Weekend Wrap-up #05 - Taking the super out of Super Sundays

Last Sunday saw some amazing sporting action and everyone had their weekend schedule crafted to perfection. 

Unfortunately there is a flip side to this... The Economist wrote last week that abuse reports increased by 26% when the national team won or drew, and by 38% when the team lost.

The last week also saw a lot of content on the subject being shared across chats and social media. 

I have used the model below of the Nuffield Intervention Ladder to look at some of the efforts made towards eliminating this problem. In some cases these are mere suggestions that I have read about though they may not yet me implemented. 

Do nothing or simply monitor the current situation

This, as I think you will all agree, is no longer an option. Let us see what the rest of the steps of the ladder throw up.

Provide information

So I think the bulk of the efforts on the subject are concentrated at this end of the ladder. Take a look at this extremely striking 2018 campaign below. This has being making the rounds on Twitter and WhatsApp this year as well. And it is indeed doing its job in informing and educating the people at large.

Enabling choice

The third step of the ladder is to make it is easier for people to take the necessary steps towards a solution. In this case the primary focus of enabling is on getting people to act against domestic abuse.

This campaign to popularise the 3919 helpline in France shows us how with a slightly higher level of intervention the expected behaviour can me moved a notch ahead and in this case enabling the choice of an individual to call the helpline.

Another very interesting case is that of the My Secret Cosmetics. Take a look at the clip below and then read on about the case. 

In 2010 the Dutch Government launched a hoax range of cosmetics designed specifically to allow women to hide the injuries they sustain when they are battered. The products were branded MySecret Cosmetics.

The online shop was promoted as selling a brand of make-up specifically designed for every woman who has something to hide: a unique range of products that helps mask bruises, seals and shines cut lips and removes blood stains.

Banner ads, mock advertorials on fashion and beauty websites drove traffic to this site. The highlight of the promotion was the above make-believe television interview on a programme called Women & Business. The interview lasted less than 2 minutes, but attracted so much attention that it merited an item 3-minutes long on the evening television news.

In reality, a click on the website revealed the hoax and led to the campaign message: ‘There is a better solution to the problem of domestic violence. Call 0900 126 26 26 for advice and help. Or visit www.steunpunthuiselijkgeweld.nl’.

The campaign has had measurable effects. Phone calls for help increased by between 35% and 50%, and willingness to call rose from 50% to 59%. Knowledge of the available support centres and what to do in cases of domestic violence rose from 6% to 11% among the general public and from 10% to 21% among people already involved in episodes of domestic violence. Willingness to visit the website increased from 58 % to 72 % for the general public and from 63 % to 76 % for victims. This was truly a campaign that enabled choice.

 Guide choice through changing the default

Default options are pre-set courses of action that take effect if nothing is specified by the decision maker (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008), and setting defaults is an effective nudge when there is inertia or uncertainty in decision making (Samson, 2014).

Medical intervention against violence (Model project MIGG), Germany 2008–11 identified in a pilot project, a systematic routine screening procedure to detect domestic violence victims in emergency rooms, and created an intervention model. This covered how to approach women, what the ‘red flags’ to look out for are, where to find information, what the law is and how to prepare documentation for use in court.It identified a systematic routine screening procedure to detect domestic violence victims in emergency rooms and other health departments, supported by comprehensive tailored information and support. Its federal government finance allowed the partners to dedicate to it the time and resources needed to obtain good results.

While this may be not be your classic case of using defaults as a nudge - adding domestic violence screening to the default list at ERs in this pilot project turned out to be very successful, as testified by interviews with both trainers and trainees. 

Guide choice through incentives

An interesting incentive that comes to mind is when The Welsh Rugby Union decided to make the alcohol-free zone at the Principality Stadium a permanent fixture they also enhanced and upgraded it. Spectators were incentivised with superior choice in terms of food and non-alcoholic beverages.

Guide choice through disincentives

The first disincentive that comes to mind while talking of reducing domestic violence is increasing the price of alcohol on match days. Various studies have shown the strong correlation between extended alcohol binges preceding and after sporting action and increased domestic violence.

This WHO report also brings out the correlation between increased alcohol taxes and reduction in abuse.

A 1%increase in the price of an ounce of pure alcohol would reduce the probability of intimate partner violence against women by 5.3%.

The price of alcohol can be increased through increased taxation, state controlled monopolies or implementation of minimum prices for alcohol.

                                          

Restrict Choice

This step in the ladder is about using regulation to restrict the options available to people. The above mentioned article in The Economist outlines suggestions by authors Ria Ivandić, Tom Kirchmaier Neus Torres-Blas in their July 2021in their paper on Football, alcohol and domestic abuse.

Delaying the start of the games until the evening and scheduling them on weekdays would help prevent a considerable amount of domestic abuse triggered by excessive alcohol consumption.

We can see how this is a perfect example of restricting choice without eliminating it altogether.

Eliminate choice

This is the final stage in the ladder and usually comes in when the situation gets a little out of hand. For example, France had called for alcohol bans in cities hosting Euro 2016 matches following three days of heavy clashes between fans and police in Marseille. 

Alcohol and sports have always been a heady mix - numerous efforts have tried to eliminate domestic violence from the combination through varying degrees of intervention… this post is just to bring some of these to attention.

Sources: The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)-Report on Preventing domestic violence - Good practices; The Economist; https://www.nuffieldbioethics.org, WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data-Preventing violence by reducing the availability and harmful use of alcohol.

____

Thank you for reading this article — If you could relate to it, do share it on your social network via the buttons herewith. 

If you would like to receive all new posts and exclusive content subscribe to Thoths by Ra by clicking on this link.

I am sharing my posting schedule herewith... do look out for topics that might interest you:

Tuesday: Regular posts under Intriguing Insights and Inexplicable Influences

Thursday: To BE or not to BE - Behavioural Economic (BE) terms and their popular explanations or definitions.

Sunday: Weekend Wrap-up where I select an event or incident from the week that was and analyse some aspect of it.

Last Saturday of every month: My monthly post in the Intellectual Imprints section