Volkswagen’s Fun Theory: Let’s Get People To Change!

Volkswagen, the ever so famous car company that invented the girly-hippie beetle, has formed a website called TheFunTheory.com and the “…site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better”.

Let’s be honest: who likes taking the stairs? The few of those who do, do so for health beneficial reasons, not because they find the exercise enjoyable. Volkswagen might have hit a nail with this one by forming a recent experiment in Stockholm, Sweden. Overnight, a team transformed the stairs of a subway into a gigantic functioning piano keyboard. These piano stairs were placed right next to an escalator and applying pressure on each step played a musical note. That grand opening day, 66% more people took the stairs than usual.

We’d all be liars if we claimed that we’ve NEVER littered before. I know I have (probably more than I should’ve) and I very well know you’ve carelessly thrown a piece of junk on the floor, as well. “The world’s deepest bin” is a trash can designed to sound like the deepest bin in the world, when you drop trash in there, there’s an extended falling sound. The guy below just happened to be so amazed that he went out of his way to stick his head into it (I wonder if he figured out that it was really just a recording sound…)!

Who doesn’t like video games? Come on, we all do! The bottle bank arcade drastically increased recycling by turning a typical bottle bank into a video game-like challenge.

To conclude, I’m hoping that these wicked inventions never wear off and the community continues to utilize it to further benefit multiple things: their health, their environment, the public, etc. Who wants to make a trip to Sweden to try out these innovations?

Xoxo,

Chrissy

References

Bates, C. (2009, October 11). Scaling new heights: Piano stairway encourages commuters to ditch the escalators. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1218944/Scaling-new-heights-Piano-stairway-encourages-commuters-ditch-escalators.html

The fun theory: faire passer des messages de manière ludique. (2012, April 20). Retrieved from http://www.abavala.com/the-fun-theory-faire-passer-des-messages-de-maniere-ludique/

Merchant, B. (2009, October 22). The world’s deepest trash bin and other behavior-changing inventions (videos). Retrieved from http://www.treehugger.com/culture/the-worlds-deepest-trash-bin-and-other-behavior-changing-inventions-videos.html

The world’s deepest bin. (2009, October 21). Retrieved from http://www.thefuntheory.com/worlds-deepest-bin

Edited by: Zoe