Which Messages Influence our Behavior?

August 9, 2022

My brother and his kids came to visit last weekend. It was great seeing them, but the only place my nephews wanted to eat was Denny’s. Literally. Like, for every meal.

Don’t get me wrong. Judging by the breakfast crowd, they are not the only ones who feel that way. My real concern was that, as someone who last visited Denny’s during the Clinton administration, it might consign me to a few hours of indigestion later in the day. That concern turned out to be well-founded.

While waiting (and waiting…they have the same staffing shortages as everyone else), I was perusing the menu and checking out the published calorie counts. First, this confirmed that it is basically impossible to eat less than 1,000 calories at Denny’s. It also made me think of an article I read a while back about municipalities putting warning messages on gas pumps. The idea is that the pumps have a sticker that says burning gasoline is bad for the environment and contributes to climate change.

Would seeing that on a regular basis cause someone to burn less gas? As an investor, I find the question interesting because of the behavioral element. We are always thinking about ways, including messaging and visuals, to help clients avoid classic behavioral errors like chasing the hot stock or panic selling.

In the case of the restaurant menu, I can say that the messaging does shift behavior, at least in my case. Since menus started to list them, I’ve often considered calorie counts when deciding what to order. At Denny’s, it nudged me toward the vegetable omelet instead of some of the larger gut bombs I was considering.

I’m less sure that the gas pump message would have an impact. If you’re at a gas pump, you are there because you need to buy gas. There isn’t a whole lot of immediate choice there, so the behavioral switch being targeted is a longer-term, more permanent one.

I bet most people who quit smoking probably do so because of a general understanding that it’s expensive and really bad for you rather than because of the explicit warning written on the cigarette pack. The gas pump example seems closer to that. Perhaps seeing the warning repeatedly could make some people think harder about buying an electric vehicle, but high gas prices and other economic and health incentives are probably more effective in achieving mass adoption.

I’m sure some also feel that this type of messaging is an over-reaching attempt to control our decisions. It’s understandable to not want to be preached at or manipulated, although it doesn’t bother me too much personally. When I buy the least healthy thing on the menu, at least it’s an informed decision. But it does make you think about the number of cues we are receiving every day, both consciously and unconsciously, and about which of those are most likely to impact the choices we make.