From James Choi:
Why the Third Pounder hamburger failed: One of the most vivid arithmetic
failings displayed by Americans occurred in the early 1980s, when the A&W restaurant chain released a new hamburger to rival the McDonald?s Quarter Pounder. With a third-pound of beef, the A&W burger had more meat than th e Quarter Pounder; in taste tests, customers preferred A&W?s burger . And it was less expensive. A lavish A&W television and radio marketing campaign cite d these benefits. Yet instead of leaping at the great value, customers snubbed it . Only when the company held customer focus groups did it become clear why. The Third Pounder presented the American public with a test in fractions. And we fa iled. Misunderstanding the value of one-third, customers believed they were bei ng overcharged. Why, they asked the researchers, should they pay the same am ount for a third of a pound of meat as they did for a quarter-pound of meat at
larger than the ?3? in ??,? led them astr ay.
--Elizabeth Green, NYT Magazine, on losing money by overestimating the Am erican public's intelligence.