Physics misused in advertising (that most people wouldnt notice)

[KingNothing]

This advertisement cracked me up in a car magazine I was reading (the use of 'kelvin':

Xenon bulbs use the latest in halogen technology to produce whiter, brighter light. Halogen gases (such as Xenon) burn at a higher "Kelvin temperature" than standard incandescent bulbs, for output that is closer in color to natural sunlight.

I don't know if you caught it, but I just thought it was funny how they cited "Kelvin temperature" like it itself is a property of the gas, like a boiling point or melting point. As if it doesn't burn at a high centigrade or fahrenheit temperature...

Are there any things you people have noticed misused like this?

 

[Math Is Hard]

I saw a DeBeers diamond ad for engagement rings last year that kinda bugged me:
"Apologies to the Sun, but SHE is the center of your universe." Still trying to work that out in my head.

 

[franznietzsche]

Sun ain't the center of my universe *spits*


I've got a worse one though. A bible-thumping engineering major sent a letter to the editor of the campus news paper to disprove the big bang theory with thermodynamics.

The next day the physics department seniors wrote a letter telling him that they don't pretend to know how to build a bridge, and he shouldn't pretend to know anything about physics, and that if he wantstotalk physics, he can meet them any time in the department's student lounge.

 

[check]

and that if he wants to talk physics, he can meet them any time in the department's student lounge.

Is that code for "If you set foot in the physics department, we're going to beat you to a pulp?"

 

[franznietzsche]

Is that code for "If you set foot in the physics department, we're going to beat you to a pulp?"

Close. Its actually code for:

"If you set your ignorant foot, after your demeaning pretension to having anyknowledgeof physics whatsoever, in the physics department, we're going to beat you to a pulp."

 

[tribdog]

I can't remember who it was, but one day flipping through the channels I came upon "scientist" explaining exactly where Darwin screwed up and how the quirks of Quantum mechanics can be explained by invoking the hand of God.

 

[Moonbear]

I can't remember who it was, but one day flipping through the channels I came upon "scientist" explaining exactly where Darwin screwed up and how the quirks of Quantum mechanics can be explained by invoking the hand of God.

We have a 24 hour religion (or Christian) channel here that would probably have people on talking about stuff like that. I've programmed my TV to skip that channel when I flip channels. It was making me too nauseous, especially when they were talking about all the things wrong with evolution.

I'm actually impressed that car ad used Kelvin correctly. Sure, they didn't need to specify a temperature scale, and only used it to sound more technical to the untechnical public, but at least it wasn't using a term totally incorrectly. I'll have to watch for more examples now. I used to notice things like that and just stopped paying attention. One of my favorites are those ads for medications treating depression, where they show "neuron A" and "neuron B" and a bunch of circles floating between the two to explain how their drug works.

 

[matthyaouw]

Has anyone with any biology knowledge (or maybe chemistry) tried watching any kind of shampoo or skin product advert? Each one is laughable in a new way. I won't go into a full explantion or rant, because I've done that far too many times before, but let's just say i despise those adverts.

 

[motai]

Has anyone with any biology knowledge (or maybe chemistry) tried watching any kind of shampoo or skin product advert? Each one is laughable in a new way. I won't go into a full explantion or rant, because I've done that far too many times before, but let's just say i despise those adverts.

"Let the fresh fruits revitalize your hair, leaving your hair feeling renewed to start your wonderful glorious day."

Quite odd considering most shampoos have either sodium laurel sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate as their main ingredient, and whatever fruits extracts they do have provide little more than fragrance . Obvious advertisement ploy.

 

[KingNothing]

We should keep posting things as we see them, things like these make good conversation pieces.

 

[tribdog]

I don't think you can do better than "The Core" if you want to see a movie with a little "bad" science. The funniest thing about it is that I saw a few interviews with the stars of the show and every one of them said they were really impressed with the great lengths the director went to to make sure the science was accurate. I watched this movie with my dog and about halfway into it I heard him growl, "give me an freaking break" then he licked his butt and walked out of the room.

 

[chroot]

I once saw a commercial comparing two gas medicines. They decided to use graphs to unambiguously demonstrate their product's superior efficacy.

The graphs, presented side-by-side for careful inspection, were 3-dimensional. They had no titles, axis labels, or numbers on them. Just the frame of the graph, with a big red arrow sticking out of the origin.

The product being advertised had a much larger, much redder arrow than the other product. So, naturally, it must have been better.

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

I once saw a commercial comparing two gas medicines. They decided to use graphs to unambiguously demonstrate their product's superior efficacy.

The graphs, presented side-by-side for careful inspection, were 3-dimensional. They had no titles, axis labels, or numbers on them. Just the frame of the graph, with a big red arrow sticking out of the origin.

The product being advertised had a much larger, much redder arrow than the other product. So, naturally, it must have been better.

- Warren

Maybe the graph was of predicted sales profits once the commercial aired?

 

[tribdog]

I recently put tires on my truck and enjoyed the sales pitch at PepBoys. They brought out a chart that shows how their house brand tires scored 98 and BF Goodrich only got 97. True the Goodyear got a 99 but it scored only 94 in value.
98 what? 97 out of what? that's what I thought
What I said was:
"You guys here seem pretty professional, did you run this test yourself? "
he said, "That's how we know its accurate."
I said, "I can't argue with that. I would have been happy with a 96, but how could I possibly pass up 98. I'll take 490."
he said "490?"
I said "5 x 98, 4 on the truck and a spare "
he said, " you're clever" and I said, "so are you my friend"
no that's not what happened, but I did buy tires at pepboys and they didn't have 5 of the kind I wanted, but they had 4 and 1 of a different make. I had already paid, so they came out to tell me about the one tire being different, but I shouldn't worry. That's when they showed me the unbiased test scores. Even though I got a different tire than what I paid for they made sure I got a 98 instead of one of the 97s.
I thanked them for looking out for me and my best interests.

 

[mark1]

I don't think you can do better than "The Core" if you want to see a movie with a little "bad" science. The funniest thing about it is that I saw a few interviews with the stars of the show and every one of them said they were really impressed with the great lengths the director went to to make sure the science was accurate. I watched this movie with my dog and about halfway into it I heard him growl, "give me an freaking break" then he licked his butt and walked out of the room.

This stie rates movies based on the physics contained within them:

http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/mpmain.html

 

[Gokul43201]

There's this commercial by some razor blade manufacturer (Gillette ?) that proudly claims that their blades are made of titanium, because that's "the sharpest metal known to man".

That makes me want to laugh and cry.

 

[Moonbear]

Do you all get these ads for putting nitrogen in your tires instead of air? They claim they hold tire pressure longer because nitrogen is bigger than either oxygen or regular air (I think I've heard both) so doesn't leak out through the rubber as easily.

 

[Gokul43201]

Do you all get these ads for putting nitrogen in your tires instead of air? They claim they hold tire pressure longer because nitrogen is bigger than either oxygen or regular air (I think I've heard both) so doesn't leak out through the rubber as easily.

I have come across that one, though never with a "bigger molecule" explanation. And while the explanation is, of course, hogwash, there might be some truth to the phenomenon - but it would probably have to do with with the van der waals interactions between nitrogen molecules and rubber. At least the nitrogen helps reduce corrosion to the wheel rim.

 

[BobG]

I once saw a commercial comparing two gas medicines. They decided to use graphs to unambiguously demonstrate their product's superior efficacy.

The graphs, presented side-by-side for careful inspection, were 3-dimensional. They had no titles, axis labels, or numbers on them. Just the frame of the graph, with a big red arrow sticking out of the origin.

The product being advertised had a much larger, much redder arrow than the other product. So, naturally, it must have been better.

- Warren

Sounds like TQM (Total Quality Management). Paste a bunch of power point slides on the wall with any meaningless metric you can think of and put in a red arrow that says "good" (since the metrics are meaningless, a person wouldn't be able to tell if the power point slide represented a good trend or a bad trend without the arrow).

 

[franznietzsche]

Do you all get these ads for putting nitrogen in your tires instead of air? They claim they hold tire pressure longer because nitrogen is bigger than either oxygen or regular air (I think I've heard both) so doesn't leak out through the rubber as easily.

I love that one. Since you know, air isn't already 75% nitrogen... Its complete bogus. We had a fun laugh at that one in chemistry class the other day.

 

[Moonbear]

I love that one. Since you know, air isn't already 75% nitrogen... Its complete bogus. We had a fun laugh at that one in chemistry class the other day.

They're also selling it based on the fact that race cars use nitrogen in their tires so it must be safer. I went hunting down that one just to find out if it's even true that race cars have nitrogen in the tires. Apparently it is true, but the reason they do it is because with pure nitrogen, they don't get variations in mixed gases and variable moisture content, so they can calculate tire pressures needed for precision driving at the speeds they are running at. It isn't that the tire pressure doesn't vary, just that it's easier to predict the changes and account for them. The average city/highway driver gets no benefit (though I love the testimonials of people saying they can already tell their car drives smoother, etc.).

 

[franznietzsche]

BWA!

I want to read these testimonials... And have a hearty laugh at the stupidity of the average human. A good, long hearty laugh.

 

[russ_watters]

This stie rates movies based on the physics contained within them:

Is it me or is the "realistic" sci-fi/fantasy a relatively new genre? There is nothing wrong with a comic book movie like The Matrix or Spiderman or a traditional sci-fi/fantasy like Star Trek or Star Wars ignores/bastardizes physics - they are supposed to be fantasy. But these new movies that are made to look realistic are just awful (caveat: I haven't seen The Core, but I intend to for humor value).

And you know - I blame Tom Hanks. He gets on my nerves so he's easy to blame, but hear me out: I think this phenomena was started by Apollo 13. About the only thing fictional in the movie was the dialogue, but its success may have led producers to say - 'hey, if a real life science-adventure can be that successful, surely a more exciting sci-fi-adventure movie can do even better!' Enter: Armageddon, and it was all downhill from there.

 

[Moonbear]

Russ, I agree with you. When I go to watch a movie, I'm not going for a science lesson, I want FICTION! Something fun that makes me forget about what's going on in the real world for a little while.

 

[franznietzsche]

Moonbear, that's what alcohol, not bad science is for.

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, that's what alcohol, not bad science is for.

They go better together.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

There's this commercial by some razor blade manufacturer (Gillette ?) that proudly claims that their blades are made of titanium, because that's "the sharpest metal known to man".

That makes me want to laugh and cry.

When the Gillette Trac II razor first came out, the commercial showed how the first blade pulls and streches the hair, and the second blade effectively cuts the hair below the skin's surface. This was probably back in the early to mid 70's.

Then, Saturday Night Live plays on the Gillette commercial with the Track IV razor. "The first blade streches the hair, the next blade grabs it and streches it further, then the third blade streches the hair even more, finally the fourth blade cuts the hair". The commercial ends with: "Why? Because you'll believe anything".
Now they are actually selling these things!
http://www.schickquattro.com/index2.html?vet=yes&PC=yes

 

[Smurf]

Ah yes "The power of Four", god that makes me sick, as does "Good things come in threes" (herbal essence)

 

[franznietzsche]

Ah yes "The power of Four", god that makes me sick, as does "Good things come in threes" (herbal essence)

I thought they came in trees?

 

[check]

When the Gillette Trac II razor first came out, the commercial showed how the first blade pulls and streches the hair, and the second blade effectively cuts the hair below the skin's surface. This was probably back in the early to mid 70's.

Then, Saturday Night Live plays on the Gillette commercial with the Track IV razor. "The first blade streches the hair, the next blade grabs it and streches it further, then the third blade streches the hair even more, finally the fourth blade cuts the hair". The commercial ends with: "Why? Because you'll believe anything".
Now they are actually selling these things!
http://www.schickquattro.com/index2.html?vet=yes&PC=yes

I've seen that episode! Oh the hilarity!

 

[ShawnD]

Xenon bulbs use the latest in halogen technology to produce whiter, brighter light. Halogen gases (such as Xenon) burn at a higher "Kelvin temperature" than standard incandescent bulbs, for output that is closer in color to natural sunlight.

Xenon is not a halogen.

Do you all get these ads for putting nitrogen in your tires instead of air? They claim they hold tire pressure longer because nitrogen is bigger than either oxygen or regular air (I think I've heard both) so doesn't leak out through the rubber as easily.

The only somewhat realistic advantage would be that nitrogen is inert so it wouldn't oxidize the tires from the inside. Oxidation from the inside isn't really a big factor though since the sun and driving is what kills your tires.


My favourite is how companies put vitamins in shampoo. Hair is actually dead; adding vitamins does absolutely nothing for your hair. Even if vitamins did something, you wouldn't be able to absorb it because vitamins are water soluble. The large amount of water used in the shower would just wash the vitamins out of your hair.

When the Gillette Trac II razor first came out, the commercial showed how the first blade pulls and streches the hair, and the second blade effectively cuts the hair below the skin's surface. This was probably back in the early to mid 70's.

Then, Saturday Night Live plays on the Gillette commercial with the Track IV razor. "The first blade streches the hair, the next blade grabs it and streches it further, then the third blade streches the hair even more, finally the fourth blade cuts the hair". The commercial ends with: "Why? Because you'll believe anything".
Now they are actually selling these things!

They also did one about something like 10 blades. One blade cuts closer. The next is a little bit closer. The next is a little bit closer. The illustration showed that 10 blades would each cut a little bit of hair, but leave a substantial amount of hair behind. Then it showed the people who used it, and they all had quite a bit of scruff left behind.
Mad TV did one about a 20 blade razor where it did the opposite. The illustration showed it take off some hair, then more hair, then all the hair, then a little skin, then lots of skin. The users were all bandaged up.

 

[chroot]

I think one of those razor spoofs included a blade that did not actually touch the hair, but only taunted it.

- Warren

 

[franznietzsche]

Xenon is not a halogen.


The only somewhat realistic advantage would be that nitrogen is inert so it wouldn't oxidize the tires from the inside. Oxidation from the inside isn't really a big factor though since the sun and driving is what kills your tires.

Xenon is not halogen,you are right.

Nitrogen gas is not inert, you are wrong. It can react as an oxidizing agent, oxygen is just better at it. If you've ever burned magnesium metal (college/AP chem) you've probably had tog et rid of the magnesium nitride using water to change it to ammonia as part of the lab.

 

[ShawnD]

Well for the most part N2 is inert. You certainly can't burn hydrocarbons with it.

 

[franznietzsche]

Well for the most part N2 is inert. You certainly can't burn hydrocarbons with it.

That doesn't make it inert. Any metal will react with it, and many nonmetals will form compounds with ti as well. Its is far from inert.

 

[Moonbear]

That doesn't make it inert. Any metal will react with it, and many nonmetals will form compounds with ti as well. Its is far from inert.

I'm trying to figure out what's on the inside of the tire that isn't on the outside that would be of concern for reacting with air anyway. I've never had a tire wear out from the inside, it's the tread wear on the outside that does them in, and if you aren't driving and just letting the tires sit around on a clunker car, 1) who cares, and 2) they'll still dry rot from the outside in.

 

[matthyaouw]

"Let the fresh fruits revitalize your hair, leaving your hair feeling renewed to start your wonderful glorious day."

Quite odd considering most shampoos have either sodium laurel sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate as their main ingredient, and whatever fruits extracts they do have provide little more than fragrance . Obvious advertisement ploy.

You have to watch just how they word it. They most often say that the shampoo works with micro fruit oils (Micro f**king fruit oils?) to repair damaged hair etc... They do not say the micro fruit oils (Really? micro fruit oils? what in the hell is a micro fruit oil supposed to be? Regular oil but smaller?) work to repair hair, but say the shampoo works to do it, and the micro fruit oil (why in the hell would I want a shampoo to make my hair oily?) just happens to be with it at the time.

 

[motai]

You have to watch just how they word it. They most often say that the shampoo works with micro fruit oils (Micro f**king fruit oils?) to repair damaged hair etc... They do not say the micro fruit oils (Really? micro fruit oils? what in the hell is a micro fruit oil supposed to be? Regular oil but smaller?) work to repair hair, but say the shampoo works to do it, and the micro fruit oil (why in the hell would I want a shampoo to make my hair oily?) just happens to be with it at the time.

Are you referring to those commercials which have the small beads of "micro oils" infusing into damaged hair? I personally can't tell the difference between most shampoos, so I tend to go generic.

 

[tribdog]

micro fruit oils are not small oils, they are regular oil, but come from micro fruit. duh

 

[brewnog]

I love shampoo adverts. I think my ideal job would be to invent ridiculous pop science for these things. My favourite is Pantene Pro V.

"90% more softness", "85% more shine", "95% damage repair", "65% less frizz" and "hair looking up to 35% thicker" are just some of the gems on their website at the moment.

So, chemists, what's the SI unit of frizz these days? And just who are 'boswellox' and 'ceraneutrides' attributed to? And whereabouts in the periodic table is 'neutrillium' supposed to fit?!

 

[franznietzsche]

Hmmm, micro strawberries, all the flavour and joy of regular strawberries, but without the bedroom utility...

Oh, wait...

 

[KingNothing]

I think the Mach razor ad was Mach 13, but I could be wrong. Also, in regards to the 'unit of frizz' comment, I guess they could take some sort of survey ranking different hairs...but even then that wouldn't be scientific. But on a more serious note, has anyone ever dreamed of inventing units and measurements for things like this? I have a little bit.

 

[franznietzsche]

It was Mach 3. I actually use that one, its pretty good.

 

[Moonbear]

I think the Mach razor ad was Mach 13, but I could be wrong. Also, in regards to the 'unit of frizz' comment, I guess they could take some sort of survey ranking different hairs...but even then that wouldn't be scientific. But on a more serious note, has anyone ever dreamed of inventing units and measurements for things like this? I have a little bit.

One of my friends and I were discussing stuffed animals once. It was in relation to online shopping, because we were saying you can't buy stuffed animals online since the feel is so important to the choice. So, we were coming up with a new unit of measure, the squishability index. The higher the number, the more squishable.

 

[Moonbear]

I love shampoo adverts. I think my ideal job would be to invent ridiculous pop science for these things. My favourite is Pantene Pro V.

"90% more softness", "85% more shine", "95% damage repair", "65% less frizz" and "hair looking up to 35% thicker" are just some of the gems on their website at the moment.

So, chemists, what's the SI unit of frizz these days? And just who are 'boswellox' and 'ceraneutrides' attributed to? And whereabouts in the periodic table is 'neutrillium' supposed to fit?!

Okay, I don't care what they put in the shampoo, but if you had long hair like I do, you begin to acquire an appreciation for differences in shampoos. But, what I've noticed is no one shampoo works in all conditions, it really depends more on how a particular shampoo works in combination with the hardness of your water and the humidity of the environment. When it's wintertime and very dry, the oils added to the shampoo do help to keep hair softer feeling instead of feeling all dry and frizzy. I don't really care if they come from micro fruits or macro fruits

But, yeah, shampoo commercials are pretty funny. The only thing micro fruits seem to do is to make the shampoo smell pretty...or pretty nasty. I can't stand those overly perfumed shampoos like Pantene. Though I really do like the scent of Herbal Essence. It didn't do much for my hair though. I think Suave shampoos are some of the best, and oddly enough, they are always among the cheapest.

 

[ek]

So, chemists, what's the SI unit of frizz these days?

That one made me laugh.

 

[tribdog]

I have a problem with some shampoo's that have urea as an ingredient. Call me crazy but when I'm in the shower I'm the one doing the peeing.
Anyone tried the vibrating Mach 3? I like it, hate shaving, like the razor though.

 

[KingNothing]

One of my friends and I were discussing stuffed animals once. It was in relation to online shopping, because we were saying you can't buy stuffed animals online since the feel is so important to the choice. So, we were coming up with a new unit of measure, the squishability index. The higher the number, the more squishable.

Actually, I suppose you could do some sort of comparison based on how much % air by volume is in the animal.

Also, just to add to the thread, anti-cigarette ads misuse chemicals all the time. And if not misuse, abuse, by saying things like "this chemical is used in drano, and this one is used in toilet bowl cleaner". I'm sure someone who wanted to support cigarettes could come up with an argument citing ingredients that are in apples and oranges and such as well.

 

[tribdog]

I don't know the name of the show, but I was just flipping through the channels. Lifetime channel. some guy is describing a girl he killed and and says "there was a rope burn right above her Adam's apple."

 

[franznietzsche]

I probably wouldn't have caught that while flipping channels. Nice one.