The Dirty Water Fountain method

[Hydra009]

I'm sure there's a proper term for this, but I don't know it.  So I call this the Dirty Water Fountain method of getting people to do what you want and pretend that it was their choice.

Let's say that it's a hot summer day at the park and you forgot your water jug.  Not to worry, there's a store nearby.  The only store nearby.  It does indeed have water and plenty of it already cooled to crisp, clear perfection in cute little refrigerators.  But they're in plastic bottles, so it'll cost ya.

OR...you could always use the free water fountain nearby.  The dirty, ozone-smelling water fountain in a state of obvious disrepair.  There are spider webs on the handle.  Totally your choice.

Naturally, you choose the crispy, refreshing bottled water - stuff that you ordinarily would call overpriced garbage, but just this once, it's okay.  And that other time, and the other other time, and the time after that, and before you know it, it's a habit.  A habit that you definitely chose for yourself.  No one put a gun to your head and told you to buy the bottled water, after all.

But little by little, something you ordinarily wouldn't do became a much more acceptable option and from there a habit, simply by virtue of other options being less desirable.  The market has spoken! /s

Let's take a look at bicycle lanes.  Not those properly sequestered european bicycle lines away from road traffic that Americans like myself barely even know about, if they do at all.  I'm talking about those half-assed American bike lanes sandwiched between car lanes and the shoulder of the road, where a few inches separate a biker from a statistic.

Why would a city purposely build such a deathtrap?  Well, the people want an alternative to car travel and the cheapest solution is simply to slap bike lanes on existing roads so they "share the road" so to speak.  If some people get flattened, it's their own fault for not following safety regulations or not being aware of their surroundings, definitely not by being purposely placed next to 2 tons of steel careening down a windy road.

People get frustrated with such a horrible setup and understandably want to eliminate bike lanes.  Bike lanes are an unworkable concept (except in places where they already work quite well that us Americans scarcely know about)

Let's look at paper straws.  Look, I know they're horrible in every conceivable way, but the multi-million-dollar family chain that owns the restaurant really cares about every plastic straw that kills sea turtles.  And they want to help...by putting in the bare minimum effort in a way that doesn't affect the bottom line.

Naturally, people get frustrated with paper straws and the naive enviromentalists who surely urged such a thing and demand a return of plastic straws.  Everything returns back to normal.  Just one tiny difference, now we're all happy with plastic straws and reluctant to ban plastic.

Do you see what I'm getting at?  Extremely incentivized products winning out over artificially less-appealing alternatives.  Poorly conceived "solutions" causing problems, bringing shame to reform, and possibly even regressing change.  And it doesn't necessarily have to be malevolent or even intentional.

[Shiranu]

Want to respond to this because I skimmed it and enjoyed it, but want to give it a good response.

Just going to say...

Do you see what I'm getting at?  Extremely incentivized products winning out over artificially less-appealing alternatives.  Poorly conceived "solutions" causing problems, bringing shame to reform, and possibly even regressing change.  And it doesn't necessarily have to be malevolent or even intentional.

Noticed several tin/aluminum products (Mango juice in this case) were significantly cheaper than plastic of the same size. Curious to see if this is consistent across the store, because if it is... the *entire* reason we use the less recyclable plastic (and half the reason we use oil) is because it's "cheaper" than metal.

I'm starting to think that's a load of oil $$$ horse pile or literally no one stops and cares to look anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter.

[Dreamer]

This is what I thought the local schools were doing when the district introduced a restrictive and difficult dress code. That they wanted everyone to hate it so bad that uniforms would be seen as a great  alternative (school board wanted that but faced huge pushback).

But no. After making national news and facing legal threats, not to mention how the teachers and staff detested it, if was rescinded and neither the dress code nor uniforms have ever been mentioned again.


This idea was also useful in the classroom. If you can make it more onerous to NOT do the schoolwork, then students are a lot more likely to simply do the assignment.

I don't think I've used this concept with parenting, but now I'm curious...

[SoldierofFortune]

It is the illusion of choice that makes you feel you really have prefenrence what to choose from the alternatives.

windows vs macintosh,
android vs ios
coke cola vs pepsi
burger kind vs mcdonalds,

It is all illusion in that as if you really have choice.

[the_antithesis]