Research: The Fun Theory

As a piece of viral marketing by Volkswagen is part of a project called 'The Fun Theory', asking can we get more people to take the stairs (instead of an escalator) by making it fun to do. This is an interesting theory, and the overall question is whether you can change behaviour by making an activity fun. In the piano video there are obviously health benefits from taking the stairs because you are using more muscles than simply standing and being lifted and moved across. The idea of making it fun makes it easier for people to choose between something that is beneficial for them over convenience, something that could ring true for my global warming message.

Using the idea of making beneficial things fun is a good one, but I wonder if they 'own' this idea, so anything I do in the same vein would be a complete rip off. If I even mention the idea of fun literally or through the video it will be in the shadow of this. Still, putting the 'good' thing in light of a positive thing like fun, it can enhance your message.



Here is another video in the series, they attempted to make putting rubbish in the bin more fun ad they found that more people would put rubbish in the bin than in a regular bin. This kind of idea is more workable. I could make an aspect of action against climate change, or recyling, seem fun or enjoyable.




This video is even more related to what I am doing. They applied their theory to a bottle bank, making recycling fun. They made a game out of it, in the style of a traditional arcade game with points. People putting their bottles in according to the lights and trying to get a high score. The bottle bank was used by over 100 people, and a nearby regular bottle bank was used by just 2 in the day. I could portray the act of recycling in a fun way by making it in to a game, or making a game out of carbon dieting or energy saving.