All remaining U.S. states with COVID-related public mask requirements have recently lifted them, and in mid-April, a district judge in Florida ended a federal mask mandate on trains, planes, buses or other public transport. For the first time in about two years, consumers can shop, exercise, travel, work and lounge in public spaces without wearing a mask, despite recent surges in COVID infections.
As behavioral scientists studying consumer behavior, we dug deeper into public response to mask policies and found that businesses are threading a tight needle; consumers use mask policies, or lack thereof, as a proxy for a company’s political identity, leading consumers to punish or reward a business based on the sign that’s on the door.
We consistently found that consumers inferred that stores had a political identity based on their mask policy. Stores overtly not requiring masks were perceived to be conservative, while stores with mask requirements were perceived to be liberal. Those that lacked a policy were perceived to be neither liberal nor conservative, whereas stores with a mask recommendation fell somewhere in between slightly liberal and neutral.
When indoor mask mandates were issued at the state and national level, many people argued these regulations would hurt business. We observed the opposite. Since companies were being forced to administer a mask mandate, consumers did not perceive them as advocating a political stance. The companies were simply viewed as following the law. Thus, government mandates allowed businesses to effectively avoid alienating consumers, while also increasing compliance.
Second, companies can attribute mask policies to business concerns, such as keeping their employees healthy and their doors open. This can help consumers realize that there are nonpolitical motives at play, in turn encouraging greater patronage and compliance.
Maybe you fools will choke on your 'masks'!
Went into a hair salon the other day with that sign. None of the workers were wearing masks.