Other people's behaviour acts as a cue for what to do, buy, or believe.
More quotesThe salad has performed its duty before being ordered.
Its presence lets the customer consider virtue, experience a small glow of good intention and choose the cheeseburger with the exhausting moral question already settled. Behaviour stays put. Identity gets a complimentary upgrade.
This is why asking people what options they want can produce such comic results. We answer for the person we admire: healthier food, serious news, sustainable products, educational features. Then the person doing the clicking chooses what is immediate, enjoyable and familiar. Nobody necessarily lied. Aspiration and action were simply interviewed separately.
Businesses can exploit the gap while claiming progress. Add one virtuous option, publicise it heavily and allow its existence to improve how every other purchase feels. The healthier choice may increase sales without increasing healthy choices. A saved article may satisfy the desire to be informed so completely that reading becomes unnecessary.
Removing aspirational options would be idiotic. Availability matters, and plenty of people do choose them. The mistake is measuring presence, stated approval or consideration as though any were the final behaviour.
Watch the complete choice. What was selected, consumed and repeated? Did the virtuous option replace anything, or merely bless what happened beside it? Does planning the good action make completion more likely or provide enough emotional reward to stop there?
The customer genuinely wants to be the salad person. The restaurant genuinely offers salad. Both statements can remain true throughout a burger lunch.
Intentions deserve respect. They do not deserve credit for work they have yet to do.