Petticrew M, Maani N, Pettigrew L, Rutter H, van Schalkwyk M. Dark nudges and sludge in big alcohol: behavioral economics, cognitive biases, and alcohol industry corporate social responsibility. Millbank Quart 2020; DOI:10.1111/1468-0009.12475.

Sugar industry next?

Nudges attempt to influence consumer behaviour with positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions - the placing of more profitable products at eye level on supermarket shelves, for instance, or the positioning of a fruit bowl at the front of the school canteen servery to encourage healthier eating. Dark nudges and sludge encourage the consumption of harmful products or utilise cognitive biases to make behaviour change harder. Increased alcohol consumption is a well-recognised risk factor for cancers and the alcohol industry (AI) funds corporate social responsibility (CSR) organisations such as Drinkaware in the UK to raise awareness of the dangers.

However, analysing data from AI funded CSR organisations' social media and websites, the authors found frequent uses of dark nudges and sludge. For instance

  1. 1.

    Placement - evidence about the harms of alcohol in pregnancy were found on a webpage titled 'Health effects of alcohol', well below other sections such as 'How does alcohol affect my beer belly?' and 'Why does alcohol make me pee more?', necessitating scrolling through at least nine pages to reach the relevant information. Information about specific cancers is frequently omitted and on infographics, whilst locations of other diseases are prominently placed next to the relevant organs, the word 'cancer' appeared by the right ankle

  2. 2.

    Properties - information placed on the first page of a website is more likely to be read than text further down. In some CSR materials for instance, the unknowns of cancer risk and alcohol are placed well above the fact-based, known risk information. Graphic design, in the use of dark fonts on a dark background is also used to disguise information

  3. 3.

    Priming effects - social media messaging from CSR organisations is often accompanied by pictures of people smiling and drinking, priming the reader with the message that alcohol is OK, despite the negative message of any text. Information may be diluted by placing it close to frivolous material, as, for instance, information about foetal alcohol syndrome is placed alongside trivia about Champagne.

Other examples of AI CSR dark nudges and sludge are given, indicating that these programmes may be designed to fail and may in fact lead to increased alcohol consumption, rather than its reduction.

The authors conclude that analysis of similar material used by the food and beverage industry could be of benefit to public health, together with a detailed analysis of the 'dark money' behind dark nudges and sludge.