This is Art Silverman.
He works for CSPI - Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The organization advocates for safer and healthier foods.
Right now Silverman's biggest concern is this popcorn.
Almost all theaters in America serve this popcorn.
The problem is this popcorn is very unhealthy.
The Dept of Agriculture in America recommends a maximum of 20g of saturated fat for a person/day.
However, this popcorn contains 37g: almost 2x the maximum recommended amount.
What's worse is that's the amount of saturated fat in a medium sized popcorn.
A large popcorn contains over 100g of saturated fat.
Silverman's task is to keep people away from this extremely popular choice of food.
His biggest challenge is most people don't know how dangerous 37g of saturated fat can
be.
Let's be honest, no one looks at the Health Ministry's recommendation while cooking food
at home.
A lot of people that this popcorn is unhealthy.
But how unhealthy?
Is it super unhealthy like cigarettes or a little bit unhealthy like chocolates?
Furthermore, the term 'saturated fat' is very academic.
It reminds you of that organic Chemistry class you took in Grade 11 and hated.
As a result, most people don't get the reference and this statistic is not compelling enough
to keep people away
from
this popcorn.
Silverman can easily create an anti-popcorn campaign where he compares 20g of saturated
fat to popcorn's 37g.
He can also add a few colorful charts here and there to make the presentation a bit more
appealing.
However, it probably won't work.
So, Silverman came up with a new idea.
Little did he know that his idea is going to change the American advertising industry
forever.
Based on his idea, CSPI decided to host a press conference.
During the press conference, on one side of the table he kept a breakfast of bacon and
eggs, a big Mac hamburger lunch and a steak dinner.
Basically, the most fat saturated meal combo you can have in the whole day.
On another side, he keeps a medium size popcorn to show that they are equal.
This cruel truth amazed the reporters.
This is not some boring research paper data.
This is the ugly truth right in front of them.
Immediately, networks like CBC, NBC, CNN started covering this presentation.
All over America, the big newspapers were talking about this press conference.
The idea had hit like a charm.
And very slowly, the sales of this popcorn started to decrease.
You see this popcorn was unhealthy because of the coconut oil it was fried with.
Slowly, theaters stopped using this coconut oil for a popcorn.
Thing is popcorn is iconic when it comes to theaters.
So, chances are it won't get shutdown.
And thus, it did eventually make a comeback but in a more healthier form.
We can learn a lot about data and presentations from this story.
Yes, data makes you argument stronger and more logical.
That's why computers work with data.
But humans tend to think visually.
An idea is remembered by a human when it has a strong clear image and it has an emotional
appeal.
Scientists have to work with numbers and data all their life.
And that's why they can easily jump into data heavy ideas.
However to most people, data is just data.
What Silverman did is introduce what popcorn is through a clear image and then by inducing
a strong emotion: fear and disgust.
So, the next time you are pitching an idea, remember data isn't everything and you shouldn't
depend too much on statistics.
Paint a clear image and induce a strong emotion with it.