The signs are there

Some people can be quite inventive when trying to avoid loss – none more so than football fans in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital city Brazzaville.

Football is a popular game in the DRC. Many people turn up to watch the games and dutifully pay the entrance fee. But those working on the entrance gates are poorly paid, and are quite happy to accept bribes to supplement their income. This happened until eventually nearly half of all gate receipts were effectively stolen in this way. It had to stop.

The secretary general of Brazzaville’s football league, Badji Mombu, had an idea.

He replaced the turnstile officials with teenagers who could neither speak nor hear. These deaf and dumb officials were thought incorruptible because football fans could not communicate with them.

Gate receipts soared. For a while.

But these new ‘incorruptible’ full-price tickets effectively meant money lost – and fans wanted it back. So some learned sign language. And as soon as the new turnstile officials understood they would be rewarded for selling tickets on the cheap, gate receipts tumbled by 30%

Effectively the Congolese government incentivised the local football fans to learn sign-language; It wasn’t their intention, but it was very successful.

The writing’s on the wall

Brazil has problems with graffiti. It’s always hard to police, especially as the disincentive to do it – arrest – is a badge of pride in the tagging communities.

Local residents either pay to have graffiti removed (until the next time), or leave it there.

But one enterprising Brazilian offered a different outcome to the taggers via a sign screwed to their wall. It reads (translated): ‘Dear Graffiti-ers. Please do not vandalise our façade. The money saved from repainting it is being donated monthly to institutions that help orphaned children and those who have serious illness.’

A very sweet incentive that worked as intended: The residents have a clean wall; In the rest of the street all the other houses are tagged.

 

Image by kues1 on Freepik

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Behaviour Behavioural science Brazil Congo Football Graffiti Incentives Loss aversion Psychology