The problem-solving power in contradiction.
For Goodness Sakes recently produced an outdoor and digital display campaign for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council. And as we prepare for the outdoor boards to go up across the country, I’m reminded of the most essential element in any behavior changing endeavor: Relentless Optimism.
First off, don’t confuse this with willful naiveté. I’m the last to advocate tinting your eyewear in any capacity. I’m simply talking about facing entrenched problems rooted in negative behaviors with the dogged belief that there IS a solution.
The relentless optimist knows that the easiest thing to do is point out why an idea won’t work. The problem is too persistent. The issue’s causes are too complex. The solution is too time-consuming, expensive or unrealistic. But the “can’t, won’t, don’t” cadre never solved anything.
Every time we’re handed something that seems impossible, I know it’s going to get good eventually. Most recently, the steep hill my colleagues and I faced was the problem of distracted driving. It’s been a struggle for decades. It used to be changing radio stations, quieting down the kids, or managing one’s morning coffee. Then came the cell phone. It got worse. Then came texting. It got much worse.
Texting while driving is both an epidemic and a behavioral science playground. False risk perception: “It’s not that risky.” Habituation makes responding to a text an automatic reflex. Peer influence shapes the habit as a social norm. And we think that we can effectively multitask, despite research that proves this is an illusion.
There have been countless ad campaigns pointing out that texting while driving is dangerous, even deadly. But we know one thing for certain: Fear is almost always an unsuccessful peddler of truth. There’s behavioral science around this maxim as well, it’s called optimism bias. We believe the worst-case scenario won’t happen to us. And the more dramatic the depicted catastrophe, the more immune we believe we are.
So, there are the reasons tackling texting while driving is hard. Every issue has its own list. I like to write them down. Then I label them excuses and move on. In tackling an implacable issue, the next step is to identify contradictory beliefs and behaviors.
Change Your Settings
In doing this work, the team at For Goodness Sakes was inspired to change the settings on our phones to Safe Driving Mode. It’s the most simple, direct action you can take to help prevent texting while driving, and we encourage you to activate it on your phones, as well.
With texting while driving, the sense of urgency is heightened exponentially when the message is from the people we care about most. Our brain’s System 1 thinking signals us that the message (literally) can’t wait. The paradox is that the people closest to us are the last ones who would want us taking such risks behind the wheel.
This insight led to outdoor and digital advertising that addresses the ever-present temptation for cell phone usage while operating a vehicle, featuring text messages about loved ones, colleagues and friends that suggest their real point of view about a driver’s phone use. This work caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council, the folks who brought us Smokey the Bear, “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” and “The Truth” anti-tobacco campaign. The Ad Council and the NHTSA began distributing our ads nationally this week in support of Distracted Driving Prevention Month.
As I pen these few paragraphs, I realize that I’m making communications problem-solving sound simple. It isn’t. The jobs we share and the issues we’re working to address are as complex as they are meaningful. It’s no wonder that government and nonprofit agencies are facing record job fatigue and burnout.
But let me offer this as hope. When it comes to communications, you don’t need to stop at overwhelmed. There’s a formula:
1 |
Create a “why it’s hard” list and realize this is a list of excuses that need to be ignored. This is a sound way to overcome defense mechanisms. |
2 |
Identify contradictory thoughts and behaviors. The fancy term for this is cognitive dissonance. It’s the intersection of knowing one thing and doing another. It’s also the foundation of your problem’s solution. |
3 |
Use the paradox that comes with cognitive dissonance to make the problem personal, immediate and solvable. People don’t need to be told what they already know. They need a doable way out. |
4 |
Ask the consumer to do something specific. In our case it was using the technology that created the problem (the phone) to solve it (the phone’s settings). Willpower doesn’t work. Research has proven that we have a limited capacity for it. |
Contradiction is the cornerstone. The good news is that we’re all well versed in contradictions. Identifying them through research is best, but if that’s too daunting, start with some intense role-playing. It might just be fun. Couldn’t we all use a dose of that?
Conflicted as the rest,
Kevin
