These were relatively mild vices and virtues. Vice tweets were defined as those which promise immediate pleasure now with limited long-term benefit. Celebrity gossip, for instance. Virtue tweets are less titillating but offer longer-term benefits. Personal finance tips, for instance.
The article cites prior studies yielding similar results. People wash their hands less diligently and tell lies more frequently as the day progresses. The current studies enriched understanding of the effect by showing that daily temperature plays into it. Likes by users in three metropolitan cities in India were tabulated for tweets on The Times of India account. Analysis of data showed engagement moving from virtue to vice earlier in the day when the weather was hot. The article references research showing that high temperatures melt consumer self-control.
Marketers can use findings like these to frame and schedule messages to consumers depending on the time of day the person is likely to be exposed to the message, with a further refinement available by considering the outside temperature in the location where the person will be exposed to the message.
Another consideration is how people aim for balance in vice and virtue. Then, it might be words rather than time of day which serve as a subconscious prompt. University of Miami researchers assigned participants to unscramble sentences containing words like “delicious” and “delightful,” which suggest vice, or words like “healthy” and “exercises,” which suggest virtue. Participants were then asked to choose between a granola bar and a chocolate bar, one to be consumed immediately and the other to be consumed later.
The people who had completed the sentence unscrambling with the vice words were more likely to choose the chocolate bar now and the granola bar for later. Those people unscrambling with the virtue words were more likely to choose the granola bar now and the chocolate bar for later.
The implication for marketers here is to make fun items available when the consumer has chosen a serious item. After acting holy, shoppers tend to get naughty. When people put a healthy food item into their grocery shopping cart, they become more likely to select a fun food item next. Consumer researchers call the phenomenon “licensing.”
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Bear with Care When Wanting Self-Control
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