Or is it Coca Cola?
All Threads
In 2003, neuroscientist Read Montague added an FMRI twist to the Pepsi Challenge. In a standard blind taste test, the brain region associated with seeking reward was highly active, and Pepsi still came out on top. But things changed when volunteers were told what they were drinking. This time, Coke was the clear winner, and the area of the brain associated with thinking processes lit up. In other words, the expectation of drinking Coke made it more enjoyable.
The Physical Activity and Fitness Survey asks people how much exercise they do, and measures (with accelerometers) how much they actually do. Unsurprisingly, the two figures don’t match up.
in 1901, Picasso imposed a self-constraint to boost creativity. His ‘blue period’ helped him produce paintings that conveyed a sense of melancholy and sadness, and shattered the assumption that paintings required a range of vibrant colours to be successful.
When pressed to explain the elements in Guernica, Pablo Picasso said: “This bull is a bull and this horse is a horse… If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning… I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are.”
Art historians have come up with several explanations for the painting’s meaning, all of which may be misguided. According to Picasso himself, “this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse. If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. I paint the objects for what they are.”
Pineapples were once the ultimate symbol of wealth; used mainly for display at dinner parties, rather than being eaten. Charles II was so taken with pineapples that he commissioned a portrait of himself being presented with one. But they lost their star status once steamships started to import them to Britain from the colonies, and they became affordable to the masses.
In 2024, sales of plastic bags increased for the first time since 2015. Why? The cumulative effect of the online shopping boom, which uses plastic bags by default. Ocado, perhaps most synonymous with the practice, sold 221 million plastic bags in 2024 – the equivalent of 51 per cent of the total sold in the UK.
A 2024 YouGov report claims that brand buying has become politicised, citing several examples of brands that appeal to different political leanings. But the crucial caveat is that this is based on attitudes not behaviours, and two are very different. Actual purchase data shows that liberals are only 3% more likely than conservatives to buy Ben and Jerry’s. And conservatives are actually 13% more likely to buy Patagonia, despite the brand’s close association with environmental causes.
In 1994, an American health organisation caused popcorn sales to plummet by 50%. A study had shown that a medium bag of popcorn contained 37 grams of saturated fat, so the organisation turned this abstract number into a terrifying reality: the same amount of fat as six Big Macs.
Recent neuroscience studies have shown that our brain is predictive, not reactive. It’s, quite literally, powered by expectations. When we drink a glass of water it actually takes tens of minutes to reach the blood, but it instantly feels like our thirst is quenched – that’s because our brain predicts the restorative effect of water as soon as we drink it.
In the 2022/23 season, Arsenal led the table for 247 days (93% of total) but eventually lost out to Man City – who only led for 28 days (7%).
Received wisdom is that premium brands are bought by affluent consumers. In reality, affluent consumers are just as likely to buy mass market products as they are premium products – it’s not all about the money.
In the UK, landlords who hold property in registered companies (rather than their personal name) can deduct 100 per cent of their borrowing costs from their tax bill. The result is that there are now 401,744 buy-to-let firms – four times the number of fast food takeaways or hairdressers.
This group of politically engaged, cosmopolitan, and environmentally conscious people only make up 8% of the total UK population, but they account for the vast majority of Labour party members and policy employees. I’d argue the gap is a big deal, given this group is responsible for setting the entire country’s agenda.