No Face Time for COVID: Testing Communication Strategies to Reduce Face Touching Frequency

Abstract

As societies are learning to live with the pandemic, citizens have gradually re-entered public spaces and many have begun commuting to work or school again.Yet the challenge of fostering behaviour change among citizens, which is at the same time effective and legitimate, remains as pressing as ever. Without the urgency of the lockdown, how can governments communicate messages without encountering resistance or apathy? Governments still need to issue public guidelines, such as maintaining social distance, avoiding touching surfaces that many people touch, and avoiding touching one's face. However, these guidelines are hard to follow as they require a change in behaviours that are habitual and take place unconsciously. This paper aims to assess the effects of public awareness campaigns aimed at helping people to reduce the rate at which they touch their face. Using a large survey experiment of UK residents, we investigate the effectiveness of different messages and test hypotheses related to how different messengers and whether a message becomes politicised affect observance with the advice. We consider the effect on attitudinal outcomes and a novel behavioural outcome where we asked our respondents to record a video response to an unrelated question and count the frequency with which they touch their face.

Keywords: nudge, COVID, transport