditional communication planning process model touches upon basic but essential elements: Exposure, preliminary attention, continuing attention, understanding, recall and effect (Sepstrup, 2010: 147). Exposure is necessary for the receiver to be sensuously responsive to the communication product. This happens when the receiver for instance is reading a paper, walking down the street looking at the surroundings or surfing online. However, even if the receiver gets the option of paying attention to a communication product, the mere exposure is surely not enough for the receiver to be continuously attentive to the communicated message (Sepstrup, 2010: 147). The preliminary attention is essential to the entire communication process, as it determines whether the receiver will want to further engage in the communicated message. If the communication product succeeds in maintaining the receivers attention, it may lead to continued attention and this process enables additional understanding and effects of the message to be established. Both attention phases are able to lead to the understanding of the communicated message. However, if the receiver only processes the communication with preliminary attention, and the message fails to communicate the entire message in this phase, then the message turns into disturbing noise in the mind of the receiver (Sepstrup, 2010: 149). Even though the understanding process itself is an effect of the message, the change in knowledge, attitude or behaviour is the final aim and aspired end result of the entire process (Sepstrup, 2010: 151). Additionally, the characteristics of the communication product, the context of the reception and the receiver’s prior knowledge of the subject also influence the end result (Sepstrup, 2010: 152). The form and duration of a communication process’ effect are various and many. The different effects are distinguished from each other in cognitive, emotive and behavioural dimensions. These dimensions also differ in whether the impact of the communication process is immense or minor, and in whether the impact occurs immediately after the message has been processed or after a longer period of time. Further, the duration of the effect is also an essential feature of the communication process, as some messages, if processed as intended, may have a short term effect e.g. immediate one-time reaction (Sepstrup, 2010:149-152) or a long term effect e.g. recall of the message and repeated action in similar contexts (Percy and Eliott, 2009: 260).

 

 

p.  18  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

2.4.1 Relevance criteria In accordance with the previous section, when planning strategic messages it is essential to consider when people are most susceptible to messages and why they choose to pay attention to them. Dahl (in Sepstrup 2010: 171-172) illustrates the importance of relevance in strategic communication. According to him, messages that attempt to change a person’s behaviour as for instance Do not eat butter and Sort your trash, will be ignored if the request is too comprehensive or irrelevant to the receiver. In other words, people will only acquire the knowledge, they feel is needed, given that the introductory communication form is entertaining and/or relevant enough to attract further attention to the message (Sepstrup, 2010: 170). Further, Sepstrup (2010: 170) illustrates information need as an essential requirement for the process leading to continued attention to the message. The two concepts relevance and information are strongly connected as highly relevant messages demand more information than messages less relevant for the receiver. However, even though relevance is highly important for the communication process, the specific communication product in itself can also maintain the attention of the receiver merely on the foundation of astonishment, surprise, or the aesthetic experience created by the communication product (Sepstrup, 2010: 175). This is connected to how marketers can attract the receiver’s attention by utilising more creative and surprising elements in their communication strategy. Nudging is in deed a strategy causing astonishment and attention (Hansen and Jespersen, 2012), as this unconventional communicative form often differs essentially from traditional communicative strategies at first glance (Sepstrup, 2010: 257). Despite previous definitions and research, the differentiation of traditional, also described as nonnudging in this thesis, and nudging communication strategies is still a grey area, which is difficult to identity. Therefore, the thesis is restrained from further defining non-nudging communication strategies as a narrow concept. In stead, the next section of the thesis will explain how new creative unconventional communication strategies, in this case nudging, are formed in social marketing today, and why they are considered to be unconventional.

2.5 The notion of nudging as social marketing strategy Nudging can briefly be explained as a subordinate communication strategy to social marketing communication. As social marketing aims at creating a better life and society for everyone, nudging

 

 

p.  19  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

strategies are considered to be of a subordinate category since they also aim at helping people to make better choices for themselves (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 6). Further, nudging is considered as an authentic approach to deliver messages, as nudging leaves the message to be freely interpreted and freely acted upon by the individual consumer himself (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 5-6). In some sense, this communication strategy has always existed; it has always been an option for people in any industry and any social relation to influence other people to move in a specific direction of decision-making or behaviour. Today, however, it has merely become a known communication tool as consumers’ emerging overlooking of marketing messages (Wood, 2012: 99) have encouraged communication managers to include more creative communication strategies, as opposed to more traditional communicative strategies, in order to catch public attention (Hausman & Welch, 2010: 131133). Nudging was originally defined by Thaler and Sunstein (2008: 6) as described in the following quote: A nudge, as we will use the term, is any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. However, the iNudgeyou corporation lead by Pelle Guldborg Hansen argues that this definition is outdated and insufficient, as it restricts the results of nudging merely to be driven by economic incentives. Instead, Hansen supports an updated and contemporary definition of nudging, that eliminates the assumption that nudging pay-offs are based on economic values of the individual: Nudges are ways of influencing choice without limiting the choice set or making alternatives appreciably more costly in terms of time, trouble, social sanctions, and so forth. They are called for because of flaws in individual decision-making, and they work by making use of those flaws (Hausman & Welch 2010, 126). This illustrates that nudges do not in any way force people to take on specific behaviour or attitudes, as nudging cannot be defined as nudging, when it involves banning or restriction of the free choice. The aim of the strategy is nudging people towards a choice that is better for them. However, there are difficulties identified with presuming to know, what is the better choice for the individual, as this presumption disregards other, unknowable, factors that contribute to the decision, such as the individual’s value system (Felsen et. Al, 2013: 202). Further, in order to know which choices to

 

 

p.  20  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

present, a choice architect, being the person responsible for arranging the context of these choices, must be fully aware of the contextual factors that can lead to mistakes in human judgement (Hausman & Wlech, 2009: 126). These factors are catalogued by Thaler and Sunstein (2008: 23-87) in the following: optimism and overconfidence (2008: 31), loss aversion (2008: 33), a status quo bias (2008: 34), framing (2008: 36), akrasia and myopia (2008: 40), inertia (2008: 43), inattention and error (2008: 87), as well as heuristics such as anchoring (2008: 23), availability (2008: 24), and representativeness (2008: 26). Moreover, Hausman and Welch (2009: 126) argue that people may also deliberate poorly because of social pressure, as the surroundings of the individual also influence a person’s decisions. When these factors are taken into consideration, the good choice architect will start the planning of how to present the specific choices in a way that will help the target audience to select the ‘better option’. Thaler and Sunstein (2008: 92) explain that one way to do this is to make information about various options more comprehensible, by transforming numerical information units that translate more readily into actual use. That is, the architected choices must be presented as a simple and easy intervention that is cheap for the individual to avoid (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 6). During the last decade, implementing nudging strategies in social marketing messages have proven to be immensely effective, when compared to strategic non-nudging messages in general communicated by authorities, organisations, business industries etc. (Pigeon, 2013: 1 and Soman, 2013: 1). The nudging strategies have been strategically executed by reforming messages linguistically, arranging them in places they would not normally occur and by changing the environment of the audience with creative and colourful communicative visuals. In fact, in a Welsh campus shop an experiment aiming at increasing consumers’ fruit consumption proved to increase the sales of fruit by 99,6 per cent during the six weeks of nudging, leading the costumers by using green footprints towards the fruit section in the shop. This is considered as a nudge, as the campus shop entered the experiment, with the goal of investigating the possibility of improving the students’ eating habits (Hansen, 2013: 1). By making a change in the environment of the shop, the choice architect in this case succeeded in making the fruit as accessible for the customers as the chocolate bars, influencing them to make the better choice for them selves, without limiting their free choice (Hansen, 2013: 1). Further, linguistic nudges have also proven to have a similar substantiate effect on certain communicative messages. As Thaler and Sunstein (2008: 67) argues, the way a message is linguistically composed affects the perception of the communication and thus, leads to a certain reaction. An experiment conducted in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona investigated whether changing the signs at the park could prevent people from bringing home tree samples as souvenirs, and thereby

 

 

p.  21  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

increase the preservation of the forest. The original signs said Please don’t remove the petrified wood from the park, in order to preserve the natural state of the Petrified Forest. However, this sign was proven to have little or no effect at all. Robert Cialdini, a professor in social influence, predicted that a sign engendering a more positive attitude towards the message, would be more effective than the previous negating sign. The sign was changed into Many past visitors have removed the petrified wood from the park, changing the natural state of the Petrified Forest. Cialdini was right, as the second sign decreased the removal of tree samples immensely (Thaler & Sunstein (2008: 67). In public policy the use of nudging strategies has also increased peoples urge to donate money to charity (The Cabinet Office, 2013). Such a campaign was executed by the Behavioural Insights Team in the UK in cooperation with the Charities Aid Foundation and aimed at increasing British consumers’ annual donation to charity. The communicative strategies of the campaign deviated from the Charities Aid Foundation’s ordinary strategies in several ways. For instance, the planners made it easy for the interested parties to donate continuously throughout the year, by giving them the option of subscribing to donations that automatically increased once every year in accordance with the currency inflation. This strategy was very effective, as it decreased donators’ future need to take action, thus diminishing doubts and troubles in the decision of whether or not to donate and how much in the future (The Cabinet Office, 2013). Further, another nudging strategy categorised as social influence was used to create groups of influential peers that effected their surroundings, since it was documented that individuals were more likely to donate to charity if they saw others around them doing so (The Cabinet Office, 2013). Consequently, the peers’ influence resulted in an increasing number of charity donations and further proved that if the receivers of the message knew the person, they would be more willing to sign up for registered donations than if asked by a stranger (The Cabinet Office, 2013). These immensely different examples of nudging prove that the ways, forms and effects of nudging are numerous and that it, therefore, is difficult to establish specific rules as to what nudging is. Nevertheless, through research of these experiments and effect investigations of strategically planned nudges, it has been proven that people make decisions that are emotional, distracted, impulsive and inconsistent (Soman 2013: 1). Consequently, the individual’s ways of processing nudges must be mapped in accordance with how they make certain decisions (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 12-13), which will be the aim of the following section 2.5.1

 

 

p.  22  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

2.5.1 Processing type 1 and 2 Nudges According to Thaler and Sunstein (2008: 19-22), humans have a cognitive system based on two ways of processing thoughts. This system is connected to the Dual Process Theory (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 13), which indicates that the individual either can process information automatically; instinctively and fast, or reflectively; slow and deliberately (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 13). Therefore, when planning a nudge, choice architects must consider the essentials of how the nudge should be processed in order to change attitude and behaviour (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 13). A distinction should be made between the two types of nudges that affect the respective ways of processing information: Type 1 nudges aim at influencing the behaviour maintained by automatic thinking, or consequences thereof without involving reflective thinking (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 14). Type 2 nudges on the other hand are aimed at influencing the attention and premises of – and hence the behaviour anchored in – reflective thinking (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 14). Thus, type 1 nudges activate automatic behaviour and thinking, whereas type 2 nudges triggers the attention factors of reflective thinking. However, Hansen and Jespersen (2013, p. 27) claim that Thaler and Sunstein’s Dual Process theory is insufficient in its theoretical mapping of nudges and thus, they argue that the definition of nudging merely as the manipulation of choice is too simplistic since nudging only targets choices sometimes (Hansen & Jespersen, 2013: 27). Therefore, they have introduced an elaborate characterization and epistemic distinction between the two types of nudges, and further specified the concepts of transparent and nontransparent nudges as well (Hansen & Jespersen, 2013: 27). Hansen and Jespersen’s (2013: 28) framework should serve as a basis for distinguishing the manipulative use of nudges from other kinds of uses. To further elaborate the different types of nudges, the framework now consists of transparent type 1 and type 2 nudges, and non-transparent type 1 and type 2 nudges. The framework is illustrated with exemplifications in the following nudge diagram Model 2:

 

 

p.  23  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Model 2 – Mapped nudging strategies

Transparency is regarded as an essential factor in the identification of persuasive nudges, as a pure non-transparent or invisible nudge, is regarded as manipulation by some researchers, because the nudge is invisible and impossible to monitor (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 246). In the light of this, Hansen and Jespersen define a transparent nudge as a nudge provided in such a way that the intervention behind it […] could reasonably be expected to be transparent to the agent being nudged as a result of the intervention (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 17). To illustrate the differences of the four types of nudges, defined by Hansen and Jespersen (2013: 1223) examples will be included in the following.

 

 

p.  24  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Example  1  -­‐  Transparent  type  2  nudge  

Example  2  -­‐  Transparent  type  2  nudge  

Transparent type 2 nudges trigger reflective thinking and make it easier for the nudged to reconstruct the intensions of the nudge and thus behaviour change is pursued. The ‘fly’ or ‘bull’s eye placed in the urinal’ (Example 1) and a creative sticker next to a light switch (Example 2) are both perfect examples of transparent type 2 nudges, as they provoke reflective thinking and aim at behaviour change. Transparent type 1 nudges do not pursue reflective thinking as a method to cause behaviour change. This type of nudge is similar to the type 1 nudge defined by Thaler and Sunstein in the Dual Process Theory (in Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 14), as it provokes an automatic instinctive response, both in relation to attitude change and behaviour change. An example is the speakers at the train station announcing that the train will be arriving on time. This automatically causes people be positively positioned towards the speakers voice when they hear it again, instead of negatively fearing that the speaker will announce a delay on the train arrival (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 21). Further, transparent type 1 nudges can also be exemplified as fake potholes painted on the road making the driver slow down. For these types of nudges it seems that behaviour change is somewhat unavoidable. However, the transparency still allows the nudged person to recognize the intention of the nudge as a direct consequence of the intervention (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 21). Non-transparent type 2 nudges must activate reflective thinking in order to be successful nudges. This type of nudge includes for instance clever framing of risks when doctors are advising patients in medical treatment of illnesses. The way they frame the risks and advice, when speaking to the patient, influences the decision-making of the patient in question. Also subtle hints like a) baking chocolate cake in the bakery, so customers can be tempted by the smell, or b) having people lining up in queue in front of your shop to make people think you have got the best available selection, are also non-transparent type 2

 

 

p.  25  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

nudges, as they are not obvious, but they still engage the reflective system of the nudged (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 22). Non-transparent type 1 nudges pursue behaviour change without engaging reflective thinking and with nudges that are transparent and therefore not likely to be recognised. An example of this type of nudge is for instance a size reduction of plates in a cafeteria causing people to serve and consume less calories (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 22). Also, rearranging the cafeteria food selection to make people steer towards the salad is a non-transparent type 1 nudge (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013:23). Conclusively, the overall use of nudging strategies pursues to persuade people into different behaviours or attitudes by triggering either reflective or automatic thinking in the process. The following section 2.6 will further include other essential considerations of persuasion in the post postmodern society.

2.6 Nudging as persuasive marketing strategy Persuasion naturally exists in many forms of communication in our society. It exists in the form of interpersonal communication, advertisements, tv-commercials, in science, in images and much more. Socially we are also able to persuade each other, both intentionally and unintentionally, however, what distinguishes pure persuasion from social influence is the sender’s conscious effort at influencing the thoughts or actions of the receiver (Gass and Seiter, 2007: 24). According to Thaler and Sunstein, social influence is regarded as one of the most effective ways to nudge (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 54). In the light of this, nudging as social influence can be considered to be a pure persuasion tactic, as the choice architect is consciously aiming at influencing the nudged. Additionally, persuasion is present in both political speeches, lettering on signs and everyday socialising with friends and family (Gass and Seiter, 2007: 165-170). But in today’s educated society, where consumers tend only to consciously focus on the written and verbal communication they need, it is more interesting to investigate how images and nonverbal visuals can communicate through nudging and even persuade people without the use of lettering or speech. So far, significant investigation results prove that artefacts, and physical features of the environment in question can make communicated messages and products in the context seem more or less credible, appealing and persuasive (Gass and Seiter, 2007:179). In fact, Messaris (1997: vii) argues that visual communication substantially differs from verbal communication in ways that enhances emotions and establishes a direct link between the communicated and the receiver’s associations with this message, thus increasing the chance of persuasion. According to Messaris (1997: ix) visual elements and iconic images, that resembles aspects of what people associate

 

 

p.  26  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

with reality, simplifies the process of how they employ and interpret communicated messages. This supports the fact that advertisements and marketing messages are nearly always connected to some sort of visualisation of the communicated. However, it is significant to emphasise that viewers of visual iconic messages tend to be less consciously aware of the form and style than of the content (Messaris, 1997: xv). This indicates that the visual communication form has the ability to suggest subtle persuasive messages and thereby evoke the viewers’ complying reactions unaware that they are being persuaded or nudged in some cases (Messaris, 1997: xv). On the other hand, if connected to nudging, where the receiver meets the visual communicative elements in the exact present context and environment of the intended nudged message, then the chance of persuasion and developing positive attitude towards the message is relatively higher as this increases the immediate relevance for the audience (Sepstrup, 2010:166). This is because nudging catches its audience in the exact moment they are in the condition and in the situation of making the specific choice that better reflects their wishes for the near future (Ly et al. 2013: 7). Conversely, some traditional marketing messages are communicated in the context and situation where consumers need to make a decision related to the message. But on other occasions, for instance when exposed to TV or print ads, the consumers are communicated with way before they need to make the decision communicated, and this makes the exposed message irrelevant for the consumer in that specific moment. And when a message is not relevant for the context and situation of the consumer, it is also regarded as less persuasive thus triggering less positive influence and attitudes than if it was relevant for him or her (Sepstrup, 2010: 169-172).

2.7 Attitude formation as a communicative effect When planning how a message should be delivered through nudging, it is essential to reflect on the fact that people’s prior experiences and rooted attitudes always will affect the way the message will be received (Percy and Eliott, 2009: 127). According to Crano and Prislin (2006: 347) an individual’s attitude represents an evaluative integration of cognitions and affects experienced in relation to an object. In other words, attitudes are the evaluative judgements that integrate and summarize the cognitive reactions to a certain object or situation. According to Gass and Seiter (2007: 41) attitudes guide people’s behaviour by providing them with ‘mental shortcuts’ that determine how they are likely to respond to a message (Percy and Eliott, 2009: 128). Although, there are previous research arguing that attitudes are not necessarily connected to a person’s behaviour (Augoustinos and Walker 1995: 21), other investigations still prove that attitudes that

 

 

p.  27  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

are essential to people’s beliefs and that are accessible, are closer connected to how people behave than attitudes that do not have these characteristics (Gass and Seiter 2007: 45). The initial attitude of an individual can affect whether the person is persuaded or not, so to speak. If a person holds a positive initial attitude towards a certain communication object, then the person is more easily persuaded by the message, than if he or she had a negative initial attitude towards the same communication object (Crano and Prislin, 2006: 348). Conversely, if a person is negatively positioned towards a certain object or subject, it is very unlikely that the person will be persuaded by the message communicated in that situation (Crano and Prislin, 2006: 348). Attitude and persuasion also interact with the level of involvement in relation to the communication object and message. If the person has an initial negative attitude towards the communication object, but is highly involved in the specific message e.g. because of relevance, then there is still a chance that the receiver will be persuaded, on the condition that the message is accepted as relevant and true (Percy and Elliott, 2009: 207-8). Further, if the involvement of the receiver of the message is low, and the communication object excites the person’s curiosity or interest, then that is sufficient for the person to develop a positive attitude towards the communicated message, or even to be persuaded (Percy and Elliott, 2009: 208). These arguments are founded on a theory of the Elaborative Likelihood Model (ELM see Model 4), developed by Petty and Cacioppo, revolving around how messages are processed in relation to motivation, initial attitude and high or low involvement.

Model 3 – The Elaborative Likelihood Model 1986

 

 

p.  28  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

According to Petty and Cacioppo (in Percy and Elliott, 2009: 208) these different message processes have an impact on the receiver’s attitude and behaviour in relation to the message. High involvement relates to message processing through the central route causing highly reflective thinking, whereas low involvement leads to processing through the peripheral route that associates unconscious positive and negative emotional cues with the message. In relation to nudging strategies, there are some differences in how certain types of nudges affect the choice of processing route and thus whether reflective thinking is triggered or not (Hansen and Jespersen, 2013: 20-27). According to Hansen and Jespersen (2013) transparent and non-transparent type 1 nudges (see section 2.5.1) do not directly cause reflective thinking and are therefore processed through the peripheral route. Conversely, it is also argued that transparent and non-transparent type 2 nudges trigger moderately reflective thinking causing messages communicated through these strategies to be processed trough the central route. As illustrated in the previous sections, the consumer’s initial attitude to both the theme and the form of the message also influences how the message is processed and which effects it will have. But in order to investigate whether or not nudging as a communicative strategy triggers positive or negative cognitive evaluations in the minds of the respondents, it must also be clarified how these attitudes can be identified. Therefore, the next section will elaborate how positive and negative attitudes can be linguistically expressed and thus identified through certain attitudinal and emotional terminology.

2.8 Positive and negative attitudes In order to define certain attitudinal positions in expressed language, the characteristics of the polarized attitudinal positions positive and negative must be considered (Argyriou and Melewar, 2011: 433). As O’Cain and Liebscher (2011:94) state in this perspective, attitude indication in expressed language can often be connected to a set of identity practices; an individual’s language can reflect a set of positive identity practises i.e. those in which individuals engage in order to actively construct a chosen identity, or a set of negative identity practices i.e. those that individuals employ to distance themselves from a rejected identity (O’Cain and Liebscher (2011:94). Further, it is suggested that attitudes can be recognized and even rated on the basis of individuals’ utterances by identifying their semantic incorporation of positive and negative attributes (Eagly, et al. 1991: 207). An attitude is for instance reflected in the way certain opinions are emphasised by words referring to something good or bad,

 

 

p.  29  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

positive or negative, valuable or useless, pleasant or unpleasant, and nice or awful in relation to the object in question (Eagly, et al. 1991: 207). As a contribution to the listed adjectives by Eagly (1991) this thesis includes a list of antonyms developed in an experiment regarding consumer attitudes conducted by Batra (1991:163). In the experiment, the theorist asked the participating interviewees to relate to the list of selected antonyms, when considering their attitude towards the different brands he presented to them. The list includes the following antonyms: List no. 1 Pleasant-Unpleasant Agreeable-Disagreeable Nice-Awful Harmonious-Dissonant Sociable-Unsociable Positive-Negative Like-Dislike Good-Bad Useful-Useless Beneficial-Harmful Important-Unimportant Meaningful-Meaningless Intelligent-Unintelligent  

However, in order to establish sufficient categorisations of positive and negative semantic attributes, Batra further expanded the list with attitude factor loadings (1991: 167, see Model 5), to which the interviewees were asked to rely on when describing their opinion of certain brands. The two lists provide a great range of attitude categorizations that, when reflected in a person’s utterances, can help in identifying a positive or negative attitude.

 

 

p.  30  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Model 4 - Positive and negative attitudes factor loadings

Thus the following categorisations of positive and negative attitude attributes are provided in two lists; a including all the positive attributes and b including all the negative attributes. a) Positive list no. 1: Pleasant, agreeable, nice, harmonious, sociable, positive, like, good, useful, beneficial, important, meaningful, intelligent. Positive list no. 2: Pleasant, meaningful, successful, beautiful, valuable, wise, positive, good, pleasing, clean, safe, happy, ordered, smooth, profound, (rational), interesting, comfortable, soothing, sane, reputable, favourable, rewarding. b)

Negative list no. 1: Unintelligent, meaningless, unimportant, harmful, useless, bad, dislike, negative, unsociable, dissonant, awful, disagreeable, unpleasant. Negative list no. 2: Unpleasant, meaningless, unsuccessful, ugly, worthless, foolish, negative, bad, annoying, dirty, dangerous, sad, chaotic, rough, superficial, (emotional), boring, uncomfortable, aggravating, insane, disreputable, unfavourable, punishing.

These lists are further expanded in the following section, in order to increase the comparability between the words used by the respondents in the occurring interview (see section 3.2 Methodology) and the linguistic attributes of Batra (1991) indicating attitudes. The more synonyms included in the lists, the easier it will be to identify the attitudes of the respondents through their use

 

 

p.  31  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

of words. All the following synonyms are found in the online synonym and antonym dictionary Thesaurus.com. Collected synonyms to positive attributes: Pleasant (nice, good), nice (beautiful, pleasant, enjoyable, cool), harmonious (compatible, balanced), sociable (outgoing), positive (optimistic), like (care for, love, enjoy, prefer), good (nice, beneficial, favourable), useful (working, utile, effective), beneficial (good, advantageous), important (essential, significant, valuable), meaningful (important, purposeful, significant), intelligent (clever, smart, prehensile), successful (fortunate), beautiful (attractive, graceful, pleasant), valuable (precious, important), wise (all-knowing, informed), pleasing (good, delightful, easy), clean (pure, neat), safe (secure, harmless), happy (cheerful), ordered (logical, arranged), smooth (simple, even, fine), profound (thoughtful, intense), interesting (exciting, stimulating), comfortable (easy, soothing), soothing (comfortable), sane (rational), reputable (honourable, respectable, good), rewarding (pleasing, profitable). Collected synonyms to negative attributes: Unintelligent (stupid, headless), meaningless (insignificant, purposeless, unimportant), harmful (offensive, bad), useless (ineffective, unprofitable), bad (unfavourable, uncool, awful), dislike (detest, hate, resent), negative (unfavourable,

bad),

unsociable

(antisocial,

unfriendly),

dissonant

(unresolved,

inharmonious), awful (bad, filthy, dreadful), disagreeable (annoying, irritating, bothersome), unpleasant (awful, offensive), unsuccessful (defeated, unfortunate, unprofitable), ugly (repulsive, unattractive, displeasing), worthless (purposeless, rubbishy, unworthy), foolish (silly, unwise, ridiculous), annoying (irritating, pestering), dirty (filthy, unwashed, nasty), dangerous (unsafe, insecure), sad (depressing, sorrowful, pitiful, mournful), chaotic (disorganized, wild), rough (harsh, uneven, unpolished), superficial (insignificant, careless, shallow), boring (uninteresting, tiresome), uncomfortable (uneasy, bad, irritating), aggravating

(intensifying),

insane

(crazy,

irrational,

unreasonable),

disreputable

(dishonourable, unrespectable), unfavourable (bad, negative, uncomplimentary), punishing (arduous, gruelling). As previously stated, these categorised words are items that indicate overall attitudes in utterances; attitude factors, that is (Batra, 1991:162). Thus, semantic content reflecting these factors is useful in identifying individuals’ attitudes implied in their utterances. Attitudes can be further categorised as strong, weak or neutral on the basis of the attributes pointing in these respective directions (Simons and

 

 

p.  32  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Jones, 2011:40-43). The demonstrated lists and collections of attitude factors and their synonyms will be integrated in the analysis and discussion section, as this will be a part of the analytical framework for investigating British consumers’ attitudes towards different communicative strategies.

2.9 The language of positive and negative emotions When not expressing attitudes directly with semantically corresponding words such as adjectives and adverbials, people may use an emotional language and may explain a course of action instead, in order to indicate how they feel about an object or situation (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 1989: 106). According to Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989: 84) emotions serve a communicative function both within the brain and within the social group. Accordingly, a person’s emotions are communicated both physically with gestures and face expressions, and verbally in emotional terminology with the goal of expressing the individual’s cognitive evaluation of an experienced object, situation or person (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 1989: 85-86). All cognitive evaluations result in emotional experiences that are constructed by the following fundamental emotional elements: happiness, sadness, anger, fear and disgust (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 1989: 85, 106). These are the basic emotional modes an individual is able to experience, however, there are several clusters of related emotional experiences connected to each mode, and accordingly, the terminology used when communicating emotions is immensely extensive (Johnson-Laird & Oatley, 1989: 85). According to Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989: 123) emotional experiences and expressions originating from the basic emotion happiness are regarded as a positive result of cognitive evaluations. On the contrary, emotional experiences and expressions that originate from remaining the fundamental emotions sadness, anger, fear and disgust are all regarded as negative results of cognitive evaluations (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 123). Further, since emotional expressions are founded on the need to express the result of one’s cognitive evaluations, they are argued also to indicate the attitude caused by the originating fundamental emotion (Aronson et al. 2010). Finally, since the theorists argue that the occurrence of emotional terms in utterances is a signal of the emotional stance of an individual, Johnson-Laird and Oatley’s (1989: 108-123) framework is regarded as a relevant tool in the analytical phase of this thesis. Their list of words denoting emotions is therefore appended to the thesis in appendix 1.

 

 

p.  33  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

In the light of this, the following section will both elaborate both the analytical framework in connection with identifying British consumers’ attitudinal and emotional stance, and the scientific and practical methods of the investigation process.

 

 

p.  34  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

METHODOLOGY

 

 

p.  35  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

3. Method and Data The following section will elaborate the scientific approach of the thesis that allows me to discuss and analyse the emperical data and finally to conclude on the entire thesis investigation focus. Moreover, the section will focus on presenting both the methodological approach of this thesis and the foundation of the empirical research data.

3.1 Scientific theoretical approach The thesis is based on a hermeneutic and social constructivist context and approach. Nudging, as I regard it, is a concept reacted upon in relation to a person’s socially constructed views, values and norms of society. And according to Nygaard (2012: 125) the social constructivist reality and concepts of this universe are created on the basis of subjective experiences of the individual. This indicates that opinions and views are created through individuals’ interaction and discussion of reality, meaning that the socially constructed reality is ambiguous as it is different from person to person (Nygaard, 2012: 125). On the basis of the above, and since it is my aim to investigate individual-based opinions and views of a certain form of communication, the approach to attaining new knowledge and understanding within this field is regarded as social constructivist (Nygaard, 2012: 45). With this approach, I acknowledge that I will not seek to answer whether the obtained knowledge is true or false, but the focus will lie in the question of how the knowledge of the investigated communication strategies is created. Further, considering that social constructions and concepts, as social constructivism sees it, are formed in individuals’ interaction with each other, this will also influence my own views and opinions during the investigation process, which will allow my results to be influenced as well (Nygaard, 2012: 124-125). According to Collin (in Nygaard, 2012: 122-123), there are several different social constructivist paradigms treating the aspects of whether reality is a physical reality or a social reality – this is known as ontological constructivism. The paradigms are further categorised in relation to whether the paradigms treat knowledge of reality as a construction or whether the reality in itself is a construction – epistemological constructivism that is (Nygaard, 2012: 122-123). Regarding the stance of my thesis, the investigation conducted in this thesis is positioned towards the epistemological constructivist paradigm of the social reality; I regard the notions of nudging strategies to be socially constructed in the interaction and negotiation with other individuals. The communicative

 

 

p.  36  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

effect of nudging exists independently of my acknowledgement of the concept, and I will seek to create new knowledge of it through the recurring investigation of the thesis. The stated scientific stance of the thesis influences the analysis of the empirical data, as it will be treated in accordance with the social constructivist perspective indicating that communication arises in the interaction between people. Accordingly, my research approach does not seek a definitive truth about the investigated form of communication. Nevertheless, I regard my approach as hermeneutic as I strive to reach a wider horizontal understanding of the investigated communication, as I continuously work within the hermeneutic circle throughout the thesis. One might argue that my approach is inspired by Dilthey ( in Holm, 2011: 84) as it investigates the thoughts and opinions of the communicating parties - in this case the marketing managers forming the strategies and the target audience being the British consumers. The hermeneutic approach is relevant, when trying to obtain knowledge of any form of human activity, as it tries to interpret the notion of understanding. Moreover, through the hermeneutic approach, I acknowledge that I have a prior understanding of the investigated object, and that this hermeneutic line of presuppositions has lead to the problem statement at hand. As I work within the hermeneutic circle, I will bring my prior understandings into the investigation in order to test and question their validity in a new context and thereby move the horizon of my understanding. In this way I allow myself to be open to obtain new knowledge of the investigated object (Nygaard, 2012: 86). The hermeneutic circle allows me to create a circular relation between the prior understandings and the new understanding of the investigated as a whole (Holm, 2011: 86). It argues that all things within the circle are connected, as one cannot understand one part of the circle without the existence of the other (Holm, 2011: 86).

Stating that my scientific approach to my investigation will be social constructivist and hermeneutic, it is essential to clarify that the results of my investigation will be founded on my personal perceptions and interpretations of the investigated communication. Therefore, my results and findings will be

 

 

p.  37  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

regarded as relativistic, which is why the thesis at hand is positioned between the hermeneutic and social constructivist paradigm (Nygaard, 2012: 28-29).

3.2 Methodology As my problem statement illustrates, the purpose of this thesis is to explore nudging’s and non-nudging marketing strategies’ attitudinal influence on British consumers. Thus, the focus is not to find definitive and ultimate answers, but to investigate and elucidate new aspects of the subject matter. The theoretical approach will be formed by an intersection of different theories relevant to how consumers are attitudinally and emotionally positioned towards traditional social marketing strategies and social marketing strategies based on nudging. In connection with the qualitative methods of this thesis, the primary empirical data will be generated in a focus group interview with British consumers. The data will be analysed and treated part inductively part deductively. Inductively, as I will analyse the data in relation to different semantic themes extracted from the given data. Further, as these patterns and themes develop, I will then test them in relation to the next analytical stages in processing the data collection, thus using the deductive approach (Daymon & Holloway, 2011: 303). It is therefore argued that the qualitative research approach is iterative, as it contains a constant interplay between analysis and data collection (Daymon & Holloway, 2011: 303). Consequently, I will not have predefined and hypothesised patterns and theoretic generalisations before working with the data, which leaves the analysis open and adaptable to new ideas and theories during the process (Daymon & Holloway, 2011: 303). Further, as I have a prior understanding of nudging and more traditional non-nudging communication strategies, I will also interpret the data in relation to that contextual perception and experiences thereof. The findings of the investigated focus group results will form the foundation of a reception analysis taking the theoretical deliberations of positive and negative consumer attitudes and emotional expressions in section 2.8 and 2.9 as its starting point. In order to define the attitudinal position of the focus group respondents, thus answering the questions of my problem statement, the interviewees’ utterances about the different strategy examples will be analysed and semantically categorised as indicating either positive or negative attitudes and emotions in relation to the lists of attitude factors in section 2.8 and emotional terminology in section 2.9. If any attitude factors from the provided lists (section 2.8) or synonyms to these words are used in the respondents’ utterances, it will semantically indicate either a positive or negative attitude held by the

 

 

p.  38  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

concerned respondent. Additionally, if the respondents express certain attitudes or emotions, however without using any of the listed attitude factors, it will be investigated whether any emotional terminology (see Appendix 1) as listed by Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989), is used. The occurring phrases and words expressing the respondent’s emotions are then analysed and categorised in terms of which emotions they denote and whether this emotion is positive or negative (see section 2.9). In order to illustrate how the framework of attitude factors and emotional terminology will be applied in the analysis two examples from the transcriptions are analysed as follows: a) T: I think it’s a stupid advertisement (Appendix 2, l. 111). C: […] This in itself is rubbish, but it’s meant to spark your memory, and you’ll be like ’ah yeah, I saw that in a TV ad, and they sent me a leaflet with the post the other day’. But as this shows, it’s rubbish, but maybe as a campaign (Appendix 2, ll.137-141).

Here it is clear that as a campaign the respondent ‘C’ would be positively positioned towards this example, as he would want to connect all the different communication products to each other. It is clear that he is positive and open towards communicative strategies connected together in entire campaigns, as it sparks one’s memory showing that he finds these campaigns more successful (Batra, 1991: 167). But as a separate communication product, it is argued to be rubbish because of lacking knowledge about the entire campaign. As rubbish and stupid uttered by ‘C’ and ‘T’ can be semantically connected to the similar negative word awful (Batra, 1991: 163) it is demonstrated that both respondents are negatively disposed towards this specific strategy, especially because of its lacking connection to context. b) C: Yeah, just a standard text sign saying ’turn of the lights’ basically ehm… It’s quite boring – it’s obvious (Appendix 2, ll. 14-15). This utterance does not directly illustrate the attitude of the interviewee, but it does illustrate that the presented strategy example bores him. Boredom is defined as a mild depression (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 110), which excludes it from the category of positive emotions, and therefore, it is argued that the term indicates a negative emotion caused by the respondent’s cognitive evaluations of the text sign. Additionally, his way of expressing his indifference towards the strategy supports the indication of a negative emotional outcome of the message processing: just a standard text sign [… ] basically (Appendix 2, ll. 14-15). Conclusively, as shown in the two examples above, the two frameworks applied in the analysis will, first of all, demonstrate the respondents’ attitudinal position expressed through specific words corresponding to Batra’s attitude factors (1991: 163-167). Second of all, they will also demonstrate the

 

 

p.  39  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

respondents’ emotional state expressed through words and phrases corresponding to Johnson-Laird and Oatleys list of terminology denoting positive and negative emotions. In this way, it will be possible to identify the respondents’ attitudinal and emotional position towards the different communication strategies, based on how they express themselves about the subject. It is essential to note that the defined method of this discourse analysis has some limitations, as not all emotions are expressed through words in the conducted interview. Therefore, the risk that some physical emotional expressions, such as facial expressions or tone of voice may have been lost in the transcription phase, does exist. Nevertheless, this does not diminish the importance of the phrases that are verbally stated during the interview.

3.3 Empirical data Since the general focus of the thesis is to investigate how consumers perceive the socially constructed concept of nudging in relation to non-nudging, the investigation method will revolve around a focus group with British consumers as respondents. This approach was chosen as it shapes an in-depth and holistic understanding of communication forms as they are perceived by the participants (Daymon & Holloway, 2011: 7-26). Since I have an idea of what to look for during the focus group interview, I will form a semi-structured interview set up with a few introductory questions to which, the answers will be formed freely by the respondents (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2008: 45). The questions will be guiding, and not leading, as the research participants should be allowed to openly discuss their point of views and perceptions of the phenomenon in question (Daymon & Holloway, 2011: 230). Thus the purpose of the introductory questions will merely be to open up a discussion among the respondents, about their opinions of the different communicative strategies presented to them. During the interview I will only ask questions, such as ‘Do you like this example?’, ‘Would you pay attention to it?’ and ‘Why/Why not?’. The questions will thus explore the interviewees’ tendency to like or dislike the presented examples, and will not guide the discussion towards specific answers, but will merely help the interviewees to form the conversation. From the opinions and reflections stated during the interview, it will be investigated if there are any recurring themes and patterns connected to the interviewees’ opinions of nudging and nonnudging communication strategies. The potential prevalence of these patterns will be further discussed and elaborated in section 4.3 Discussion. Finally, the interview questions will be connected to a PowerPoint show, showing the interviewees 10 extracts of communication products from different social marketing campaigns (Appendix 3). The collection of communication product examples will include five nudging and five non-nudging examples,

 

 

p.  40  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

which will each revolve around one of four different themes: reduction of CO2, promoting healthy living by making people take the stairs, reduction of littering in the streets and encouragement to make people pay taxes in time. Both nudging and non-nudging communication examples will be presented in each theme to insure that the answers of the respondents do not potentially deviate from each other merely because of the examples’ differing themes and goals. Additionally, as the selected communication examples touch upon the same social marketing themes, it enables me to compare the respondents’ attitudinal reactions to the differing strategies in order to investigate, if the respondents are more positively or negatively disposed towards a certain message, merely because of the strategy presenting it. The 10 communication examples and their respectable themes are shown in the table below.

Nudging

Non-Nudging

Example 3: A green sticker with drawing of a house releasing CO2, placed next to a light switch. The switches are incorporated in the sticker so that they represent the windows of the house.

Example 1: A text-based Turn off the lights sign placed next to a light switch.

Theme: Reduction of littering in the streets

Example 5: Green footprints painted on the pavement and directed at a litterbin.

Example 4: A text-based Please use the bins provided sign, with a drawing of a man putting litter in a bin.

Theme: Promoting healthy living by making people take the stairs

Example 7: An illustration of a slim man and an obese man painted respectively at the bottom of a stair and an escalator.

Example 6: A campaign poster picturing a woman waiting for the elevator. A text in the middle says Try walking instead. And at the bottom: Get a life – get active.

Theme: Pursuing CO2 reduction

Theme: Encouragement to pay taxes in time

Example 8: The numbered amount of calories burnt per step written on each step of a stair. Example 10: The wording in a letter for late taxpayers: 90 per cent of your fellow citizens pay their taxes in time.

Example 2: An image with textual call to action Save money, save energy – Act on CO2 from an environmental campaign.

Example 9: The wording in a letter for late tax payers: Give back to society, pay your taxes in time.

Model 6: Table of presented communication examples and their themes

The focus group interview is conducted on the eighth of October 2013 in a conference room on Brendstrupvej 74 in Aarhus. Prior to the interview, the interviewed parties filled in a short questionnaire about their name, civil status, and their prior knowledge of nudging as a communication strategy. The purpose of the questionnaires was to investigate whether the respondents’ answers was formed on the basis of any prior knowledge of nudging or not.

 

 

p.  41  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Respondents The focus group consists of five British respondents living in Denmark for a short or long period of time. They are all still strongly connected to Britain, which is why they all have a similar common knowledge of communicative marketing methods used to reach British consumers.

List of interviewed respondents Females: ‘A’ – 20 years old, single, student ‘N’ – 21 years old, single student ‘J’- 29 years old, engaged, mom and webshop owner Males: ‘T’ – 28 years old, single, Architect master student ‘C’ – 27 years old, single, Engineer at Vestas In the transcription, the author of the thesis, being the interviewer is listed as ‘Me’.

The respondents were found via Facebook Graph Search by searching for British people living in Aarhus. From the search approximately 200 people appeared from which 20 people in the age group of 20-30 were given an invite to the focus group interview. Six of them responded that they wanted to participate, however, one of them declined at the last moment, leaving only five respondents to participate. The 20 people who were given an invite were all in their 20ies, which is why it is assumed that they are somewhat in a lifestyle status similar to each other. This is expected to exclude potential differences in their common knowledge and understandings of nudging and non-nudging communication strategies, which could have caused very differing reactions to the presented strategy example. That is, if the group both consisted of people in their 50-60ies and people in their 20ies it would be expected that their answers would be too far apart from each other to be able to see potential patterns in their attitudinal interpretations of the strategies presented to them.

Transcriptions The transcriptions are made by the author of this thesis. The entire interview is recorded with a dictaphone and transcribed into appendix 2, which also includes the interview as an audio file on the enclosed CD.

 

 

p.  42  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

In the transcriptions incorporated symbols and specific punctuation will signify unclear utterances, essential pauses, tones and gestures made by the respondents during the interview. The incorporated symbols are listed below: ?xx? = Unclear utterance, not sure but it sounds like *xx*= Marking gesture, tone of voice or expressions that are not linguistic italics = Utterance by the interviewer Normal text = clear utterances

Critique of method It is essential to note some limitations to this method of study. Most essential is it to note that the respondents are confronted with questions asking about their reflective opinions of communication examples presented to them in a PowerPoint show. This particular situation may not entirely reflect how they would be attitudinally and emotionally positioned, if they faced the same strategy examples in a real life situation. However, when put in this interview situation, it causes the respondents to reflectively consider how they feel and what they think about the different communication forms, and this is regarded to be as realistic a result as reporting their responses in real life. Conclusively, it is stated in the method section that the thesis will conduct a discourse analysis of the words and phrases used by British respondents in a focus group interview. The utterances will be analysed according to the framework of identifying positive and negative attitudes and emotions reflected in the utterances, thus indicating if the interviewed consumers are less sceptical towards nudging strategies than towards non-nudging strategies and to what extent.

 

 

p.  43  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

ANALYSIS

 

 

p.  44  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

4. Analysis and discussion With the purpose of answering the problem statement of the thesis in practice, the fourth section of the thesis will integrate a qualitative discourse analysis of the empirical data collected in the conducted focus group interview. But first of all, the section will illustrate the practical complications of analysing data collected during such interviews. Second of all, the approach and outline of the analysis will be described in order to guide and introduce the reader to the content of the analysis. Third of all, the utterances illustrating essential positive or negative values will be analysed according to the frameworks presented in the theoretical sections (see 2.8 and 2.9). Finally, the essential findings of the analysis will be presented and deliberated in the discussion section leading to the conclusion in the final section of the thesis.

4. 1 Practical Complications One of the complications arising when analysing and discussing the results of a focus group interview is that the answers of the group cannot be regarded as a complete generalization of all focus groups discussing the same issues and subjects. As the questions of focus group interviews are not standardized, one focus group may touch upon different aspects of the subject than other focus groups (Vicsek, 2010: 123). Further, it is difficult to determine whether the interviewees would have answered in the exact same way if they were interviewed individually, or if they were affected by the dynamics of a group discussion (Vicsek, 2010: 124). Therefore, the executed interview also included a small preparation questionnaire (see appendix 4) with a few questions concerning two of the strategies also included in the presentation. The questions seek to determine the individuals’ opinion of the strategies before entering a group discussion. Also, the questionnaire seeks to answer whether or not the interviewees were aware of nudging as a concept before the focus group interview. In this case everyone answered that they had no conscious knowledge of the concept, even though they may have been subjected to nudging before. Another complication concerning the group phenomenon (Vicsek, 2010: 132) is that there might be a tendency among the interviewees to reach a common agreement in their answers, even though the interviewer states that the goal merely is to acquire information about their attitudes towards and opinions about something. This may cause answers to be less diverse than if they were interviewed individually. In this specific case the focus group did, however, come to certain disagreements, but the minority opinion and its arguments were often presented with less aggression and slight compatibility to the majority opinion.

 

 

p.  45  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

4.2 Analysis The following qualitative analysis will seek to answer the question of the problem statement in section one. Through a discourse analysis of the respondents’ utterances, it will be analysed and discussed, if the respondents’ attitudes and emotions are more positive in relation to nudging compared to traditional nonnudging marketing communication strategies. The analytical section will be divided into different sections dealing with selected key utterances of the respondents concerning the ten presented strategy examples (Appendix 3), respectively. The quotations have been selected in accordance with the identification of any vital content reflecting attitudinal or emotional positions (see section 2.8 -2.9) towards the strategy example in question. The discussion section will revolve around any distinctions and patterns found in the respondents’ attitudinal and emotional positions towards the different presented strategy examples. First of all, in the following, the respondents’ attitudinal position towards strategy number one will be illustrated and discussed in accordance with key quotes concerning the strategy. Second of all, strategy number two will be taken into consideration in accordance with how the respondents express themselves about this matter, and so on and so forth. All interview transcriptions are found in Appendix 2. Phrases in bold in the quotations mark the words that are connected to Batra’s (1991, 163-167) list of positive and negative attitude factors and to Johnson-Laird and Oatley’s (1989: 108-123) list of emotional terminology. Utterances left out of the quotations because of irrelevance are marked in square brackets […]. The included quotes highlight the interviewees’ positive and negative attitudinal and emotional responses to the presented strategy examples. As an initiative to start a discussion among the respondents, the respondents were asked to comment on whether they liked the presented strategy or not, and whether they would pay attention to it in any way. The first section of the following will elaborate on the interviewees’ responses to communication example number one.

Example number one – Non-nudging The first presented strategy example is defined as a non-nudging example of a message pursuing reduction of CO2 release. The communicative product is a sticker with the text: Turn of lights when not in

 

 

p.  46  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

use. The image of the communication product further illustrates that the sticker is placed next to a light switch to the right of the person when walking through the doorway. When asked what the respondents thought about this strategy, key utterances were stated as in the following: C: Yeah, just a standard text sign saying ‘turn of the lights basically. It is quite boring – that is obvious. (ll.14-15). It’s just another hazard sign. Generally, hazard signs are like as if you see them once then you kind of recognise the image, but you don’t really pay attention to it such (ll. 19-20).

This utterance does not directly illustrate the attitude of the interviewee, but it does illustrate that the presented strategy example bores him. Boredom is defined as a mild depression (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 110), which excludes it from the category of positive emotions, and therefore, it is argued that the term indicates a slightly negative emotion caused by the respondent’s cognitive evaluations of the text sign. Additionally, his way of expressing his indifference towards the strategy supports the indication of a negative emotional outcome of the message processing: just a standard text sign [… ] basically (ll. 14-15). Further, he also argues that he would not be attentive in the communication process as he regards the image as something he has seen before, and therefore he unconsciously ignores it. J: But I wouldn’t because, if it was next to a light switch, because that’s easy. You know, because it’s right there! But if it said something else like ’don’t do something’ you know. Then maybe I wouldn’t do it, but right next to a light switch, when I walk out the room, then I would use it (ll. 3033).

This respondent, however, would recognise and pay attention to the sign, merely because of its placement and because it is easy to relate to; a simple act so to speak. The respondent emphasises that the context of the strategy and placing it right next to a light switch makes the message relevant and meaningful (Batra, 1991: 163) to her in that specific situation, which implies an overall positive attitude towards the sign. A: I always think that a little clip art or image would make it a bit better as well (l. 50). T: But I think things that aren’t text based are usually a little better (l. 60).

The two statements above take a certain distance from the presented strategy, since the message is merely communicated via text on a sticker. Both respondents are negatively positioned towards the text-based strategy, and even recommend that a clip art or an image would be better than using text. This suggests that these respondents, in this context, have favourable attitudes towards more visual things that are not

 

 

p.  47  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

merely based on text. In other words, their utterances imply a negative attitude towards strategy example number one. Another key quote concerning this communicative method is included below, as it reflects upon the lacking attention to the content of the message: N: I would probably register it, but I would not register, what it was saying. I just think I would think ’there is a sign’ (ll. 68-69).

‘N’ seems to be open to paying attention to the communication product on a general level. However, she states that she will not register the message in itself, but purely note that she saw a sign. Thus, the message is lost in the delivery process, as the receiver is neutrally to negatively positioned towards the communication method, and therefore tends to ignore the content of the sign. In this connection, all respondents except ‘J’ are negatively positioned towards the text based sign used in example number one. They refer to the sign as boring and standard and imply that either their attention or interest in the communication product would be lacking in the process of interpreting the message. Only ‘J’ refers positively to the example and the message as she states it is easy to understand in the specific context and content.

Example number two – Non nudging The example in question represents a non-nudging campaign logo and slogan used in a British environmental campaign also pursuing reduction of CO2. The image is salmon coloured and has a textual call to action: Save money, save energy. Act on CO2. Before going into detail with the respondents’ utterances in the focus group interview, it is noteworthy that this specific communication example also appeared in the preparation questionnaire that was handed out and filled in before the interview. In this connection, when asked about their knowledge of communication material such as the concerning, all respondents stated that they recognised this specific example as something very similar to what they had seen before. Only ‘J’ rejected the strategy as a recognisable communication example. However, it is assumed that she is aware of existing similar campaign material, but is referring to the exact presented example, when she stated that she had not seen it before. This suggests that all respondents individually know of traditional marketing material similar to this, and that they have all seen such communication strategies being used several times.

 

 

p.  48  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

T: As I said in the questionnaire, I think it’s ?similar?, but it’s not clear as to what it’s offering, you know (ll.99-100). T: Or how to proceed? Like a lot of these things should have a contact text on it or a company logo or a phone number. And it’s offering… well, it says it’s going to save you money and save energy as it’s saying ’act now’, but it’s not giving you information on how to get in contact or what to do (ll. 104-107).

As illustrated above, the response to this communication strategy is that its content make ‘T’ express signs that he feels dissatisfied (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 112) about the communication, as the message is unclear and lacks further contact information. ‘T’ further recommends that communication products similar to this should not lack this information in case any receiver would want to know more about the campaign. However, this image, like the other visual communication products of the PowerPoint presentation, is separately picked out as a bit of an entire campaign, to investigate how people are positioned towards this specific communication product and not towards the entire campaign. More contact information may therefore have been given in other campaign products, which is what the following utterance indicates. C: But, you’re only just showing us this one picture and if it’s a campaign they’ll be sending out leaflets, they’ll be sending out TV-adverts, they’ll be sending out a lot more information on websites as well… This in itself is rubbish, but it’s meant to spark your memory, and you’ll be like ’ah yeah, I saw that in a TV ad, and they sent me a leaflet with the post the other day’. But as this shows, it’s rubbish, but maybe as a campaign (ll.137-141). T: I think it’s a stupid advertisement (l. 111).

Here, it is clear that as a campaign the respondent ‘C’ would be positively positioned towards this example, as he wants to be able to connect all the different communication products to each other. It is clear that he is positive and open towards communicative strategies connected together in entire campaigns, as it sparks one’s memory, which shows that he feels that these campaigns are more fulfilling (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 114) to him. But as a separate communication product, the presented product is argued to be rubbish because of a lacking connection to an entire campaign. As rubbish and stupid uttered by ‘C’ and ‘T’ can be semantically connected to the similar negative word awful (Batra, 1991: 163) it is demonstrated that both respondents are negatively positioned towards this specific strategy example, especially because of its lacking connection to context. A: Yeah, it says like ‘act on CO2’so if the general public saw that they would just be like ‘well, what does that mean?’ It doesn’t look like there’s been put that much thought into it, because then it would need to be green or something more environmental, but it’s only made to catch your eye. But then, what has your eye caught? What is it, it wants you to think about? (ll. 124-18).

 

 

p.  49  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

This quotation demonstrates that the respondent feels insecure (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 115) about the entire message of the communication product, thus expressing a slightly negative emotion. ‘A’ clarifies that the obvious first hand goal is to catch the receiver’s eye because of the colour. However, from there the interpretation process is cut off, as the message is regarded as unclear and not entirely thought through. This proves the fact that preliminary attention is not enough to successfully communicate with the British consumers in this case; the content needs to be interpreted, and fully understood. The respondent further suggests that the sign should have been green in order to relate to the overall environmental theme. This additionally illustrates that lacking interaction between message, form and relevance to context creates a primarily negative attitude towards the communication product, preventing the receiver to follow through with the interpretation and acceptance of the message. It is argued that example number two awakes negative attitudes and emotions towards the message content itself. The fact that it is eye catching and that it might function well in a large campaign, are the only positive utterances about this sign. A clear message seems to be lacking and in order for this example to evoke more positive emotions and attitudes towards the communication product, the material should have included more information, or should have been placed in a relevant situational context.

Example number 3 – Transparent type 2 nudge (see model 2, p. 22) The third presented strategy example is defined as a nudging message pursuing reduction of CO2 release. The communication is implemented as a green sticker formed as a house with a smoking chimney. The sticker surrounds the light switch so that the switches represent the windows of the house. When asked whether the respondents would notice the sticker if they passed it by several of the interviewees responded quickly: T: Yeah, definitely (l. 160). It’s more readable, simple (l. 164).

This strategy example clearly seems to catch the attention of the respondent in question, mainly because it is easy to read and simple to understand. Moreover, ‘A’ refers to the strategy as cool where to ‘T’ adds the word playful to the description of its form and content: A: It’s quite cool (l. 168). T: Yeah, it’s playful (l. 172).

 

 

p.  50  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

And ‘N’ continues as she explains why she also likes this example better than the previous ones: N: and you get the reading of it - even without texting or anything you would understand it. Also if you’re on your way out of a room quickly and you saw that picture, you would sort of think ‘OH, what the hell was that?’ And think ‘oh switch off the light’ … instead of just text that you would ignore (ll. 174-177)

The exemplifying utterances clearly show that creative signs without text are easier and simpler to understand given that the placement corresponds with the context of the message. In this case, the sign is placed next to a light switch, and as the message indicates that users should reduce CO2, the message and context correspond with each other making the sign very relevant for people passing it by in that exact situation. Moreover, ‘N’ suggests that the sign would have been ignored if merely including text, which implies that the creative sign evokes a more positive attitude than a text based sign telling people what to do and what not to do. Additionally, she seems to be positively emotionally effected by the form of the message as the communication product astonishes her; What the hell was that (l. 176) which makes her feel more engaged (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 113) in the communication. Her positive attitude towards astonishment can, according to Sepstrup (2010: 175) be the reason her attention is maintained, and why the interpretation process is completed in her mind. Other respondents indicate that the colouring of the communication product is very essential in creating positive emotions and attitudes towards a the communication strategy: C: Couldn’t it also be the fact that it is green? Compared to the other one (l. 195). J: A lot depends on it! With the other one (example 2), I wrote in the preparation questionnaire that it’s salmon pink, and I don’t like salmon pink. So I don’t really think that’s a nice colour for it. And like what you said before *pointing at A*, green background makes you think greener, as you were saying. Yeah, definitely (ll. 199-202).

It is stated here that the colour clearly enhances the link between the communication product and the goal of the message, as the receivers associate the colour green with an environmental theme. Thus, the message interpretation process is shortened, as the colour provides a mental shortcut to the content of the message (Messaris, 1997: vii-ix). Moreover, ‘J’ refers to the salmon pink colour, used in example number two, as not a nice colour for it. Thereafter, she comments on the colour green, which she claims makes the receiver think greener. This indicates that the word nice is more appropriately connected to the colour green in example number three than to the colour in the prior one. It is therefore argued that the green colour induces positive attitudes in the receiver’s mind, because she seems to find it meaningful and nice (Batra, 1991: 163) as it makes her think more environmentally in opposition to the colour of example two.

 

 

p.  51  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

When asked if they liked this strategy better than the prior ones all respondents agreed (l. 161-181). However, ‘T’ emphasized that his liking of the sign depended on the context of the sticker’s use: T: Yeah, but it depends in which context it’s being used of course (l. 183). T: You would think that having a light in the room would remind you to turn it off, right? But we become so used to having the light on in the room that you forget to turn it off. So I’m just saying, with this, it depends on which context and if you get used to seeing something because it’s a part of the furniture (ll.188-191).

Here the respondent explains that he might not even regard the sign at all if he was used to seeing it as a part of the décor in the specific room. Prior to this utterance he was positively positioned towards the communication product and described it as readable and simple, which in this case is a favourable evaluation (Bosson et al., 2006: 138) as ‘T’ had previously expressed to like the sign (Appendix 2, l.161) before elaborating his answer. However, after reflecting on his opinion of the example, he suggested that he might become disaffected (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 112) by the sign if he got used to seeing it, as it then merely becomes part of the furniture (l. 191). Conclusively, the respondents’ initial reaction to example number three was very positive, as they revealed obvious favourable feelings in their description of the sign they were presented to; it was positively described as readable, simple, cool, playful, understandable and makes you think greener. However, one respondent argued that the initial positive attitude might be substituted by a more neutral to negative attitude if he became used to seeing it, as the astonishing and surprising effect then diminishes and turns into overlooking the sign instead.

Example number four – Non-nudging The fourth strategy example is a text-based non-nudging Please use the bins provided-sign that includes a drawing of a man putting litter in a bin. As this is a standard sign often used in Britain to reduce litter in the streets, all respondents clearly recognised the sign, and were not surprised or astonished by its form or message in any way. The discussion was initiated with the question if the respondents would pay attention to the presented sign. The most essential reactions to this question are highlighted in the following: J: Yes! ’Cause I think littering is terrible (l. 220)! N: Exactly (l. 222). J: And I would tell anybody off and I have done, if I see them doing it (l. 225).

 

 

p.  52  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

As these respondents express an engaging eager (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 112) to encourage littering control it is indicated that they are emotionally positively positioned towards the aim and theme of the message. Nevertheless, the following utterance of ‘N’ clearly indicates that the presented communication product is considered to be useless (Batra, 1999: 163) and unsuccessful (Batra, 1991: 167) in effect, which represent a negative attitude towards the sign: N: Personally, I don’t litter, but these signs don’t work at all. People still litter. You either know the sign or you don’t, and if you know it as ’please use the bin’. But some just don’t use the bin (ll.227228).

One respondent further argues that littering control should be so deeply rooted in our upbringing that We don’t need a sign saying that (‘J’ in l. 230) thus signifying that this specific sign is unnecessary. Another interviewee responds that signs may be necessary, but that this particular sign is not needed: N: No, not THAT sign. Because when you grow up with it, you know you are meant to throw it in the bin, but you just don’t do it. You don’t do it (ll. 232-233).

These utterances clearly present negative attitude towards the non-nudging communication example, both because the signs will clearly be ignored by the respondents, but also because the respondents find the sign unnecessary, as littering control should be common sense to all people. ‘A’ further demonstrates a negative attitude in her utterance as she argues that she does not regard the signs anymore and unconsciously ignores them since they are everywhere (ll. 237-238). ‘T’ presents an unfavourable stance towards the presented example as he refers to the communication product as not cool and nothing cool about it (l. 284). But when another respondent suggests that there should be consequences to littering in the streets (ll. 243-245) he agrees with the words That’s nice! (l. 255) and That’s a good one (l. 266). As these words nice and good are referred to as positive attitude factors (Batra, 1991: 163, 167) they illustrate a positive attitude towards signposting consequences for littering instead of using banning and regulation signs. When asked if the respondents regard the sign as too ordinary for them to notice, one of them argues: N: I think maybe people are too used to it, I mean there IS actually a drawing on it, so if you saw it for the first time you might think about it and think it through. But when you grow up with a sign like that, you just don’t really notice them anymore (ll. 294-296).

So even though drawings and creative visuals tend to evoke positive attitudes in this individual’s mind, she believes that communication products regarded as ordinary and which people are used to seeing, are

 

 

p.  53  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

ignored as they have been cognitively processed many times before. This further leads to another respondent’s recommendation: J: […] basically, signs need to be changed like every five years to make people notice (ll. 304-305).

Example number four clearly did not evoke any positive attitudes in connection with its form. The argument for this is both that people are expected to know that littering is wrong, which makes a sign redundant. And also the sign has been used for several years and has been seen many times, which causes it to be ignored and merely regarded as a negative finger wagging from the authorities. However, the respondents express a positive emotional eager and enthusiasm about the theme of littering control. Example number five – Transparent type 2 nudge. The message of this example revolves around the same theme as the one presented in example four: Reducing litter in the streets. This message is communicated through a nudge consisting of green painted footprints leading people towards the nearest litterbin. When asked whether or not the respondents have acknowledged similar communication products before, ‘C’ quickly admits to have recognised footprints similar to the ones presented both in the streets of Britain and Denmark. ‘N’ further refers positively to the presented example by using the phrase really cool (Appendix 2, l. 324), which corresponds to the positive attitude factor nice as a synonym (Batra, 1991: 163). Additionally, when asked whether they like (Batra, 1991: 163) this example better than the ordinary litter sign in example number four, all respondents agree with Yes and ‘C’ adds: In a direct comparison, yeah (l. 348). […] It’s just that every time I’ve seen them, they are always covered in mud and looked kind of filthy (l. 352).

The respondent is clearly positively positioned towards the nudge’s form and content as he agreed to like it. However, by using the word filthy he expresses unfavourable feelings towards how the communication product frequently looks in the situation. T: I think it could be confused with street art (l. 360). N: No, I actually think it would be a positive thing for a lot of people. I would think it’s really cool that someone did that (ll. 370-371).

Where one respondent finds it negative if the visual form of the communication product could be mistaken for street art, a different respondent ‘N’ regards it as positive and really cool if receivers

 

 

p.  54  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

interpret the footprints as street art instead of a social marketing message (ll. 370-371). As cool is considered to be a synonym to the positive attitude factor nice (see section 2.8 and Batra, 1991: 163), the word represents a positive attitude towards the concerning strategy example. Moreover, the context and placement of the communication product was again included in the discussion, thus it seems to be essential for their attitudinal position towards the entire communication product: J: I mean also that’s the placing of it. I might sound really old fashioned here, but you know if you’ve got some beautiful cobbled old street and somebody was going to paint prints on it (ll. 375377). […] Then I wouldn’t think that was such a great thing THERE (l. 381).

In areas where the footprints’ placement interacts perfectly with the surroundings similar to the presented picture of example number five, the respondents are positively positioned towards this communication form. However, if the communication product is going to disturb the balance of a cultural context or beautiful surroundings, then the respondents indicate that they will have a negative attitude towards using painted visuals in the communication. After the information that example number five was also used in a campus shop in Wales to promote healthy eating by making customers follow foot prints towards the fruit section, ‘J’ positively responds that this is a good (≈ positive attribute in Batra, 1991: 163) idea and explained; Britain is not exactly the healthiest people (l. 403).

During the discussion of example five, Pelle Guldborg’s campaign ‘Clean Copenhagen’ also came up. The respondents were told that the foot print strategy was further developed into an entire campaign, where litterbins were wrapped in yellow paper and footprints were painted to lead people towards the bins. Some positive responds to this example are: A: I like that (l. 442). T: See that’s nice! I would be more into having a circular bin on a big yellow space or a patch around it or something. I mean that it’s simple, it’s graphical and you can see from far away that it’s more detailed (ll. 444-446).

According to Batra, (1991: 163) good, like and nice are positive attitude factors that represent favourable attitudes of individuals. In this case, both ‘J’, ‘A’ and ‘T’ illustrate a favourable attitude towards this strategy example. Moreover, when ‘T’ further suggests how he would want the visuals to look like, he emphasises the need for simple and graphical visuals that are clear from a distance as well. Other

 

 

p.  55  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

respondents additionally illustrate that if fun is thought into the communication strategy, more people would be emotionally positively influenced and attracted by it: N: That actually reminds me that, in primary school we used to have like a big bin shaped like a frog and like a dolphin as well (ll. 455-456). And we were like ‘Oh we want to put something in the bin!’ So that was really kind of a magnet for kids as well… And drunk people (ll. 460-461). Yeah, its like people are easier to lead if something looks fun; you don’t have to but you want to do it (ll. 467468). A: And there are those charging bins where you throw in a coin and they go round and round (ll. 470-471). I always wanted to do that as a kid and my mom was like ‘*sigh*’ (l. 475). T: Well I, I did it recently! (l. 477).

The respondents’ utterances clearly show a tendency to memorise fun communication strategies better while connecting them to more positive emotions than when memorising other strategies. This is supported by Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989: 122) as these theorists categorise fun as an activity causing the positive emotion happiness. It is therefore demonstrated that communication forms including a fun factor make the receiver associate the communication experience with positive thoughts and feelings. This increases the possibility for the action encouraged by the message to be repeated because of these positive associations created in the prior message processing (Percy and Elliott, 2009: 270-272). ‘N’ further states that she would want to follow through with the message if the communication strategy is sufficiently fun, even though she is not forced to do so (ll. 467-468). In general the respondents were positively positioned towards this nudging example as they all agreed to like it more than the ordinary litterbin sign, and expressed that it was a cool and a good idea. However, the placement and context of this graphical communication product is very essential to whether the respondents signify a positive or a negative attitude and/or emotion. For instance if the footprints look filthy, or are painted in areas where they do not fit in, then the respondents indicate to have more negative thoughts about it than positive. Nevertheless, if the communicating visuals are adjusted to the surroundings in question and are simple and attention drawing, then they are positively reflected upon. Additionally, the respondents associate example five with other fun communication products that make the communication situation more memorable to them, illustrating that strategies with fun factors tend to cause more positive emotions than other communication strategies.

Example number six – Non-nudging. This communication product is a campaign poster, which was part of a big health campaign aimed at 4060 year-olds in Britain. This specific non-nudging communication product was chosen as it revolves

 

 

p.  56  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

around the exact same theme as the nudges in the communication examples seven and eight: Encouraging people to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, and thus, promoting a healthier lifestyle. The poster represents a woman waiting for the elevator next to a stair, and has the following text written in the mid section of it: Try walking instead. Get a life, get active. Without hesitation, the respondents started talking freely about the poster after being presented to it. Initial reactions to the poster are argued to reflect negative attitudinal positions on the basis of the utterances listed below. J: It’s a really bad advert (l. 501) T: Yeah (l. 502) J: That’s the confusing thing about it isn’t it? It’s like… hold on! Has the blue bit got something to do with that bit on the top or what is going on? What is that woman doing? – ah okay she is getting the lift (ll. 515-517) T: I thought: Why would it say ‘try walking instead’, when I saw this poor woman holding on to the wall in the back. It’s like ‘why can’t she walk’? I’m confused (ll. 521-522). N: This is like really messy. And she’s standing there taking the lift, and it says ‘Try walking instead’. But why? She makes it look so good taking the lift. I would want to take the lift (ll. 529530).

According to Batra’s list (1991: 167) bad reflects a clear negative attitude towards an object, concept or person. In this case ‘J’ further emphasises her attitude with the word really illustrating that she is holding a strong unfavourable attitude towards this specific communication product. When another respondent agrees with her, ‘J’ continues to emphasise that the poster is disorganised and makes her express a mental state of confusion (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 122) which is connected to the emotional term anxiety denoting a mild form of the negative basic feeling fear (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 98). This statement is further supported both by ‘T’, who misunderstands the poster at first and by ‘N’ who negatively describes the poster as messy (l. 529). Further, the slogan is criticised for being too negative, discriminating and degrading as it suggested that you only had a worthy life if you were a physical active person: J: I don’t really like that slogan (l. 626). N: Yeah, it’s quite discriminating, actually (l. 628). A: It sounds like you don’t have a life if you’re not active (l. 630). Me: So it’s too negative, just in the message itself? (l. 634). J: Yeah well, we don’t like that (l. 636)

 

 

p.  57  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

The respondents clearly emphasise a negative attitude in their disliking (Batra, 1991: 163) of this communication product. All together they agree that it is disorganised in its composition and very negative in its lettering, whereto it is additionally discussed if the slogan will be degrading to disabled people, who are not able to take the stairs (ll. 618-620). In general this communication example is immensely criticised by all respondents, who all have negative emotions and attitudes both towards the poster’s form and its message. In this case it is essential to note that the poster was targeted at elders in the UK and may therefore have been met by more positive attitudes held by this specific target audience.

Example number seven and eight – Transparent type 2 nudge. Example number seven illustrates the depiction of a slim and an obese man painted at the bottom respectively a normal stair, and an escalator in the subway. It is clearly indicated that people, who wants to walk up the stair to the next floor need to choose between taking the escalator with the depicted obese man or the normal stair with the depicted slim man. Example eight is a picture showing a stair with the numbered amount of calories burnt per step written on each step of a stair. The digits on each step are meant to encourage people to take the stairs often, because the numbers make them aware that the stair is an easy way to burn of calories. The two examples are presented on the same slide in the power point show, allowing the respondents to compare the two examples to each other. The nudging examples in question are selected to be presented because they are thematically connected to example number six aiming at promoting a healthier lifestyle by making people take the stairs. As demonstrated below, example number seven is discussed with mixed feelings and attitudes, as ‘C’ and ‘A’ and ‘N’ holds an initial negative attitude towards it, whereas others hold a slightly positive one: C: I think that one *directed at example seven* is quite rude! (l. 664). N: I can’t help thinking that someone who have probably got an eating disorder would be thinking about it. I don’t know, but she would be feeling bad because she took the escalator instead… I don’t know. I know that’s extreme, but I can’t help thinking about that (ll. 679-681). J: Yeah, so it’s easier, when you don’t have a problem like that. But I obviously automatically thought it was hilarious (ll. 683-684). N: I thought it was fun too, but I can definitely see how people might be offended by that (l. 688).

These utterances mostly focus on how the respondents believe the public will feel about the strategies. This may somehow reflect how they feel about the strategies themselves, but in general the respondents try to predict how other receivers will regard the visuals. ‘C’ clearly shows that he distances himself from

 

 

p.  58  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

this communication product as he criticises example number seven for being rude (l. 664). Using the word rude to distance this communication product from what the respondent finds acceptable clearly illustrates a negative disapprobation (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 112) of this communication example. ‘N’ alternates in her utterances and attitude towards the presented strategy during the discussion. At first she believes that people having problems with self image or eating disorders will be negatively affected by the visuals painted at the stairs, as they will make the person feel even worse about themselves when forced to make a choice between the skinny or the obese painted character. But then ‘N’ agrees with the fact that this example was fun, but continuously states that she expects that some people will find it offensive. Her positional attitude is thus regarded to be somewhat positive because of her use of the positive word fun whose meaning originate from the feeling of happiness (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 122). Nonetheless, as ‘N’ also includes offensive when explaining her expectations to others’ reaction to the message, the utterance reflects a slightly negative attitude as offensive is considered to be a synonym of Batra’s negative attitude factor harmful (Batra, 1991: 163). ‘J’ also admits that she immediately thinks the example is hilarious, which indicates that she is affected by the positive emotion hilarity (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 115). T: Like if they did put this in every station in the London underground over night, then there would be a lot of uproar, like you said, and suddenly everyone would be very aware of the issue, so there’s something there (ll. 695-697). J: Yeah afterwards. The initial reaction is funny, but I laughed and was feeling quite ‘well, okay shh’. But I just laughed quite so loud (ll. 699-700). T: It is quite funny (l. 702). A: I mean this must have been used in some weird town. I don’t think it – (l. 704). J: That’s exactly what I’m thinking. It doesn’t seem to me like some kind of government strategy, I reckon they are too politically correct in Britain to do that (ll. 708-709).

The utterance of ‘T’ is argued to reflect optimism (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 117) towards the usefulness of the presented nudging example, as the communication product is expected to create awareness of the obesity issue, as everyone would be talking about the creative visuals if they were exposed to them (ll. 695-696). Thus, the emotions expressed by this respondent in relation to this specific nudging example are positive, as optimism is a state of mind that originates from positive cognitive evaluations of the presented example (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 117). Both ‘T’ and ‘J’ further agree that the visuals establish a certain fun factor in the communication process, which connects the strategy to positive thoughts and attitudes as previously stated (see example five pp. 49-50).

 

 

p.  59  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

When compared to example number eight, ‘A’ describes the seventh communication example as discouraging: A: That’s not encouraging you to do anything, it’s just kind of categorising you. I don’t know but it’s just making you feel guilty (ll. 777-778).

The utterance illustrates that ‘A’ expects a communication product to encourage its target audience towards certain actions, and she additionally states that example number seven fails to live op to these expectations, as it merely makes the receiver feel guilt and discouragement. As ‘A’ negatively criticises (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 114) the subject in her uttered reflections, she is indicating her negative emotional state caused by the respondent’s disliking of the example. When discussing the next example the initial reactions are primarily demonstrating positive attitudes held by the respondents, as they describe the strategy in accordance with the following quotes: J: All though, I think that’s pretty good! That IS the whole point isn’t it, trying to get people fit (l. 727). A: Yeah, I quite liked it, because I didn’t realise I could burn 5 calories with every step (l.729)! And I find that less offensive than the other one (l.740). Me: Is it more encouraging (l. 742)? A: Yeah quite encouraging (l. 744). J: Like you said, yeah, I would think ‘Oh, then it may be all right to eat…’ *Pause*... It’s not that clear though (the numbers) (ll. 746-747). T: I struggle with numbers, personally. I would just be looking at that, and take a very long time to get it (l. 749-750). A: I was quite appealed by it! (l. 752).

‘J’ states that she is quite appealed by the example and therefore uses the positive attitude factor good (Batra, 1991: 163) in her utterance, which reveals a positive attitude towards this communication product. Further, she comments on the assumed goal of the strategy to get people fit (l. 727) and states that the communicated message effectively corresponded with pursuing this goal. A supports J’s enthusiasm about the example as she emphasises her liking (Batra, 1991: 163) of it (l. 729) and adds that she finds it less offensive (≈ less harmful in Batra, 1991: 163) than example number seven (l. 740). This illustrates positive cognitive evaluations of this specific example, both because she includes the positive attitude factor like in her utterance, and because she finds it less harmful than the prior example. Additionally, when asked if she would describe it as encouraging, she agrees, and thus supports the previous linguistic indication that she is positively positioned towards the communication method. However, despite the indication that the respondents hold a positive attitude towards example number eight, ‘J’ signifies a small problem with its form: It’s not that clear though (ll. 746-747). In this case she

 

 

p.  60  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

is referring to the size and details of the numbers placed on each step of the stair. She describes them as unclear, presumably because of all the digits, and is further supported by ‘T’ who indicates a slightly negative attitude towards the example when stating that he would take a long time understanding the message, as he personally struggles with numbers: T: I would just be looking at that, and take a very long time to get it (l. 749-750).

Nevertheless, ‘A’ rejects the criticism by stating that she is quite appealed (l. 752) by the entire message and its form despite the too detailed numbers. When referring to herself while using the word appealed, she indicates that she is attracted by and accepts the message as something she can identify herself with, thus demonstrating a positive emotional relation to the presented example (accept in Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 122). T: I think as far as calories go, that’s also something I really ehm… I don’t know what a calorie means - that means nothing to me (ll. 781-782). I think a lot of people aren’t particularly aware of what calories are (l. 786). A: Calories are stupid anyway *joking* (l. 790). N: […] But you are actually meant to eat like 2000 calories, so its like nothing you’re actually burning. But it’s still cool, and anyone who actually knows anything about it, would probably like it (ll. 793-794). Me: I saw another sign put on the stairs. It was in the middle of the stairs and it said ‘Take the stairs to fitness’ (ll. 797-798). C: That’s what I was going to say - I know I can only speak for myself, but calories and all that, I’m not bothered by. To me taking the stairs is more like a fitness thing, because it makes you a bit more active (ll. 800-802). J: It’s more of a girl thing, the calorie counting, isn’t it? Like you said, ‘I don’t have a clue about, how many calories and what it actually means’ (ll. 804-805).

With these utterances the respondents reflect on the assumed target group and how females and males, respectively, may regard the communication product differently in connection to attitudes and associations. ‘T’ clarifies that he is very unfamiliar with the value of one calorie, and ‘C’ supports him by stating that he is not bothered (l. 801) by the concept of calories. This indicates, that the reason they are not taking a stand on this specific example is merely that they do not feel it is targeted at them, but at girls who care for counting calories. Nonetheless, ‘N’ still indicates holding a positive attitude by referring to the example as cool (Batra, 1991: 163) and by arguing that the communication product may be liked (≈ positive attitude factor by Batra, 1991: 163) by anyone who can relate to the subject of calories (ll. 793794).

 

 

p.  61  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

First of all, when reflecting on the indicated attitudes towards example number seven they are argued to be mixed between moderately negative to positive. Attributes indicating a negative attitude include rude, feeling bad and offensive, but these observations are predominantly based on how the respondents believe the public would react to the nudge. When they further discuss it among each other, the majority of the respondents argue that they regard it as very funny, which indicates that positive associations are also connected to the communication product. Second of all, in relation to strategy number eight, the painted visuals are more positively received than the previous strategy as it is less offensive, cool, encouraging, appealing and likable, but mostly targeted at girls who can relate to the subject. The only indications of negative attitudes are the statement that the numbers painted on the steps are unclear and have too many digits to be easily understood, and the argument that the male respondents know too little about the subject to relate to it.

Example number nine – Non-nudging. This communication product is a selected wording in a letter for late taxpayers. This example is constructed based on the description of a similar wording created by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the UK and sent out to late taxpayers in Britain (Martin, 2012). The wording is meant to encourage the receivers to pay their taxes in time, which is also the goal of the message in example number ten discussed later in the analysis. To initiate a discussion about whether or not the respondents like the example, the text is simply read aloud, after which the respondents begin a discussion. The first initial reaction to this communication example comes from a male respondent after reflecting on the wording: T: Big turn off (l. 859). It reminds me of establishments, and arg, that I’m trapped in this fucking regime. It’s very depressing. You know ‘Give back to society’ like… (ll. 867-868). Me: Maybe like ‘I’m going to tell you, what you have to do’ (l. 870)? T: Yeah, it’s… I don’t know. I have a problem with authority (l. 872).

These reactions indicate a moderately negative attitude towards this lettering strategy as ‘T’ distances himself from the example by stating that the theme was a big turn off for him. According to O’Cain and Liebscher (2011:94) this illustrates a negative attitudinal position, as he uses the words turn off to create a gap between his identity and the strategy example presented to him. Further, he describes the entire theme as depressing, which is related to Batra’s negative attitude factor sad. Since he associates the word tax with depressing thoughts and further describes that he has a problem with such authorities (l. 872), he

 

 

p.  62  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

clearly signifies taking a distance from messages dealing with such themes, while demonstrating a negative attitude towards the presented communication example. Another respondent emphasises that the message of the communication is acceptable, however, that the lettering is not: N: What it says is actually fine, ‘cause I mean you should pay taxes and you get something for it as well, but the way they phrased it is just – (ll. 895-896). T: ‘Give back to society’, so I’m a leech or (l. 898)? A: Yeah, it sounds like they are assuming you don’t do anything (l. 900). J: Yeah, but there’s a lot of that in Britain, so actually, yeah. Pay bloody taxes, and get a job (l. 902).

Here, the strategy is stated to sound too degrading to ‘T’ giving him the negative association that he is merely a leech to society’s regime. ‘A’ also seems to be negatively positioned towards the phrase, as she states that the sender assumes that she is not paying taxes (l. 900) in the first place. Both these respondents’ utterances indicate that they feel offended by the lettering of example nine, as ‘T’ feels identified with a leech and ‘A’ feels that the sender assumes she does not pay taxes at all. These emotions signify that the phrase causes negative cognitive evaluations in the communication process, which make the respondents distance themselves strongly from the specific non-nudging example. In general, the respondents seem to be negatively positioned towards the overall theme of taxes and therefore they describe the message as depressing, a big turn off and feel that the sender is the receiver does not do anything. According to Johnson-Laird and Oatley (1989: 117) offence is causative to the negative feeling anger, while the list of synonyms in section 2.8 argues that depressing is both related to the negative attitude factor sad (1991: 163-167) and to the negative feeling sad (Johnson-Laird and Oatley 1989: 119). These connections to attitude factors and emotional terminology used in the respondents utterances demonstrate that the interviewees take a strong distance from the theme, thus expressing a negative attitude and emotion towards this communicative strategy. Example number ten - Non-transparent type 2 nudge. This last presented communication example is also a selected wording in a letter for late taxpayers. This example is also used in a letter sent out to late taxpayers in Britain and is created by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the UK (Martin, 2012). The goal of the wording is to encourage the receivers to pay their taxes in time, which is the same theme as in the previous example, however, this wording includes a persuading nudging technique called social influence in the text: 90 per cent of your fellow citizens pay their taxes in time.

 

 

p.  63  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

When asked about the respondents’ opinion of the strategy example, one respondent immediately recognises the strategy as social influence and states that she assumes it should be more motivational than it is to her: N: Isn’t it meant to be totally motivational? Like, ‘everybody else is doing it, so you should do it too’ (l. 918). It’s a guilt trip (l. 923).

Here, she emphasises that the phrase is trying to make late taxpayers feel guilty, and states that she requests it to be more motivational than just referring to people’s guilt feeling. Moreover she seems to be slightly negatively positioned towards the wording, which she assumes will not work in connection to this specific tax theme: N: But that works if everyone else was wearing these trainers and you would be like ‘I want those trainers’. But with ‘everyone is paying their taxes’… You have to do that anyway so (ll. 929-930).

Other respondents come with further recommendations as to how the strategy should be formed in order to attract them: T: I feel both of them are asking for some very nice graffiti (l. 940)! J: Yeah (l. 942)! T: Then they would be more kind of comical (l. 944).

These respondents seem to be requesting a fun factor (see example five p. 51) that will make them more interested in the subject and the communicated message. ‘T’ refers to his request with the words nice and comical, which indicate a favourable emotion and attitude towards a more visually creative communication product than the one presented, since nice is a positive attitude factor (Batra, 1991: 163) and as comical can be related to fun as an activity originating from the positive emotion happiness (Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 1989: 121). Additionally, ‘T’ expresses a strong unfavourable attitude directly towards the presented example as he illustrates that it makes him angry: I would like to see a name attached to this like Tony Blair or quoted by ‘xx’, so I can direct my anger at someone (ll. 966-967).

His reference to anger suggests that he distances himself from the wording and the contained theme, thus illustrating a negative attitude towards example number ten despite the fact that it is phrased differently and less direct than example nine. Moreover, when further describing their opinion of example ten, the

 

 

p.  64  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

respondents used phrases such as: I don’t think it’s necessary (‘A’ in l. 981) and It’s just a waste of time (‘J’ in l. 984). These utterance can be connected to the negative the attitude factor meaningless (Batra, 1991: 163), as it relates to how the communication product is purposeless and unsuccessful, as most people who want to give back to society will already be paying them (taxes) naturally (‘J’ in ll. 10101011). ‘A’ further includes strategy example nine when she describes both textual strategies as a bit aggressive (l. 1004), however, she also refers to example ten as a bit nicer (l. 1006) than number nine. This positions her more positive towards the nudge including a social influence strategy than towards the previous traditional wording, as nice is regarded as a positive attitude factor according to Batra (1991: 163). When further discussing the example, it was demonstrated that the only difference between the descriptions of example nine and ten is that number nine is considered to be slightly more positively motivational because of its reference to social influence: N: It is more effective because it is more positive. Even though it is not completely, then it is more positive. It is that group thing, that if everyone else is doing it, then I better do it (ll. 1065-1066).

Despite this aspect, the two strategies are considered to be very similar, because of the theme they touch upon. Thus the respondents indicate that they would be more positively positioned towards a different communicative approach: T: I got fined big time in Denmark. Like one day late (l. 1077)! Me: They also used another strategy saying… ‘Pay your taxes in time or lose your car’ (l. 1079)? J: That would work (l. 1081)! N: Yeah, it is a bit scary but (l. 1083)…

Even though the respondents mostly comment on the assumed effect of the suggested strategy form, their expressions still reflect a more positive position towards this approach, as they assumed the suggested fine-approach would be more successful. This is assumedly because it includes specific and relatable consequences, which is what other respondents requested in strategy example number four: N: There are no consequences with this. It’s like ’Please use the bin’, but it’s not gonna change your mind (l. 240-241).

Accordingly, the respondents indicate that the new suggested strategy would be successful as the included consequences of a fine make the message highly relevant for the receiver. And according to Sepstrup’s

 

 

p.  65  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

(2010: 171-172) relevance criteria this will result in more attention being paid to the message. This does not entail, however, that the respondents are more positively positioned towards being targets of this suggested message themselves, but it merely indicates the respondents’ positive attitude towards the most successful lettering strategy. Example ten is, similarly to strategy nine, regarded as unnecessary and aggressive because of the theme of tax payment. Therefore, the respondents are moderately negatively positioned towards the communicated message, merely because of its theme and their associations with it. They only vaguely express a more positive attitude towards example ten because it includes references to social influence making it slightly more motivational and obliging than example nine. Respondents suggest that a lettering strategy involving focus on consequences would be more effective, thus positioning them more positive towards the strategy of using fines as punishment when handling late tax payers. Additional recommendations and utterances reflecting attitudinal and emotional stances When concluding the interview, all respondents confirmed their unfamiliarity with nudging, after which the concept was explained to them through the pictures shown in the presentation. Subsequently, one respondent then stated that resistance to communication strategies could occur if the approaches involved telling people what they can and cannot do: N: So basically we just do not really like signs telling us what to do. We are like ‘ Oh do this’, but you’re blank if you really do it (ll. 1116-1117).

According to Roux (2007: 61), consumer resistance, as in this case, is the result of an exerted force perceived as unacceptable that produce dissonant and negative emotions towards the subject. In this connection ‘N’ expresses her disliking (do not really like l. 1116) of and resistance to signs telling us what to do (l. 1117) and further refers to the fact that people may feel blank or stupid if complying with the message of the sign. ‘N’ clearly demonstrates a negative attitude and emotional stance on the signs and messages directly instructing her in certain behaviour. When concluding the interview with final remarks about the presented social marketing communication products, the respondents add some extra observations after reflecting upon the presented examples and their own reactions to it. For instance, ‘A’ adds the observation that strategy example number four is weird from her perspective: I was just going to say that example number four is weird. That one annoys me. The litter is like; he is putting loads of litter in, falling… I don’t know (ll. 1143-1144).

 

 

p.  66  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

The respondent is clearly annoyed by the example because of the way it is depicted. She seems to prefer fewer details in the drawing, as it is the amount of litter that annoys her causing her to have a negative attitude towards the sign. Subsequently, as the occurring word annoying is defined as a negative attitude factor in Batra’s list (1991: 167), it is argued that ‘A’ demonstrates a moderately negative attitude towards example number four by using the word in her utterance. When discussing the different littering control strategies used in England, ‘N’ adds to the observation that signs similar to example four do not cause reflective thinking: It is not like you really look at the sign and think. You omit the text. You just know that he is putting stuff in there (ll. 1152-1153).

This relates to McGuire’s attitude theory (in Percy & Elliott, 2009: 66) stating that attention must be paid to the message and comprehension and acceptance of the message must occur in order for the communication to cause positive attitudes through reflective thinking. In this case, since ‘N’ does not pay attention to the communication execution it is argued that she will not produce any positive attitudes in the communication process. Thus, the message has failed both to make her behave according to the message and to affect her attitude positively merely because of lack of attention to the message content. As argued in the discussion of example three (p. 48), this is caused by the tendency to ignore the messages one is used to seeing. This argument is further supported by ‘A’ who illustrates another perspective on the proper use of the footprints in example number five: If there were footprints everywhere, then obviously it would not work, but if it was just on one of a thousand bins then it would catch your eye (ll. 1202-1203).

According to this, ‘A’ assumes that certain messages and signs only gets the attention needed if they are placed in a limited number of areas instead of in all places where the message would be relevant. Then people would assumedly pay more attention to the subject and accordingly be more open and positive towards its message. T: But I mean, in Copenhagen they have got the same thing […] They have also got a big old train line, which they have projected with big neon signs, showing you how to use the space, and that is just really cool! And very graphical and simple. It is like, it is not telling you how to use it, it is just pulling you in the right direction. It is kind of nice (ll. 1211-1215).

 

 

p.  67  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

A: I don’t know, but I think targeting people towards things does work. Only if it is one in a thousand bins it works but… Have you heard about the few male urinals in service stations in the UK (ll. 1217-1219)? Me: The fly in the urinal (l. 1221)? A: I have not heard of a fly but it’s like, what’s it called (l. 1223)… C: Yeah, I have heard of the fly (l. 1225). A: It is a bull’s eye! It is like a proper game or something in the sub, and you get like points and stuff (ll. 1227-1228). T: That sounds kind of cool, I like that (l. 1230). A: I think ?? not that I would be in there, but you know (l. 1232)! *laughing* (l. 1234). T: That it’s trying to teach people how to piss straight (l.1236)? A: Yeah, it does work, and I think it’s the novelty factor as it would not work forever, and it would not work if it were everywhere. But I think it does work (ll. 1238-1239).

Additionally, other examples of nudging are discussed in the quotes above, first of all in relation to ‘T’s addition of how the train line in Copenhagen guides people to take a certain action by using graphics and neon colours. He further connects the positive word cool (synonym to nice in Batra 1991: 163) to the example illustrating his liking of this communication method. Second of all, ‘A’ emphasises the example of the bulls’ eye in the urinal as a communication product and illustrates her positive associations by using does work as a synonym to the positive attitude factor useful (Batra, 1991: 163). Further, her positive attitude towards the nudging example was also illustrated in her statement that she believes this way of targeting people towards a certain action, does work, as long as the communication execution includes a novelty factor (ll.1217-1219 and 1238-1239). Another thing affecting how these communication examples are perceived by the respondents, and which attitudes that are developed, are the physical surroundings and the receiver’s social peers: J: […] I have not told him about the bin, and you know ‘this is what happens and you put your rubbish in’. He just puts the rubbish in himself because he sees me doing it. So if we do it, and everybody else does it, it just becomes as it is (ll. 1156-1158) Me: Like we are each other’s social peers and we do what everybody else is doing? Or some of us are (l. 1160). A: Yeah, like little sheep. Except from all the rebels (l. 1162).

This contributes to the suggestion that the social influence from the respondents’ peers or a group dynamic can affect how their attitudes towards the different communication products are formed, both when meeting the strategies in their everyday lives but also in this specific interview situation. With this in mind, it is essential to mention that attitudes created by social influence can also backfire in resistance (Simons & Jones, 2011: 225-226), which was demonstrated during the interview when especially one of the respondents wanted to present himself as resistant to one of the strategy examples after listening to the

 

 

p.  68  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

other respondents’ reactions to them. When the subject of example number five is resumed he suddenly refers to the footprints towards the litterbin as a bad and tacky idea: T: I think signs actually cost the similar amount as a bin, and I do not think the footprints were a particularly good idea. I think it is a little tacky (ll. 1192-1193).

Previously he did not distance himself from this nudging example as strongly as in this case. He merely stated that it could be confused with street art and supported ‘J’ in her point that it was crucial that the visuals fit into their surroundings (see example five p. 51). However, after obtaining the given knowledge about nudging as a communicative strategy, he then refers to the painted footprints with negative words reflecting a negative attitude towards the strategy example. As not good is similar to bad (Batra, 1991: 163) it is argued that ‘T’ takes on a negative attitude towards this specific example after reflectively thinking about his own and his co-respondents’ reactions to the footprints. However, he subsequently suggests that a neon light on top of the bin would change his view of it and make it more appealing to him (ll. 1205-1215). As a final remark and a recommendation for further use of nudging, ‘A’ agrees that she is more positively positioned towards communicative strategies that makes her wonder (ll. 1258-1259). Hereafter, ‘T’ exemplifies that a group of architects are going to make a big container at the train station, collecting the released CO2 in the area and which will release the CO2 as vapour when a ton is collected. The goal is to make people aware of how much a ton of CO2 is, thus trying to reduce the daily production of the substance. By communicating this message by creating an experience for the receiver, the audience becomes more attentive and interested in the message, as the message thus is employed in the receiver’s real world experiences (Messaris, 1997: ix). The following quotations illustrate the respondents’ excitement about the mentioned project. T: So whenever you have an advert saying ‘This releases ten or a hundred tons of CO2 every year’ then you have an idea of what that means (ll. 1302-1303). N: Yeah (l. 1305). A: Well, and you cannot see the effects you have on things, but this is like a real visual impact, then it will make you think more (l. 1307-1308). J: I want to see it now (l. 1310)! N: Me too (l. 1312)!

‘A’ seems to indicate that she is positively positioned towards communication forms that makes her think reflectively about the message by using visuals giving her real life associations to the communicated

 

 

p.  69  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

message (l. 1307-1308). ‘J’ on the other hand, is merely fascinated by the experience of the project, as she states that she wants to see the CO2 getting released right away (l. 1310). Conclusively, these reflections upon communication strategies creating experiences contribute to the theory of Messaris that involves using visual features that provide links and shortcuts to the receiver’s real life associations in order to simplify the interpretation process (Messaris, 1997: ix). According to this, it is argued that the included respondents are somewhat more positively positioned towards creative visuals in social marketing messages, as it provides them with real life associations and experiences.

4.3 Discussion When going through the different communication examples of the PowerPoint show, it was clear that deviations occurred in the respondents’ utterances and opinions of the nudging and non-nudging examples, respectively. Communication example number one was a text-based sign instructing people to turn off the light. The respondents’ utterances in this perspective reflected a negative attitudinal position towards this particular example as all respondents except one referred to it with negative attitude factors included in their utterances. ‘J’ regarded the sign as easy to understand in the context, thus representing a positive attitude towards the communication product as the only one in the group. This primarily supported the assumption that consumers are quite sceptical of and overlooking non-nudging communication products. When considering the form and content of communication example number two, it was expected that the respondents liked this sign slightly more than the prior one, since it had a bright salmon pink colour that would easily attract people’s attention. However, this example seemed to confuse the respondents more than it beneficially encouraged them through its message. It was described to lack information and to be rubbish in itself without a connection to further campaign material. This demonstrated a strong negative attitudinal position and negative emotions of dissatisfaction, as it was not presented in any relevant context and lacked further information. However, if this specific message was located in places relevant to the encouragement of reducing CO2, then the example was assumed to create more positive emotions and attitudes. Conclusively, the lack of relevance and context seemed to be the primary problem in connection with this example, hence causing it to establish negative emotions and attitudes held by the respondents.

 

 

p.  70  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

When presenting the third communication example, and the first nudge, to the focus group the initial reactions and utterances reflected favourable attitudes and emotions towards it. Where one respondent said that the green colour and the lack of text was entailing the positive reception, other respondents said it was the simplicity and the placement next to a light switch that made it very relevant and comprehensible in the specific context. Nevertheless, if the receiver was used to seeing this sign, he would not be as astonished by it, and thus not nearly as engaged in its message. From this, it is concluded that the response to this specific example illustrated that simple, creative graphics lacking text are associated with positive feelings and attitudes if used in contexts closely related to the sign’s message. If the communication products were regarded as new and created astonishment in any way, the respondents would be more positively attitudinally positioned than if they were used to seeing it. It is essential to emphasise the first three presented examples all revolved around the theme of reducing CO2 release. However, only the third strategy example evoked a majority of positive attitudes and emotions because of the way it communicated the message through a context relevant nudging communication product. Example number four was an ordinary litter control sign from the UK. The respondents’ reactions illustrated clear negative attitudes or even indifference to this specific sign. Even though the sign contained creative elements such as an illustration, it was still claimed to be useless as it was argued that people, who were too used to seeing it would disregard the sign. The theme of litter control however, was positively received, but the respondents demanded the message to be communicated in a different way to make people notice it more. The focus group clearly agreed that out-dated and lecturing signs cause people to hold a negative attitude towards them, and must be changed often in order for people to notice and engage in the message. Another essential result of the data analysis was the reactions to the second nudge example presented to the interviewees. The utterances of the respondents proved to reflect positive attitudes and emotions towards the specific communication product, as they all stated to like the visuals because they associated them with fun and positive emotions. However, this reaction was strongly dependent on the context of the communication product, and whether or not it fitted into its surroundings. In this specific case presented, the footprints were placed in a suitable area where it did not disturb the visual balance of its surroundings, thus establishing positive associations with the communication product. Contrariwise, after being explained what nudging is, one respondent was suddenly negatively positioned towards the footprint nudge. The argument for this is that people do not want to feel they are being lead or being told what to do, and this can eventually lead to resistance to the communicated message (Simons and Jones, 2011:225226). But during the discussion it was also stated that targeting people instead of lecturing them does work in a majority of social marketing cases. The utterances about this nudging example support the

 

 

p.  71  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

hypothesis that these consumers are more positively positioned towards nudging as a communication strategy, compared to the scepticism they demonstrated towards the previous text-based and more lecturing sign. Again, this illustrates that even though the messages of example four and five pursued to reduce littering in the street, the nudging strategy example five still evoked more positive attitudes and emotions than the non-nudging example. More scepticism and negative associations were demonstrated in the discussion of a traditional campaign poster promoting a health campaign in the UK. This example created negative associations and emotions similar to those illustrated in connection with example two; the poster was regarded as a bad advert only causing confusion and negative attitudes towards its form. The lettering was found especially negative and discriminating since the slogan get a life - get active would sound degrading to disabled people. Again, this example of non-nudging in social marketing communication demonstrated to cause more negative emotions and attitudes than positive. However, it was noted that the poster might have some sort of effect on some people, because it made them feel guilty to act against the message. The poster may have been received with more favourable attitudes if presented to the intended target audience; elders. An interesting finding when discussing the nudging visuals in example seven and eight was, that these nudges were met by a mix of positive and negative attitudes and emotions. Initially, it was assumed that the respondents would be very positive about these communication products as they only included minimal amounts of text and primarily consisted of visuals. However, some respondents demonstrated negative attitudes as well. Example seven was initially negatively defined as rude by one respondent, while other respondents positively regarded it as fun and even hilarious. However, despite the attribute of fun, the communication product also met some negative responses stating that it was discouraging and making people feel guilty when acting against the communicated message. In this connection, it is essential to mention example eight as a more appropriate nudge as it primarily evoked positive attitudes and emotions by being encouraging and appealing, especially to the female respondents, who could relate to the theme of counting calories. Again, this proves that this nudged encouragement of taking the stairs was associated with more positive attitudes and emotions than the non-nudging example six, where the theme and message of the poster was the same. This illustrates that a fun visual novelty, such as signs informing about the amount of calories you burn per step, is associated with more positive thoughts and feelings, than a text-based slogan that makes people feel guilty. Even though the male respondents could not relate to the theme of counting calories, they were still more positively positioned towards example seven and eight than towards the traditional communication product in example six dealing with the same theme as the two mentioned nudges.

 

 

p.  72  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Finally, the lettering examples, one non-nudging and one nudging example, were discussed, and the results of this were very similar to each other even though they were based upon two different strategies. Example number nine was a direct request asking late taxpayers to pay their taxes in time. It was connected to the slogan give back to society in order to make the request more justifiable and digestible for the receivers of the letter. However, the over all theme of tax payment was badly received among the respondents who described the communicated message as depressing and who generally expressed negative attitudes and feelings towards it. This was because the respondents did not feel they were the intended target audience, as they stated that they were all paying taxes in time. Since the relevance criteria were not fulfilled in this specific example, the respondents took a strong distance to the theme and message by expressing negative attitudes and emotions when sharing their opinions in the discussion. This was also the case in the discussion of example number ten, even though the lettering was based on a social influence nudge. In prior cases in the UK, this lettering received positive feedback, and had an immense effect on late taxpayers. However, in this case the respondents only felt slightly more positively positioned towards the nudged lettering. Both lettering examples were perceived as negative and aggressive, however, example number ten was regarded to be slightly nicer and more positive than the reproachful number nine. Conclusively, the respondents recommended that late taxpayers should be fined for paying taxes late or that the communication should involve simple and colourful graphics to make it more approachable, diminishing the prejudiced negative attitudes connected to the theme of tax payment. Thus it was found that consequences in this case, would establish more relevance to the message, as the reason to act upon it then would be to avoid the fine. Moreover, one respondent stated that visual features of the communication product would evoke more positive attitudes in connection with the reception of the message, as they provided the communication process with short cuts to the receiver’s real life associations. Finally, these reflections on the presented communication examples contribute to and support the theory that consumers are moderately more positively positioned towards nudges than towards nonnudging in social marketing communication. During the discussion of the findings, it is indicated that nudging appeals more to consumers as this phenomenon indirectly communicates with people by giving them information instead of giving direct instructions and prohibitions. Since consumers do not like to be told what to do the indirect communication strategy is received with more positive attitudes and emotions. Further, the creative visuals often connected to nudging strategies provide short cuts to the consumer’s real life associations and accordingly simplify the interpretation process of the message. Additionally, the visual characteristics attract the consumer’s unconsciousness in other ways that non-nudging

 

 

p.  73  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

communication cannot because consumers are used to overlooking these traditional communication products. More importantly, when nudging strategies incorporate a fun or astonishing factor, they are more engaging and easier to memorise than nudges excluding fun factors, such as lettering nudges. Positive attitudes and emotions are thus associated with nudging if the consumer feels astonished, curious or entertained by the communication. However, as illustrated with example seven, fun nudges can also be connected to negative feelings and attitudes if they are perceived to be condescending towards a specific vulnerable consumer segment, such as obese people. In relation to this theme, example eight was a far better nudge, as it did not differ obese from slender people but was targeted at everyone who thought it was relevant. This investigation also illustrated that consumers only were slightly less sceptic towards textual nudges than towards non-nudging texts. Therefore, there is no breeding ground for concluding that consumers are positively positioned towards all kinds of nudges, but there are still strong indications that nudges incorporating fun and attention drawing attributes are easier to engage in, and more positively received by consumers than non-nudging communication products. However, consumers can also get too used to seeing a specific nudge, which will result in the establishment of negative attitudes leading to indifference to this communication strategy. This thesis proves that consumers are positively surprised and entertained by being communicated with in a different manner than they are used to. But what if all policy makers engaged in nudging their messages to the public? That could be the beginning of a so called ‘slippery slope’ (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008: 226), where no one can differ relevant nudges from irrelevant nudges, and thus the consumers would become more indifferent to this communication strategy as well. Consequently, in order to prolong consumers’ positive perception and reception of nudges as a social marketing strategy, it is argued that marketers must be very careful not to take advantage of this communication strategy, and must only use nudges to help people make better choices for themselves. Further, nudged messages must also be altered and moderated every few years, in order for the public to sustain their positive attitudes and curiosity towards the communication form.

 

 

p.  74  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

5. Conclusion As stated in the introduction, the purpose of this thesis is to confirm or deny the hypothesis that consumers are more positively positioned towards nudging as a social marketing communication strategy than towards non-nudging social marketing communication strategies. Further, the thesis investigates to what extent the communicative nudges are able to create more positive message attitudes and emotional associations compared to strategies that do not nudge and what the reason for this can be. The scientific theoretical approach of social constructivism forms the underlying basis for the chosen methods to reach a conclusion to the problem statement. First of all, the social constructivist approach illustrates how hypermodern consumers and their tendencies in educated society are defined in relation to their interaction with each other. Second of all, this perspective also affects how consumers are described react to and perceive certain communication products and strategies. Through previous research it has been demonstrated that traditional social marketing communication strategies have not managed to accommodate consumers’ current demands of authentic and engaging communication. Conversely, nudges that incorporated attention drawing and consumer engaging attributes were proved to be more effective than other overlooked communication products. The reason for this effectiveness is believed to be a high susceptibility and positive attitudes towards untraditional communication among consumers. However, this hypothesis needs to be confirmed or denied through the methods incorporated in this thesis. The methodological approach is founded on a theoretical intersection between approaches of identifying attitudinal and emotional positions indicated in expressed language. In order to produce theory-obliging data, a focus group interview is conducted in which five nudging and five non-nudging social marketing communication products are presented to five respondents. To conclude if these respondents have positive or negative opinions of the concerning strategies, their most essential utterances are integrated in a discourse analysis using the two theoretical frameworks identifying positive and negative attitudinal and emotional terminology. Throughout the analysis it is demonstrated that the respondents are fairly positively positioned towards the majority of the nudging examples. And even though the non-nudging examples revolve around the exact same themes as the nudging examples, it is demonstrated that they are all connected to negative opinions, often because the respondents have seen the respective examples numerous of times or because they included text. It is clear that the respondents evaluate all examples on essential requirements to the communication products. The requirements concerned whether or not the examples relate to the physical context, draw

 

 

p.  75  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

attention, evoke astonishment, are funny, are relevant and finally, whether or not they are different from what the consumers are used to seeing. All presented nudges, except the text-based example ten, comply with at least one of these requirements. The negative position to the text-based nudge is concluded to be a result of the respondents’ negative associations to the theme of tax-payment. Additionally, all non-nudging communication examples are demonstrated not to correspond to the requirements to the communication products. During the discussion this is illustrated to be caused by the consumers’ indifference to these communication examples and their incapability of evoking astonishment. Thus, when reflecting upon their opinions of the traditional communication examples, the respondents express negative attitudes and emotions because they usually overlook these communication products. Conclusively, through a discourse analysis of the respondents’ utterances, it is proven that British consumers are more positively positioned towards and more susceptible to social marketing messages if they are presented to them through a nudge. This is especially because of nudging’s capability of evoking astonishment trough creative visuals and attracting attention in relevant context, which establishes positive cognitive evaluations and short cuts to real life associations in the minds of the consumer. Finally, it was also demonstrated that British consumers tend to overlook and be negative towards the communication forms they are used to. In this perspective, it must be recommended that nudges have to be moderated and changed fairly often to prevent the nudges from being overlooked as social marketing messages. Additionally, as consumers’ requirements to marketing communication are eternally evolving, it is essential to future choice architects to investigate how long consumers can be exposed to a specific nudge before they become so indifferent to this communication form that they would merely overlook the nudge as well. Finally, it is essential to note that the data limitations of the thesis at hand disable the finding of generalised results, as the investigated data is based on one single focus group of five interviewees. Nevertheless, the thesis does illustrate strongly indicated tendencies of British consumers’ attitudes to the differing nudging and non-nudging communication strategies, as the focus group interview explores the interviewees’ profound reflections. Conclusively, nudging marks a shift in new communicative demands in social marketing communication, as the demonstrated consumer attitudes reflect a need for more authentic and audience engaging communication. As nudging is a concept only beginning to take hold in social marketing communication, there is still no final scope that determines nudging’s generic influences on consumers, but the thesis at hand does offer insight into consumers’ current perceptions and opinions of the evolving communication phenomenon.

 

 

p.  76  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

6. References Andersen, K. (2013) Four Ways We Sway Others and Get Swayed. Available from: http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/2013/05/27/four-ways-we-sway-others-and-get-swayed/ (Accessed on 09-062013) Argyriou, E. and Melewar. T.C. (2011) Consumer Attitudes Revisited: A Review of Attitude Theory in Marketing Research in International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 13, 431–451, British Academy of Management Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D. and Akert, R. M. (2010) Chapter review: Chapter 7: Attitudes and Attitude Change: Influencing Thoughts and Feelings. Available from: http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_aronson_socpsych_5/18/4780/1223905.cw/-/1223965/index.html (Accessed on 20-112013) Augoustinos, M. and Walker, I. (1995) Social Cognition - An Integrated Approach, London: Sage. Batra, R. (1991) Measuring the Hedonic and Utilitarian Sources of Consumer Attitudes in Marketing Letters 2:2, Kluwer Academic Publishers BBC News Wales (2013) Footprint art on pavements to tackle litter problem, Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21769616 (Accessed on 09-07-2013) Bosson, J. K., Johnson, A. B., Niederhoffer, K. and Swann, W. B. (2006) Interpersonal Chemistry through Negativity: Bonding by Sharing Negative Attitudes about Others in Personal Relationships, Vol. 13, Issue 2. USA Crano, D. W. And Prislin R. (2006). Attitudes and Persuasion, in Annual review of psychology, Vol. 57, No. 1, Pp. 345 – 374, United States Dailey-O’Cain, J. and Liebscher, G. (2011) Language attitudes, migrant identities and space, in International Journal of the Sociology of Language, No. 212 pp. 91–133 Eagly, A. H., Mladinic, A. and Otto, S. (1991). Are Women Evaluated More Favorably Than Men?: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Emotions, in Psychology of Women Quarterly. No. 15. SAGE. Fardal, J. (2012) Tokyo Hike-ability – Small Change, Available from: http://tokyohikeability.blogspot.dk/2012_09_01_archive.html (Accessed on 9-7-2013) Felsen, G., Castelo, N., Reiner, P. B. (2013). Decisional enhancement and autonomy: public attitudes towards overt and covert nudges, in Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 8, No. 3, May 2013, pp. 202–213 Firat, A. F. and Venkatesh A. (1993). Postmodernity: The age of Marketing, in International Journal of Research in Marketing, 10th ed. Pp. 227 – 249

 

 

p.  77  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Frandsen, F., Johansen, W. and Nielsen, A. (2005) International markedskommunikation I en postmoderne verden, 1st ed. 5th vol. Academia, Nørhaven book, Viborg Gass, R.H., & Seiter, J.S. (2007). Persuasion, social influence, and compliance gaining, 3rd ed. Boston, Pearson Gilmore, J. H. and Pine, B. J. (2007). Authenticity – What consumers really want, Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business School Press, 2007 Hausman D. M., & Welch, B. (2010) Debate: To Nudge or not to Nudge, in The Journal of Political Philosophy, Volume 18, Number 1, 2010 Hansen, P. G. (2012) Nudging by descriptive norms, Available from: http://www.inudgeyou.com/nudging-bydescriptive-social-norms/ (Accessed on 9-7-2013) Hansen, P. G. (2013) A fruitful nudge towards a healthy diet, Available from: http://www.inudgeyou.com/afruitful-nudge-towards-a-healthy-diet/ (Accessed 9/24/2013) Hansen, P. G. and Jespersen, A. M. (2012). Skraldespanden set indefra, Available from: http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/nudging-paa-gadeplan (Accessed on 10-15-2013) Hansen, P. G. and Jespersen, A. M. (2013) Nudge and the Manipulation of Choice – A Framework for the Responsible Use of the Nudge Approach to Behaviour Change in Public Policy, in European Journal of Risk Regulation, Vol. 1, p. 3-28 iNudgeyou. (2012). Green Footprints [online] Available from: http://www.inudgeyou.com/green-footsteps/ (Accessed on 11-03-2012) iNudgeyou. (2013). UK Nudge Unit [online] Available from:  http://www.inudgeyou.com/category/posts/uknudge-unit/ (Accessed on 10-03-2013) John, P., Smith, G., & Stoker, G. (2009). Nudge Nudge, Think Think: Two Strategies for Changing Civic Behaviour. Institute for Political and Economic Governance, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester Kvale, S, and Brinkmann, S. (2008). Interview - Introduktion til et håndværk, 2nd ed. 2nd, Vol. Copenhagen, Denmark: Hans Reitzels Publications Lasting Impressions (2013) Please use the bins provided, Available from: http://www.lastingimpressionsonline.co.uk/please-use-bins-provided-sign (Accessed on: 09-07-2013) Learning Development (2001). Research and Thesis Writing, By Learning Resource Centre, University of Wollongong. Available from: http://learning.uow.edu.au/resources/LD/thesis3.pdf (Accessed on 22-08-2013) Ly K., Mažar N., Zhao M. And Soman D., (2013), A Practitioner’s Guide to Nudging, in Research Report Series: Behavioural Economics in Action, Rotman School of Management , University of Toronto Mangold, W. G., and Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix, Businees Horizons, Volume 52, Issue 4, July–August 2009, pp. 357–365 Martin, S. (2012) 98% of HBR Readers Love This Article, Harvard Bussiness Review, Available from: http://hbr.org/2012/10/98-of-hbr-readers-love-this-article/ar/1 (Accessed on 09-14-2013)

 

 

p.  78  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

Messaris, P. (1997) Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising, London: Sage. Monnerup, A. L. (2013) Et mere nuanceret syn på mennesket - Nudgingdebatten kunne have gavn af en psykologisk tilgang, Available from: http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/nudging-debatten-kunne-havegavn-af-en-psykologisk-tilgang (Accessed on 09-12-2013) Nationalarchives.gov.uk (2010). Save Money Save Energy, Available from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407022214/direct.gov.uk/en/environmentandgreenerliving/energya ndwatersaving/index.htm (Accessed on 10-12-2013) Nygaard, C. (2012) Samfundsvidenskabelige analysemetoder, 1st ed. 5th Vol., Frederiksberg C: Forlaget Samfundslitteratur. Paul A. Herbig, Hugh Kramer, (1994). The Effect of Information Overload on the Innovation Choice Process: Innovation Overload, in Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 11, Issue: 2, pp.45 – 54 Percy, L. and Elliott, R. (2009). Strategic Advertising Management, 3rd ed. Oxford University Press Pigeon, M. A. (2013). Nudging our way forward one decision at a time, in Policy Options, Available at: http://www.irpp.org/en/po/nudge-experiments-in-human-nature/nudging-our-way-forward/ (Accessed on 09-242013) Public Health Agency(2006) What are you waiting for? Try walking instead. Get a lift by walking your way to health, Public Health Agency, Available from: http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/Resources/physicalactivity/walkinsteadNov06.html (Accessed on 0707-2013) Roux, D. (2007). Consumer resistance: proposal for an integrative framework in Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 4th ed. Vol. 22, Paris. Sepstrup, P. (2010). Tilrettelæggelse af information : kommunikations- og kampagneplanlægning, 4th ed. Århus : Academica Simons, W. H. & Jones, J. G. (2011). Persuasion in Society, 2nd ed. Routhledge, New York Smith, P. & Taylor, J. (2004). Marketing Communications: An Integrated Approach, Kogan Page Publishers Soman, D. (2013). Making policy through a behavioural lens, in Policy Options. Retrieved on September 24th 2013. Available at http://www.irpp.org/en/po/nudge-experiments-in-human-nature/behavioural-lens/ Stop-Painting.com (2013). Turn off Lights, Available from http://stop-painting.com/offlights1.html (Accessed on 10-12-2013) Thaler, R. And Sunstein, C. (2011) Eco reminders for your light switches, Available from: http://nudges.org/tag/environment/ (Accessed on 09-06-2013) Thaler , R. And Sunstein, C. (2008). Nudge- Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, Yale University Press, New Haven Thesaurus (2013) Online Synonym an Antonym Dictionary, Available from: http://thesaurus.com/ (Accessed on 10-08-2013)

 

 

p.  79  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

The Cabinet Office. (2013). Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving, Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/203286/BIT_Charitable_Giving_Pap er.pdf (Accessed on 09-26-2013) The Telegraph View. (2013). Nudging government in the right direction, Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10030635/Nudging-government-inthe-right-direction.html (Accessed 912-2013) Vicsek, L. (2010). Issues in the Analysis of Focus Groups: Generalisability, Quantifiability, Treatment of Context and Quotations, in The Qualitative Report Vol. 15 No. 1 pp. 122-141 Wood, M. (2012). Marketing Social Marketing in Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 94-102, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

 

 

p.  80  

The Nudge Evolution

27/12/2013

APPENDICES

 

 

p.  81