“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.” — P.L. Travers How do you stop people dropping cigarette butts on the pavement? The obvious solution is to ramp up litter patrols and hand out hefty fines. But in the London borough of Westminster, Hubbub, an environmental charity, tried something different. As part of the Neat Streets campaign, they introduced bright yellow ‘Ballot Bins’ in areas where cigarette litter was a problem. Each bin asked a simple question with two possible answers. For example: Who’s the best footballer in the world? Ronaldo or Messi? To vote, smokers simply drop their cigarette butt into the slot corresponding to their choice. The result? On Villiers Street, where the Ballot Bin began as an experiment, evidence showed they could reduce cigarette litter by up to 73%. Why was it so effective? Because it understood human behaviour. Instead of lecturing people or threatening them with fines (which often backfire), they turned a mundane chore into a game. People like competing, and the clear window made the votes visible, turning the bins into a live scoreboard. And once people could see cigarette butts piling up inside the bin, it sent a quiet social signal telling people this is where they go. The lesson? Changing the way you ‘frame’ something can have a powerful effect. By turning the cigarette butts into a ‘game token’, a dull public-service message became something people actively enjoyed participating in. That’s the power of designing with human behaviour in mind. What’s your favourite example of a creative nudge that made people behave differently? If you found this post interesting and you want to learn more about using psychology to change behaviour, try our highly rated and popular Behavioural Economics course made with Rory Sutherland.