Healthy Influence – Persuasion Blog

The New York Times, reliable as ever in these matters, profiles the latest expert with a plan to save the obese from themselves.  We follow the trail of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver as he wanders near my stomping grounds in West Virginia with a visit to Huntington, WV,  identified in the article as the fattest area of the US, at least according to that well known source of peer review science, the Associated Press.  Mr. Oliver is there to trumpet his expert solution for this particular behavior change problem:  Home cooking.  Here’s the money quote:

“All of which makes Huntington the perfect setting for the next Jamie Oliver Challenge. While he understands the allure of Home Wreckers and Big Macs alike, this British celebrity chef has made it his mission in recent years to break people’s dependence on fast food, believing that if they can learn to cook just a handful of dishes, they’ll get hooked on eating healthfully. The joy of a home-cooked meal, rudimentary as it sounds, has been at the core of his career from the start, and as he has matured, it has turned into a platform.”

Only the New York Times or another elite media source would write this with a straight face.  Sure, the primary reason people eat so much and get overweight is because they don’t do home-cooking!  Gee whiz.  That never occurred to me and I’m a pointy-headed persuasion scientist who’s done peer reviewed science on changing nutritional behavior.  (Click this link then enter my name as “S Booth-Butterfield” in the search for box at the top of the screen.)

This is an absurd assertion from a source that prides itself as a smart purveyor of information.  People eat too much, not because they don’t cook at home, but because food is safe, cheap, abundant, tasty and eating it virtually anywhere at anytime is now acceptable compared to my youth when it was considered impolite behavior outside of the dining room.

At least one element of the Oliver tactic warrants support.  He knows how to generate Reception for his message.  Oliver is a master at attracting media sources to “say it for you.”  Two thumbs up.

Of course, Reception is only the first step in the Cascade and it appears from the long Times feature that Oliver doesn’t seem to even consider Processing and Response stages.  And, the New York Times doesn’t think anything about Oliver and his claims, just functions as a vapid cheerleader rah-rah-ing a Fellow Sitter at the Cool Table.  Hey, didja know that Brad Pitt and Bill Clinton visit Jamie Oliver’s restaurant?  Hubba-hubba.

Please, please, please consider the Rules.

All bad persuasion is sincere.  Mr. Oliver clearly believes what he does.  Huntington WV is a long way from Manhattan and folks like Oliver are unlikely to put it on the Slummer List.

It’s about the other guy, stupid.  I’ve actually spent time in the Huntington area of WV.  Oddly enough, virtually every adult I’ve spoken with there indicated they knew how to cook at home and often did.  Almost none have ever expressed a serious skill deficit in this area.

Persuaders can either be famous or effective, but not both.  Jamie Oliver brings a lot of celebrity to the scene and while it gets Reception (great!) it also tends to deflect from any Processing or Response.  “Gee, he’s famous” is not an elaboration for any Argument that will produce a desired behavior change connected to obesity.

There’s a difference between persuasion, and smoke and mirrors; with persuasion the illusion persists.  Jamie Oliver as described in the Times profile is nothing but smoke and mirrors.  He’s the man with the plan and you can scan the plan in his cookbooks, available right now and selling like the Home Wrecker hot dog at Hillbilly Hot Dogs!

You know what?  I’ve been a part of proven persuasion interventions that change nutritional behavior.  The work is widely cited in the relevant scientific research.  There are things that actually work.

By why bother the New York Times with things that actually work when they already know the Truth?