Why Intelligent People Buy Stupid Health Food
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You don’t have to be stupid to buy “stupid” health food. Because all of us are prone to mental shortcuts that sometimes don’t make a whole lot of sense.
Buying Actimel
Let me introduce you to a good friend of mine, Sarah. Sarah is, for all matters and purposes, not a stupid woman. Given that she studied medicine and works as a psychiatrist, some male members of the human species actually find her intellect a bit frightening.
She and I were grocery shopping recently, and while we were meandering through the supermarket aisles, Sarah picked up a pack of Actimel.
Actimel, if you are blissfully unaware, is this “probiotic” yogurt-type drink sold as “DanActive” in the US, that for more than a decade was advertised with “activates the body’s defenses, documented by more than 30 scientific studies.” Of course they never mentioned that any old yogurt does the same thing at about a quarter of the price and with only half the sugar. It got Danone, the company behind Actimel, one of their adverts banned in the UK and a class action suite in Canada.
Back to Sarah, Actimel and me at the supermarket. “You are buying that?” I asked. “Sure,” she replied, “it has these probiotic cultures that are good for the immune system.” “Like any old yogurt.” “Oh well, but I like it.”
Why Did You Buy Apple?
Anyone halfway interested in nutrition should know about Actimel and the futility of buying it. But I’m not obsessve-compulsive enough to start arguing about lactobacilli in the middle of the supermarket. I value Sarah as a friend and have better things to do than trying to show of my superior nutrition knowledge, especially because Sarah simply took a mental shortcut in decision-making that we all take here and then.
If you ever in the last ten or so years bought any Apple product, you practically did the same she did. When I ask friends why they buy the super-expensive Apple stuff I get answers that range from “Apple products are high quality” to “their products have a lot of value.” Really? Wasn’t it rather that an iPhone or MacBook was the cool thing to have? The vast majority of people I know who bought Apple never looked at tech specs or product reviews.
Respect The Other Guy’s Shortcuts
Before you go now and send off “Apple is great because…” comments, let me say this: it’s perfectly ok that you buy Apple. It makes you happy and obviously their stuff does what you expect it to. It does not matter that a cheaper smartphone by some other company could do the same. You found your solution.
But next time you are about to ridicule someone about their stupid food choices, think for a moment. Products like Actimel actually are made for intelligent people who care about their nutrition. To an uneducated person you won’t even get concept of bacteria being in yogurt across. Apple products are made for a rather similar group. One that can afford their stuff, which means they usually are just as educated and intelligent.
You are trusting a public image, they are trusting a public image, where’s the difference?
Pictures courtesy of “net_efekt“.
4 Comments
My guess is Sarah is a busy lady with those qualifications! It it probably “easier” to pay more and buy the well marketed health food or computer then to take the time to consider the options.
Yes, that’s how I see it too. We choose to become “experts” in some areas, but can’t be in all. To come to a decision in those, we have to trust something that seems credible.
Living a Paleo lifestyle I never buy food that is processed or has an ad on TV or in a magazine (well, I’ve never seen an ad for apples, tomatoes or pork loin). I know many people who fall for this craziness. The Actimel example is a good one. As well the Apple one. I always wanted a MacBook, not because I think it is a good product, but because it is cool to have a Mac product. It is also cool to wear a Lululemon outfit (I can say that I wear it because it is comfy and well made, but the truth is that it is cool because it is expensive and my fitness heroes wears it) or to wear designer purse. We sometimes go to Starbucks to have a huge cup of expensive coffee, just because it says “Starbucks” on the cup, even though we can make a good coffee at home (and I am not even a huge coffee drinker). The thing is that nobody cares that you own an iPhone or have a Louis Vuitton bag (maybe I spelled that wrong, I am not sure). People who do not care about fashion will not know that your bag costed more than I make in two months at work and most people I know that own iPhone don’t even know how to use it properly, but it has an APPLE on the back, so it is cool to have it 😀
I read Steve Job’s biography so I do understand now WHY are their products made as precise as they are and owning a MacBook would make me happy for a different reasons than before, but I don’t want it anymore. I discovered other things in life that are important and worth getting :)))
Another example is margarine, marketed as a low fat, heart-healthy alternative to butter. Manufacturers are legally allowed to claim that it is no longer made with trans fatty acids, although it contains mono- and diglycerides – another name for trans fats.
This, combined with oxidized polyunsaturated fats makes margarine a far greater threat to heart health than butter, and yet we have almost all been taken in by the deception – doctors even urge their patients to switch to it.