Archive for February, 2009

Image: When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris

The TV commercial was gruesome: A group of skeletons sitting around a table, chatting and smoking. As they gestured, globs of fat splattered around, illustrating the consequences of smoking for heart, lungs, and arteries. And after watching the ad, a group of smokers in a focus group dutifully reported that yes, the ads were persuasive and made them less likely to smoke.

But they were lying. Or rationalizing. Or just indulging in a little wishful thinking. Because while they were watching the ads, they were hooked up to a device that was scanning their brain activity. These scans revealed a very different truth: when the smokers saw other people smoke, no matter what warning messages accompanied the image, they wanted to smoke, too.

This study was a very expensive scientific confirmation of two old sayings: “monkey see, monkey do, and “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And the study was no breakthrough, either. It was just a high-tech corroboration of a hefty body of research that concludes that humans — hairless upright monkeys that we are — imitate behavior that we see others doing.

In the conservation field, we often make this mistake: We show people some behavior and tell them it’s wrong. It’s a mistake because the showing is so much more powerful than the telling. Take a look at this ad here: A giant picture of a guy washing his car the wrong way, and a tiny bit of text explaining what the right way is. Which message comes through louder?

Click here to see the full sized ad.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, I have a whole new section on this website about how to avoid mistakes like this. It’s called “Foolproof Photos.”

Enjoy!

P.S. Some shout outs for this post. The image of the smoking skeleton is from the cover of David Sedaris’ book “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.” It’s perfect for the post, but not really connected to the actual commercial. The story of the smoking skeleton commercial comes from “buy*ology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy,” by Martin Lindstrom. The car wash ad appears on the website of the Massachusetts DEP, but I’ve seen it in other places. Finally, a hat tip to Kelly at the Black River Action Team for sending me the carwash ad, and congrats on the nice new website.

Source: russeljsmith via Flickr

I don’t follow politics that closely anymore, so I don’t really know how nature protection and pollution control are faring overall in the Congressional haggling over the so-called “stimulus bill.” But I do know that on the way to reaching an acceptable compromise, Senate Democrats and Republicans cut some things that you care about, including $65 million for “watershed rehabilitation.”

I bet the negotiation over that point went about like this:

Republican Budget Staffer: “We’ve got to cut this spending bill down some more, we’ve got to plan ahead, we can’t burden future generations of Americans with such huge debts.”

Democratic Budget Staffer: “But the economy is in a crisis, we’ve got to make some investments to get people back to work so they can feed their families.”

Republican Budget Staffer: “So how does this do that: $65 million for ‘watershed rehabilitation?’ What the &^%$#@! is that?”

Democratic Budget Staffer: “Ummm…I’m not sure. So tell you what, we’ll cut that, but we’ll keep the $85 million to build a bridge through that buggy swamp in my boss’s district. Deal?”

Republican Budget Staffer: “Deal. Next item…”

Words matter most in crises… when decisions get made very quickly.

Speaking of San Francisco, Save The Bay is seeking a Web and Communications Specialist to manage our website and online marketing activities to further engage existing constituents, recruit new supporters, and increase online activism. The group reports “This is an exciting opportunity for a creative and savvy web developer with a passion for growing online communities through emerging Internet technologies and online communications tools.”

Click here to learn more!