From: irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu (Josh Smith)
Subject: Re: US Public Schools: Get Rid of All the Bureaucrats!
Originator: irilyth@fenris
Organization: HMC Academic Computing Services
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 04:53:35 GMT

In a prior article, Tom Warner (cortez@milton.u.washington.edu) writes:
> Gosh, Josh, have you ever watched TV? Read ads in newspapers or magazines?
> Is the proposition that beer and cigarette ads lie without directly lying
> too complicated for your mathematical models?

Astoundingly enough, I have. Are you usually this condescending when you
post, or are you making an exception for li'l old me? Incidentally, using a
generic variable instead of an actual product name hardly makes an example
into a "mathematical model". I didn't want to name a specific product
because I didn't want to get into arguments about whether the details of
that product made it more or less conducive to deceptive advertising.

In any event, to get back to your point: Do you think that people buy the
beer that claims to taste the best, or the one that they actually think
tastes best?  Or perhaps they buy the one that's cheapest; I'm sure people
have a couple of criteria they use when picking a beer. I've definitely
heard people say "Beer X? Yuck, don't buy that stuff," and have never heard
anyone say "Beer Y? Yeah, get that, their ads say it tastes great," about a
beer which they actually think is gross. People will doubtless try a new
beer because of glitzy advertising, but I seriously doubt that they stick
with an inferior product (where the standard includes cost) because of a
convincing and deceptive ad campaign.

Then again, a lot of shoppers today aren't particularly rational. The fact
that someone is willing to buy beer or smoke in the first place may cast
doubt on their ability to make reasonable decisions about what brand they'll
choose. (grin) Seriously, though, it is true that a lot of people don't
spend a whole lot of time thinking about the virtues and vices of a product
they're thinking about buying, particularly something as simple as a can of
beer. On the other hand, they probably would give a bit more thought to the
advantages and disadvantages of one school over another, which was the
original issue.

Or were you in fact suggesting that the beer and cigarette commericals
convince people that drinking beer and smoking is fun and healthy, when in
fact they aren't (at least not the latter)? I suppose that by showing
healthy, happy people drinking beer or smoking, the companies are suggesting
that if you drink beer or smoke, you'll be healthy and happy too. I'd be
surprised if most smokers and beer drinkers said to themselves every night
"Dammit, I'm still not happy and healthy, I'd better keep drinking beer and
smoking like those ads say," though. My guess is that they just don't think
about it much at all, and that people are much more likely to think
seriously about their children's education than about whether drinking beer
is healthy for them.

I guess that not thinking about whether smoking is healthy for you or not is
pretty stupid too. I'm unclear as to why anyone still smokes, aside from
addicts or people who know about the risks and just don't care. I'd doubt
that there's still a large body of people out there who would be surprised
if you told them that smoking was very likely to knock a decade off of their
lives, but maybe I'm just naive and optimistic. (Boy, is that a set-up line.)
Regardless, I don't think ads convince anyone to keep smoking who doesn't
have some other reason for doing so.

To get back to the original point, you'll notice that the top colleges and
universities don't use massive advertising campaigns to attract students--
they find themselves with plenty of customers based on their (usually
deserved) reputation as a high-quality educational institution. I suspect
that K-12 schools would behave similarly, especially insofar as every dollar
spent on advertising is a dollar not spent on educating.

Thinking about cars, another important and fairly expensive product, you'll
notice that while car ads feature happy, healthy people having a great time
driving Car X, they also tend to throw in a few factual reasons why you
ought to choose said automobile. This is probably because car buyers take
this kind of big purchase seriously, and are in the end going to pick the
car that meets their needs best (whether that means "costs very little",
"has a lot of space", or "drives real fast"), not the one with the slickest
advertising (unless they happen to coincide). Advertising convinces you to
look into a particular brand of car, but if it turns out not to be what you
want, you pass it by in favor of something that is.

Random musings for late Saturday evenings...
-- 
original text by Josh Smith    ::   Comments, questions, etc. welcomed
irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu   ::   #include <std.disclaimer>
"If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp, because maybe you'll
look like a dummy and people will try to catch you because, hey, free dummy."
Xref: sparky talk.politics.misc:39377 talk.abortion:31509 alt.politics.bush:1391