Choose Your Own Adventure

While visiting Savannah, GA last week I walked past this display vehicle in front of the police station

This combination of a taxi and a police car has the license NO DUI.

Zooming in for the important details:

This is a powerful visualization between two alternatives: if you have been drinking you can either ride in a cab or ride in a cop car (when you will inevitably be pulled over). The emphasis is on the cost difference between those two choices, rather than (say) the moral obligation to protect others. The binary aspect of the car is a great reframe, suggesting the citizen has the power (via their choice), rather than the police who enforce/catch/punish.

I wonder if there are studies that determine the most effective persuasive messaging, and how choice (i.e., “Click It or Ticket”) works differently than fear or guilt. Intuitively, I would believe that the positive message is more effective, but I’d love to find out more about how these messaging strategies are determined and how the individual messages (such as this car) are created.

Series

About Steve