Volkswagen’s socially responsible initiative
Volkswagen has sponsored some fun interactive public art projects, with a socially responsible angle. They call it The Fun Theory. It states that if you make the mundane things fun, people will be more apt to do it – like if the stairs make music, people will take them over the escalator or if the garbage can makes sound, people will be drawn into putting their garbage into it. It plays on the altered expectations and novelty of the experience. It’s very cute and fun, even if the rationale is a bit flawed. If you made every staircase like this, the novelty would quickly wear off to the point of becoming annoying; perhaps even to the point of being socially awkward to take the loud stairs over the quiet escalator. But of course this is not research – it is PR, brand advertising, and playful art. Good work on a well executed idea, even if it speaks to a dystopian future where every object is augmented with a cartoon soundtrack… 
Piano Staircase
The World’s Deepest Bin
And go here for updates on the latest one that is still in progress, the
Empty Bottle Arcade
http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/en/
