Mindshift: Inspiring Behavioral Change

Sidewalks peppered with used cigarette butts are an inevitable sight in many cities. But we've been working to reverse this trend with a little help from our friends at Mindshift, who specialize in the use of research, data, and design to create behavioral change. 

Based in Norway, their scientific research methods inform product and infrastructure design to alter social trends for the better. Philip Morris Nordics commissioned Mindshift to carry out a study on the effects of nudging behavior on adult smokers. 

“People naturally adapt to the environment around them. By changing the design, or the context, you could also help to change behavior,” said Ida Kopperstad, a behavioral scientist at Mindshift.
 

Leading adult smokers in the right direction

To support their mission, the team designed innovative, attention-grabbing refuse installations to reduce the number of cigarette butts on the ground and encourage adult smokers to dispose of their butts responsibly. 

They placed bright yellow footprints on the pavements to lead adult smokers to conveniently placed, hand-level cigarette bins. These vibrant bins were designed to catch the interest of adult smokers at the most opportune moment. Coupled with the addition of a football-based question incorporated in the design, this ensured that adult smokers were engaged in the act of binning their butts.

The focus of the project was to capture the attention of adult smokers and use design to change their waste disposal behaviors—specifically cigarette butts—in one of the busiest areas of Oslo. 

Using scientific methodology, the team at Mindshift found that the high-traffic area of Grønland amassed 2.5 times the amount of cigarette butts on sidewalks compared to other areas of the city.*

“Behaviors that are difficult to change are behaviors that are deeply ingrained in daily life,” said Jørgen Dalen, a behavioral scientist at Mindshift.

“There’s a lot of research on visual cues, because people tend to naturally adapt and change if they see that things around them change.” 

These measures saw an incredible 208-percent increase in smokers using cigarette disposal bins.

“The power of behavioral design,” said Kopperstad, “is that small changes to a product or the environment can have a huge impact on behavior, if it’s done right.”

This project demonstrates the change in behavior that can occur when adult smokers’ attention is caught, and nudging techniques are implemented.