Deceptive Patterns
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CounterSludge in Alcohol Purchasing on Online Grocery Shopping Platforms

Author
Eszter Vigh, A. Attwood, A. Roudaut
Date
1 Jul 2024
Publisher
DDPCHI@CHI
Focus
HCI & Psychology
Category
Academic Scholar

It is found participants want a greater presence of alcohol units and product grading imagery in conjunction with neutral-toned health warnings in conjunction with neutral-toned health warnings.

Abstract: We investigate how deceptive patterns (sludge) within online grocery shopping can influence the purchase of alcohol through design intervention, and how to counter them. Previous research investigated online shoppers’ purchasing behaviors in sustainability and healthy eating. However, current research in alcohol is limited to modifying simulated platforms to aid in the increase of purchasing lower alcoholic beverages by altering product offerings. We conducted a heuristic evaluation on online shopping platforms highlighting the use of sludge, before developing five design intervention prototypes. We then iterated on these interventions through an online alcohol purchasing questionnaire (N=20) and two follow-up activities (N=11) (interview with design probes; product swap questionnaire), evaluating how the interventions could counter sludge.