Boris Johnson Nudged to Wear Masks, UK Government Advisor Says

Boris Johnson wears a mask while visiting a vaccination centre at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London, on May 18, 2021. Jeremy Selwyn - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Behavioural psychology was used on former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to nudge him into wearing a mask, according to the head of the government Behavioural Insights Team (BI).

Professor David Halpern, BI chief executive and member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), described to The Telegraph how he had helped nudge the former prime minister by using peer pressure.

“We did share with him a slide pack at one point. It had a series of images of pretty much every single world leader wearing a mask, and then a picture with him not,” Halpern told the publication, adding the slide was to show Johnson that ”a normal thing for a world leader to do right now is wear a mask.”

The article, which examines the difference in attitudes towards mask-wearing in Western and Eastern countries, said behavioural scientists in the UK “had to push back against a government leadership that saw wearing masks as, in some cases, ‘nonsensical.’”

To Mask, or Not to Mask

Mask-wearing, especially mask mandates for all, is one of the controversial restrictions that was deployed in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some recent studies found that masks are effective in preventing COVID-19 transmission, while some question the size of the benefit.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 coordinator, last month said there has been “no study in the world that shows that masks work that well.”

Apart from arguments around the benefits and risks of wearing masks, the issue of mask-wearing has also become a political issue during the pandemic following masking mandates.

The reluctance towards mask-wearing in the Western world has often been attributed to the populaces’ more individualistic tendencies, but the changes in the guidance from governments and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have also fueled the opposition to masks.

In March 2020, Jenny Harries, then-deputy chief medical officer for England, said it’s a “good thing” for COVID-19 patients to wear masks to protect others in their vicinity.

But for others, Harries said they tend to “contaminate the facemask and then wipe it over something” and therefore “it’s really not a good idea and doesn’t help.”

The advice is consistent with the guidance (pdf) published by the WHO during the same month, which said there had been “no evidence” a medical mask would protect people from getting sick.

The guidance said a medical mask, used correctly, can limit the spread of certain respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, but the method alone is insufficient and can “create a false sense of security that can lead to the neglect of other essential measures, such as hand hygiene practices.” It also mentioned “unnecessary costs and procurement burdens” as one of the considerations.

CargoLogicAir flight CLU 5694 lands with a consignment of NHS medical supplies and PPE from China at Prestwick Airport, Glasgow, Scotland, on June 1, 2020. Jane Barlow/PA Media

The guidance came at a time after Chinese buyers had purchased masks and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) around the globe, resulting in an acute PPE shortage worldwide.

Anthony Fauci, then-director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also advised the general population against wearing masks at the beginning of the pandemic. He later defended his recommendation at the time, telling CBS Anchor Norah O'Donnell that the advice was correct in the context of the time in which he said it as he had been told the United States had “a serious problem with the lack of PPEs.”

The UK government on June 15, 2020, mandated the wearing of face coverings in England on public transport and later in other public spaces, such as cinemas and shops. The mandate ended on Jan. 27, 2022.

According to figures revealed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, almost 4,000 passengers were fined for breaking COVID-19 mask rules on London’s public transport.

Apart from the masking mandate, guidance to wear masks was also in place for schools, effectively meaning most students were made to wear masks in school.

A recently published response to a Freedom of Information request revealed that the first time an evaluation of the masks in-class policy was provided to the Education Minister was seventeen months after schools had first been advised by the Department for Education to require children to wear masks in schools.

Nudge Unit

BI, which is widely known as the Nudge Unit, was established in the Cabinet Office in 2010 by former Prime Minister David Cameron’s government to apply behavioural science to public policy.

The seven-member team eventually grew into a profit-making global company, which was partly owned by the Cabinet Office until December 2021, when all shares were sold to innovation charity Nesta.

BI’s aim was to be the world’s first government institution to use behavioural economics to examine and influence human behaviour, in other words, to “nudge” people into making decisions that are considered better by applying psychology to policy. This can mean prompting people to pay their tax on time or getting people to turn up in court.

In practice, it can mean making recycling bins more eye-catching or to putting a plant-based meal as a default option in a university canteen.

But the Nudge Unit was accused of exploiting scare tactics during the COVID-19 crisis when the government embarked on a major campaign that used adverts with the slogans like: “Stay home to save lives” and “if you go out and spread it, people will die.”

According to the government’s estimate, the information campaign on COVID-19—using every means possible including social media, influencers, radio, TV, and widespread digital marketing—has reached 95 percent of adults on average 17 times per week at the peak—the biggest since World War II.

A government sign advising people to "Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives" is displayed on the advertising boards in Piccadilly Circus in London on April 13, 2020. Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images

A SAGE document published in the early days of the pandemic, which presented options the government could use to increase adherence to social distancing measures, included advice such as increasing the “perceived level of personal threat” with “hard-hitting emotional messaging”; using media to increase the “sense of personal threat” and “sense of responsibility to others”; using social approval for desired behaviours; and considering the use of social disapproval for failure to comply.

Simon Ruda, a co-founder of the Nudge Unit, warned against using the tool in ways he said are “less appropriate” and “more propagandistic,” such as “invoking different emotions to convince people to stay at home during the pandemic.”

Ruda suggested that although the tactic could help achieve effects that are “immediately measurable,” they may also cause unintended longer-term effects, such as “worse inter-societal relations and reduced trust in institutions.”

Owen Evans contributed to this report.