If the nudge becomes a poke, will we all develop immunity?

Last week, someone dressed in garish primary colours knocked on my door.

It was not a good time, so I was very much hoping he would get to the point.

But he was clearly all set on unleashing a few behavioural economics inspired prefatory comments before doing so.

"You will have been hearing a lot in the news about the dispute between milk manufacturers and the supermarkets..."

(Or words to that effect.)

This was such an unusual opening gambit from a doorstep salesman, and delivered with such focus, that I could tell straightaway it was being consciously deployed as a form of subject framing - but I wasn't sure exactly what.

An implicit way of saying, 'I'm here about something important'?

Or maybe a form of flattery - 'you're the sort of person well up with important social matters' - or, conversely, implied shame - 'you must be aware of this matter, surely'?

Either way, my defences were now up.

"I'm sorry, but would you mind quickly telling me what you're here about this afternoon?"

"Yes, of course."

(Phew.)

"I've been meeting with many of your neighbours this afternoon, and receiving a very positive response..."

Now the game was up, as this one I knew - social proof or norming, predisposing me to be more open to his proposition because others personally known to me had been earlier.

And I'm sure further nudges would have followed, but by now I'd lost patience and asked him just to tell me what it was he was selling - which turned out to be some sort of subscription service for farm delivered milk.

Which I then politely, but firmly, declined.

Musing on it after, it struck me that supporting local milk farmers was a cause I might well have been interested in - had the heavy-handed, oh-so-conspicuous application of pat nudge techniques not alienated me first. 

After all, it's very difficult to allow yourself to buy something, however desirable, if you know full well you've been, at least in part, manipulated into doing so.

Which then got me wondering a little about the future of applied behavioural economics.

The point of 'nudges', of course, is that they are meant to be so subtle, so implicitly delivered, that you are manipulated without ever suspecting you have been.

But when they're presented as crudely as this, you're all too aware of them - and presumably, after you've heard the technique once, you know how the trick is done and it loses its hold.

Even worse, in time we could all end up becoming highly attuned to, and suspicious of, every attempt at nudging.

Which, given its proven ability to encourage all types of pro-social behaviour when other more traditional techniques have failed, would be a great shame.