A Simple Nudge
A nudge is basically a small intervention that influences certain kind of action from you. The concept was popularized by economist Richard Thaler’s 2007 book “Nudge”. He later won a Nobel Prize for it.
The grand success of nudge theory can be observed in its effectiveness in encouraging people to save more for retirement, or for volunteering for organ donation.
These are large scale campaigns that have had massive positive impact on people’s lives. But there is a rather a cute and simple nudge that is very popular as well.
“Fly in the urinal” is a concept first introduced in Schipol Airport — Amsterdam.
It’s exactly what it sounds like.
The authorities stick a decal of a fly in Men’s bathroom urinals. Somewhere very close to the bowl. The sticker causes a person to aim at it while peeing.
This intervention works on the wonderful insight that guys love to “aim and shoot.”
This tiny hilarious nudge has been known to reduce “spillage” by up to 85%. (I am not sure how do you measure spillage of a urinal)
There is a company that sells them now as well. You can stick decals and stickers of various kinds in your own bathroom urinal and solve your “spillage” problems.
Listen to this 5 minute podcast from NPR from 2009 that explains the idea further. What stands out most is that there was scope of reducing spillage by so much in the first place. That is truly irrational behavior, and it can be fixed with such tiny interventions displays the true power of Nudge theory.
There’s A Fly In My Urinal | NPR
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