Tired of the constant problem of urine on toilet floors, Aad Kieboom from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol decided in the early 90s to place a small photorealistic house fly near the urinal drain to give people something to aim at. It reduced urinal spillage by an astonishing 80 percent and resulted in an 8 percent reduction in bathroom cleaning costs at the airport.
The fly is one of the most famous examples of a ‘nudge’. And while the majority of research in this area focuses on the positive impact on behavioural change, less research has looked at unintended or ineffective nudges. Some may even backfire, triggering the opposite target behaviour.
Behavioural theorist Richard Thaler and co-author, Cass Sunstein in a book on the same topic explain that nudges have become an influential marketing and political strategy to deliberately manipulate how choices are presented to decision-makers to steer them toward desired behaviour. Typically, people do not realise they are being nudged.
