ABSTRACT
Information dissemination tools like public service advertising are classic ‘persuasion instruments’ and are the most studied substantive information-based implementation tools. The most prominent type of substantive information tool designed to persuade is the appeal from political leaders to various social actors, urging them to follow a government’s lead in some area of social or economic life. Such forms of ‘moral suasion’ are often specifically aimed or targeted at individual producers or sectors and are typically used within the context of an existing regulatory regime. Mass media and targeted information campaigns are much more visible, by definition, and tend to be aimed less at producers than at consumers. The benefits to government in using such tools, including the ‘nudges’ and ‘choice architectures’ they deploy, may be much lower than anticipated if such a high visibility instrument is perceived to have failed and the blame for a continuing policy problem is focused on governments.
