Name and shame

A "Losers" poster on display at Walkergate station on the Tyne and Wear Metro. These posters are part of Metro operator's Nexus's "naming and shaming" policy for fare dodgers. The poster publishes the names and addresses of those people caught traveling without a ticket in or from the local area.

To name and shame is to "publicly say that a person, group or business has done something wrong". ^[1] It is a form of public shaming used to rally popular opinion against and, in turn, discourage certain kinds of behavior or enterprises. The practice occurs both at the domestic and the international levels, where naming-and-shaming is often used to denounce unfair business practices or human rights violations. ^[2]

There is some evidence that naming and shaming can reduce atrocities and make the named and shamed governments improve their human rights records. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]} Some scholars, however, question whether naming-and-shaming has the intended effects. ^{[7] [6] [5]}

International relations

Naming and shaming is a common strategy to compel and deter changes in state and non-state behavior. It is a prevalent strategy when states engage in human rights abuses. ^{[8] [9] [10]} It has also been used to compel improvements in environmental policies, ^{[11] [12]} stopping whaling being one such example. ^{[13] [14]}

Public policy usage

Naming offending individuals or businesses (with the implied objective of shaming them) is sometimes used as an instrument of public policy intended to promote compliance with legal obligations or with the duty to put right the damage caused by non-compliance.

Examples are:

• The UK government established a scheme in 2010 to "name businesses which have failed to pay the National Minimum Wage to their employees. The policy objective of the naming scheme is "to raise awareness of minimum wage enforcement and deter employers who would otherwise be tempted to break minimum wage law". According to a government policy statement, this practice has been adopted because "the government recognises that some employers are more likely to respond to the social and economic sanctions that may flow from details of their payment practices being made public, than from financial deterrents". ^[15]
• In December 2018, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced a "naming scheme" to exert reputational pressure on employers who fail to pay Employment Tribunal awards, ^[16] following publication of government research which found that 34% of employment tribunal awards in England and Wales and 46% in Scotland remained unpaid. ^[17]
• In 2013, Citizens Advice recommended that the UK's Consumer Bill of Rights should be backed up by action by trading standards regulators to "name and shame" businesses that have failed to correct poor practices which affect consumers. ^[18]
• From July 2008, the NSW Food Authority has a public list of businesses that have breached food safety regulations to give "consumers more information to make decisions about where they eat or buy food". ^[19]

See also

• Public humiliation
• Real-name reporting
• Mass media
• Humiliation
• Online shaming

References

1. Cambridge Online Dictionary, accessed 3 January 2019
2. Rousseau, Elise (2018-11-01). "Power, Mechanisms, and Denunciations: Understanding Compliance with Human Rights in International Relations". Political Studies Review. 16 (4): 318–330. doi:10.1177/1478929918768979. ISSN   1478-9299. S2CID   150144735.
3. DeMeritt, Jacqueline H. R. (2012-11-01). "International Organizations and Government Killing: Does Naming and Shaming Save Lives?". International Interactions. 38 (5): 597–621. doi:10.1080/03050629.2012.726180. hdl: 1902.1/20502 . ISSN   0305-0629. S2CID   153465502.
4. Krain, Matthew (2012-09-01). "J'accuse! Does Naming and Shaming Perpetrators Reduce the Severity of Genocides or Politicides?". International Studies Quarterly. 56 (3): 574–589. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2012.00732.x . ISSN   0020-8833.
5. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. (October 2008). "Sticks and Stones: Naming and Shaming the Human Rights Enforcement Problem". International Organization. 62 (4): 689–716. doi:10.1017/S0020818308080247. ISSN   1531-5088. S2CID   154303864.
6. Hendrix, Cullen S.; Wong, Wendy H. (July 2013). "When Is the Pen Truly Mighty? Regime Type and the Efficacy of Naming and Shaming in Curbing Human Rights Abuses". British Journal of Political Science. 43 (3): 651–672. doi:10.1017/S0007123412000488. ISSN   0007-1234. S2CID   154774395.
7. Snyder, Jack (2020). "Backlash against human rights shaming: emotions in groups". International Theory. 12: 109–132. doi: 10.1017/S1752971919000216 . ISSN   1752-9719.
8. Hafner-Burton, Emilie M. (2008). "Sticks and Stones: Naming and Shaming the Human Rights Enforcement Problem". International Organization. 62 (4): 689–716. doi:10.1017/S0020818308080247. ISSN   1531-5088. S2CID   154303864.
9. Ausderan, Jacob (2014). "How naming and shaming affects human rights perceptions in the shamed country". Journal of Peace Research. 51 (1): 81–95. doi:10.1177/0022343313510014. ISSN   0022-3433. S2CID   110256400.
10. Krain, Matthew (2012-09-01). "J'accuse! Does Naming and Shaming Perpetrators Reduce the Severity of Genocides or Politicides?1". International Studies Quarterly. 56 (3): 574–589. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2478.2012.00732.x . ISSN   0020-8833.
11. Eilstrup-Sangiovanni, Mette; Bondaroff, Teale N. Phelps (2014-06-01). "From Advocacy to Confrontation: Direct Enforcement by Environmental NGOs1". International Studies Quarterly. 58 (2): 348–361. doi: 10.1111/isqu.12132 . ISSN   0020-8833.
12. Tingley, Dustin; Tomz, Michael (2022). "The Effects of Naming and Shaming on Public Support for Compliance with International Agreements: An Experimental Analysis of the Paris Agreement". International Organization. 76 (2): 445–468. doi:10.1017/S0020818321000394. ISSN   0020-8183. S2CID   119092023.
13. Kolmaš, Michal (2021-03-04). "International pressure and Japanese withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission: when shaming fails". Australian Journal of International Affairs. 75 (2): 197–216. doi:10.1080/10357718.2020.1799936. ISSN   1035-7718. S2CID   225415299.
14. Kolmaš, Michal (2021-08-06). "Why is Japan shamed for whaling more than Norway? International Society and its barbaric others". International Relations of the Asia-Pacific. 22 (2): 267–296. doi:10.1093/irap/lcab012. ISSN   1470-482X.
15. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, National Minimum Wage Law: Enforcement, published November 2017, accessed 3 January 2019
16. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2018), Naming Scheme for Unpaid Employment Tribunal Awards, published 17 December 2018, accessed 28 December 2018
17. Taylor, M. (2017), Good Work: The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, page 62, accessed 28 December 2018
18. BBC News, Name firms that mistreat consumers says Citizens Advice, published 12 June 2013, accessed 3 January 2018
19. NSW Food Authority, NSW Food Authority Name And Shame, accessed 26 February 2021