How it works
The CARES campaign was a commitment contract designed to try and help people quit smoking. Participants got weekly visits for six months from a bank employee who took a regular cash deposit of the amount they’d normally spend on tobacco products.
After the six months, this added up to 20% of a monthly wage – a pretty substantial sum.
At the six-month point, participants had to take a urine test. If the test showed they hadn’t used tobacco products, they got the money they would have spent back. If they had, the whole amount they’d saved went to charity.
The result? Participants were three percentage points more likely to pass the six-month test than the control group.
But there’s more – the team included another twist – a surprise 12-month follow-up test.
This follow-up test offered two big benefits. First, it helped to detect whether people had tried to ‘game’ the system by giving up for a few days just before the six-month deadline only to go back to smoking once they got their money back. Second, it actually proved the campaign was a long-term success as the 12-month test showed that CARES participants were 3.4-5.7 percentage points more likely to still be off tobacco than the control group.
Why it works
Social
We tend to feel a strong compulsion to stick to any commitments we make and to see them through (especially when we meet someone weekly to remind us of that commitment).
Incentives
We tend to be loss averse, meaning we’re more motivated to avoid losses than to make a gain of equal value. The thought of losing all that money may have proved a valuable incentive on those tough days.
Environment
Rather than taking a lump sum, deposit at the start, the visits were spaced out consistently. This may have offered a gentle reminder each week that broke normal habits.
Messages
Let’s be honest, it’s not a happy coincidence that the campaign name – Committed Action to Reduce and End Smoking – spells out CARES. But that’s the kind of name that sticks in your head better.
Wider impacts to consider:
- Did the fact the money was going to charity lessen the impact of the fear of losing it? What if it was shared among all the successful participants instead?
- Could an additional reward – like extra money gained, or even something as small as a certificate of success – increase the impact?
- Could digital options replace the in-person visit, or would this diminish the result?
Why we love it:
This research put a lot of effort into linking smoking to the money it costs – this was the key influencing factor. For instance, the control group still received weekly in-person visits (sharing stop-smoking messages instead to taking the deposit) but these visits didn’t have the same impact.
But one of the biggest reasons we love it is that it seemed to generate long-term behaviour change.
A proven campaign that taps into people’s natural psychology to help them not only stop smoking, but to also save the money they might otherwise might have frittered away.
And the worst-case scenario – if they do smoke again – is a pretty substantial donation to charity.
Wins all round if you ask us.
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