Hello all! This is my monthly post on Behavioral Economic initiatives/policies around the world and their impacts this past year. I hope you enjoy.
The “Healthy Choice” Labeling Initiative Goes Global
The first one I will be going over is the Healthy choice labeling initiative. As of January 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed this idea of “Healthy Choice Labeling.” In summary, the idea of this program is to reset the status quo on labels on food produce, the aim of this program is to change unhealthy eating habits via making consumers more informed about the dietary choices they are making. Namely, by making healthy foods indicated in “green” which unhealthy foods were indicated in “red”
Influence: Within the first three months on the initiative, countries such as the UK, Australia, and Canada found that the sales of products with green stickers climbed by 18%, while those with red stickers fell by 12%. Off the bat, we saw a huge positive change in consumer food purchasing patterns with a change as simple as one of the color.
The “Healthy Choice” initiative is an example of behavioral economics in action. Specifically, the alteration of choice architecture. When it comes to making decisions, people are inherently lazy. As a result, people are more likely to make a decision that is salient -easy to follow. Therefore, if your environment is “nudging” you to make a decision via a clear and easy accessibility. To that end, the initiative tries to make better, healthier choices the easiest and most obvious ones to make in the grocery store.
The program’s future looks promising. And with this, we can catch a glimpse into what the long term health impacts might be. What is intended—what the WHO really want to happen—is for the program to be effective enough to reduce the number of people afflicted with chronic, dangerous, diet-related health problems. Specifically, diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes which are most commonly found as a byproduct of unhealthy foods.
Furthermore, Behavioral nudges are now being employed in order to promote more activity in people in general. In March, Singapore has rolled out one of the first programs using an approach like this. The program is called “Active Points.” It works like so: You register with the program, It tracks your physical activity, and you gain “Active Points” as a result. You can redeem them for various rewards, including a 20 percent discount off a gym membership, a public transportation pass, or a 10 percent discount on a grocery purchase.
As one might expect, The “Active Points” program has generated a large amount of enthusiasm, especially from the younger generation. In just the first six months of its launch, more than half a million people in Singapore registered for the “Active Points” program. Early data collected by the program shows that physical activity has jumped 20% among its participants. These numbers are what researchers call “very promising.”
Behavioral insights:
In my opinion, I find this to be one of the perfect ways to create positive healthy choices in a community. It takes the satisfaction of winning something like a videogame, but with an actual application to the real world. Also, it creates competition, something that the vast majority of people get passionate about when seeing other people gaining more “Active points” than them.
Looking ahead:
The initial success of the “Active Points” program has led other countries to express interest in this type of strategy. They hope to achieve similar results with their own use of the program. The use of digital platforms to track the required activities and to distribute the promised rewards is seen as key to the (virtual) operability of the initiative. It is a basic promise that must be kept.
From the Ministry of Health, Singapore, 2024: “The Active Points program was first introduced in 2014 as part of the National Steps Challenge. This program encourages Singaporeans to engage in various types of physical activities, from walking to more vigorous forms of exercise, and rewards them with points that can be redeemed for items or discounts.”
To conclude, 2024 will see an amplified drive in public health toward innovative change, powered by cleverly applied behavioral economic principles. Systems like the “Healthy Choice” labels and Singapore’s “Active Points” program push people toward making decisions that will collectively benefit their population’s health. The expectation is that these and similar programs will play a key role in reducing the number of unhealthy food-related diseases. The “Healthy Choice” labeling system and Singapore’s “Active Points” program highlight the potential of these strategies to create meaningful behavior change on a large scale. As these programs continue to develop and expand, they are expected to play a critical role in addressing global health challenges, from chronic diseases to physical inactivity, paving the way for healthier populations worldwide.
Cited Sources:
- World Health Organization (WHO). (2024). Healthy Choice Labeling Initiative: Promoting Healthier Food Choices Worldwide. Retrieved from who.int
- Smith, J. (2024). The Impact of Simplified Food Labeling on Consumer Behavior: Early Results from the Healthy Choice Initiative. Global Health Journal, 15(1), 10-18
- Ministry of Health, Singapore. (2024). Active Points: Encouraging Physical Activity Through Rewards. Retrieved from moh.gov.sg
- Tan, L. (2024). Gamification in Public Health: The Success of Singapore’s Active Points Program. Asia-Pacific Public Health Review, 22(2), 25-33
- NudgeHealth Inc. (2024). The Power of Personalized Health Nudges: An Early Look at NudgeHealth’s Impact. Retrieved from nudgehealth.com
- Patel, M. S., & Volpp, K. G. (2024). Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Health Nudges. Journal of Health Innovation, 5(1), 20-28
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