Mirrors

Background

Mexico is at war against organized drug cartels and since 2006 has tried to encourage ordinary citizens to use the 089 Helpline to report anonymously any suspicious behaviour or any wrongdoings they see.

The trouble is, people do not believe the calls are anonymous and think they will be revealed to the drug barons.

Idea

The problem is one of visibility. People think they will be seen if they use the 089 number. So the solution was to make them feel invisible.

Mirrors were placed in public places and photographs were taken of the room in their reflections. These were printed and stuck onto the mirrors so that passers-by, looking at themselves in the mirror saw the washroom behind them but they themselves were invisible.

After initial surprise and even alarm, people looked more closely at the ‘mirror’ and saw the line, ‘This is how invisible you are when reporting a crime using the anonymous number 089. Mexican Ministry of Public Safety.’

Results

Calls increased by 62% compared to 2009. Anonymous reporting has been key to the recent outstanding drug-busts which have helped to bring down organised crime gangs.

Our Thoughts

You look in the mirror expecting to see your reflection – but you don’t. You just see the room behind you. How weird is that? Because it’s something we all do many times a day, it would be astonishing and shocking not to see your reflection staring back at you. And unforgettable. While the idea is a simple metaphor for how secure you are when you grass on a gangster, it is also likely to have been the first and only time in many people’s lives when the interface between what is real and what isn’t was disturbed.

This is the sort of idea they write about in books about behavioural economics but which no behavioural economist could ever have.