Broken Windows

In 1969 a Stanford University psychologist called Phillip Zambardo set up an experiment.

He parked a car with no number plates and the bonnet up in the Bronx, a tough area of New York. He also parked an identical car in Palo Alto, an affluent area in San Francisco.

He walked away from both, leaving them abandoned in the street.

The car in the Bronx was attacked within minutes. First the radiator and the battery were removed. But within 24 hours everything of value had been stripped from the car.

Within days the car's windows were smashed in, panels beaten up, upholstery ripped, and children were using it as a playground.

In Palo Alto the abandoned car sat untouched for more than a week.

At this point Zimbardo himself started to smash the car up with a sledgehammer. Soon after others joined in the destruction and finished what Zimbardo had started. And within hours the Palo Alto car looked like the Bronx car.

He went on to observe that in areas such as the Bronx where there is a greater prevalence of abandoned property, vandalism occurs much more quickly. In these areas destructive behaviour is more common place and the people who live there more apathetic towards it.

But as proved by the Palo Alto car such behaviour can occur anywhere when social behavioural norms are altered by behaviours that suggest apathy.

Consider a building with a few broken windows.

If the windows are not repaired, vandals will come along and break a few more.  Eventually, they may even break into the building and perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.

Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people will start leaving bags of litter and other rubbish. Then the vandals will arrive. Property will be junked. Thefts from and of cars will spike.

In other words if we show we don’t care about the environment in which we live, about the society we create, about the brands we build, why should anyone else.

The problem gets steadily worse.  Apathy rules ok.

To prevent the problem, fix the problems when they are small and manageable. Before they spiral out of control.

This is known as ‘Broken Windows Theory’ and was first mooted in 1982.

Advocates of this theory, and they include the New York PD, responded with a zero tolerance approach to anti-social and petty crimes. To stop petty crime becoming major crime. It seemed to work.

I recently observed a filthy, grime smeared train bearing the logo of a brand famous transport company. I have no idea what it looked like on the inside but the outside was pretty unappealing.

It looked like no one cared about the state of the train, the state of the brand or even, and this is more telling, its customers.

Its windows might not have been broken, it might not have looked like the Bronx abandoned car, but it had many of the characteristics.

Apathy ruled ok.

If no one cared about how the train looked, did anyone care about the reputation of the brand?

And if no one cares why should I as the consumer care?

Fix the problems when they are small and manageable. Fix the problems while you can. Adopt a zero tolerance to your brand tangibles, your brand behaviour, your brand image.