Activists thank politician for something he didn’t do (yet)

New Zealand based equal-pay group MindTheGap has a purpose; urging as many companies as possible to publicise their reports on their pay gap between men and women. According to the group: “International evidence shows that when we know what the pay gaps are, we can get to work on closing them.” 

To urge the prime minister to institute a law forcing companies to publish these reports, they have chosen an interesting strategy. Instead of just asking him, they have chosen to skip that step altogether and preemptively thank him for doing it already. Based on the insight that it’s pretty awkward to be thanked and praised for something you didn’t do, they hope this approach pushes the prime minister to consider the new policy. Along with a fly-by plane banner and a choir on the parliament lawn thanking him “a thousand times”. 

This case serves as creative inspiration on how to use playful psychological insights to stimulate people to do something good. So how can you use praise to nudge people into adopting positive changes?