Petrol prices, panic, and the secret to perfect public communications

Linstock Communications Associate John Maule, Professor of Human Decision Making at Leeds University, recently discussed the difficulties faced by the Government in delivering public communications on BBC Radio Leeds. He highlighted the important decision making processes government must understand to deliver effective messaging.

The public communications gaffe is a time honoured tradition within Britain's political elite. A tradition so respectfully observed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries that it was forced to reinvent itself as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra); the department for 'foot and mouth' had also gained a reputation as the department for 'foot in mouth.'

This week, Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, made his own clanger when he advised drivers to consider filling up part-empty petrol tanks and keeping a jerrycan of fuel in their garage, following a vote by the Unite union for a possible strike by tanker drivers. Widespread condemnation of the comments followed, with Unite, the Labour Party and many drivers describing Maude's comments as an over-reaction and irresponsible. The Government moved quickly to downplay his comments, but this has arguably exacerbated the problem. While Government spokespeople confirmed that Maude's comments were misleading, the Energy Secretary Ed Davey has subsequently suggested that drivers should consider filling their petrol tanks to full when next visiting the pump.

The public has reacted to this lack of clarity with a predictable mixture of confusion and bewilderment, with reports of congestion at numerous petrol stations as drivers rush to fill up before an expected shortage. For the Government, it's a clear blunder, but it's easy to see how such a mistake comes about. Government officials regularly walk the tightrope, balancing the need to offer vital information to the public without causing adverse reactions or unforeseen behavioural changes. Often they pull it off, occasionally they don't. The Government's focus on 'nudge' techniques is proof of a more sophisticated approach to public communications, and may offer some clues as to how it can avoid similar difficulties in future.

Linstock Associate John Maule, Professor of Human Decision Making at Leeds University, recently discussed the difficulties faced by the Government in delivering public communications on BBC Radio Leeds. Professor Maule highlighted the different decision making systems people use when reacting to perceived threats. The first is an analytical approach, rational, conscious choices that effectively weigh up the pros and cons of a decision. The second is a gut instinct approach, a more intuitive system of decision making rooted in our prehistoric past. It is the second system that helps explain how the recent petrol pump queues have formed. Just as our ancestors responded to predatory threats by grouping together for safety, so today we often adopt a herd mentality to making choices. These basic forms of decision making still drive us, a fact acknowledged by the Government's move towards the auto-enrolment of employees onto pension schemes, a system that utilises gut-instinct decision making systems such as 'loss aversion' to encourage employees to save for retirement.

But it appears Government is still some way from fully understanding how to effectively use these systems of decision making, or indeed how to prevent them driving people into making poor decisions. Professor Maule offers advice that most within the PR world would acknowledge - provide clarity and consistency. A key problem with the Government's handling of the petrol issue is the conflicting advice it appears to have provided. When faced by a threat, people look for information to make sense of the situation. If that information is unclear, people's perception of the threat will increase as their trust for the provider of the information erodes. Perhaps the greatest problem for government will be the long-term implications of such public communications mistakes. As Professor Maule rightly states "Trust is hard to build but easy to lose".


John Hood
Consultant
john@linstockcommunications.com