How Marketers Twist Statistics | Don McMillan Comedy

Рет қаралды 397,686

3 ай бұрын

If marketers can twist statistics to support a claim within their marketing campaign, then what is it that's stopping me from doing it too?
🌐Social Media🌐
📶Facebook: / donmcmillan
📶Twitter: / donmcmillan
🤓Don’s Bio🤓
America's #1 Nerdy Comedian
What do you get when you cross an Engineer with a stand-up comedian? You get Don McMillan. This former chip designer has been doing his one-of-a-kind, PowerPoint-Driven comedy show for audiences for over 20 years. In his show packed with graphs & charts, Don will show you the funny side of your world that has been sitting right in front of you - you are just too busy working to notice. Don graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He then went to work at AT&T Bell Labs where he was part of the team that designed the world’s first 32-bit microprocessor. He then moved to Silicon Valley where he helped launch the start-up company, VLSI Technology. Then after 15 years in the tech world, Don quit his job to become a stand-up comedian. That year he won $100,000 as the Comedy Grand Champion on “Star Search”. Don’s been seen on “The Tonight Show”, “HBO”, and the “Comedy Central”. These days, Don spends most of his time writing and performing customized corporate comedy shows for companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Ford Motors, and Exxon/Mobil. Don has performed more than 800 corporate shows in the last 20 years and he was named the #1 Corporate Comedian by the CBS Business Network.

Пікірлер: 193

@goulash75 3 ай бұрын

My favourite statistic from Australia: 20% of fatal car accidents involved alcohol. That means 80% of fatal accidents didn't, therefore it's much safer to drink and drive!

@victorvolobuev507 2 ай бұрын

Sounds logical😂

@ronintje7647 2 ай бұрын

I'm screwed, i don't drink alcohol.

@terranovarubacha5473 2 ай бұрын

Juuust in case anyone is thinking that this means that drinking and driving isn't a problem, it's important to consider what the unmentioned factors were in the other 80%. Other drugs, exhaustion, texting, etc

@TheMrCarnification 2 ай бұрын

@terranovarubacha5473 it's simpler than that. How many people drink and drive? 1 in 10? Probably less, most people in rush hour are sober, but let's say 1 in 10. That would mean that 10% of drivers account for 20% of crashes. That means that drunk drivers are more than 2 times more likely to crash. If you consider that 1 in 20 drink then drunkards are 4.75 times more likely to crash (rate = percentage of crashes / percentage in the population)

@martinfiedler4317 2 ай бұрын

OK, vodka is BACK on the menu guys... 🥳🥳🥳

@hurshasnarayan 3 ай бұрын

Statistics is like a bikini. What it reveals is suggestive. What it conceals is vital.

@monkeybusiness673 3 ай бұрын

Nice...I'll quote that one!

@flamenmartialis6839 2 ай бұрын

"There's 3 kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistic." Mark Twain

@abdul-kabiralegbe5660 2 ай бұрын

@@monkeybusiness673 Just don't use it for any monkey business 😉😆.

@bikeny Ай бұрын

@@flamenmartialis6839 While I was thinking of the same quote, thank you for writing it, I do like the bikini idea for the problem.

@slave2nun Ай бұрын

@@flamenmartialis6839I’ve seen that quote attributed to two different Prime Ministers of England so, statistically, it probably wasn’t Twain.😊

@markhousman8447 3 ай бұрын

As an engineer working with marketing on claims literature right now, this is closer to reality than most people would believe.

@cisium1184 3 ай бұрын

It's also how pretty much all news coverage of science works.

@terranovarubacha5473 2 ай бұрын

Who wouldn't believe it? It's only funny because it's true

@markhousman8447 2 ай бұрын

@@terranovarubacha5473 good point...

@unclecreepy4185 3 ай бұрын

The old joke is a statistician looked and found that the chances of a bomb being on the plane you’re on is 1 in a million. But the chances of you being on a plane with TWO bombs is 1 in a billion. So he simply carried a bomb with him on every flight because the odds there would be a 2nd bomb is so much higher.

@SMHman666 3 ай бұрын

unclecreepy. It's like hitchhiking..... I always feel safe because what's the chance of 2 psychopaths being in the same car.....?😅

@boulderbash19700209 2 ай бұрын

*lower

@Tjalve70 Ай бұрын

Reminds me of Baldrick in Blackadder Goes Forth: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r56nl9yfv5bNh5s.html

@trnogger Ай бұрын

This is a joke for the many people who don't get probability. A statistician would know that the chance of a second bomb being on the plane when you are already sure there is one is exactly the same as one being on the plane in the first place.

@ldbarthel 3 ай бұрын

Grandma Grace's 2nd law: Figures don't lie, but liars can figure.

@janewestmoreland7239 3 ай бұрын

Yes. Numbers don't lie, but you can lie with numbers.

@PixelaGames2000 3 ай бұрын

I think this guy is probably my favorite comedian, like he doesn’t talk about anything controversial. No sex, no politics, just nerdy cool stuff. And I am all for that

@yuvgotubekidding 3 ай бұрын

Two out of ten people agree.

@DavoShed 3 ай бұрын

He doesn’t need to swear all the time either.

@justayoutuber1906 2 ай бұрын

Try Brian Regan - he's clean too

@Yupppi 2 ай бұрын

So no funny business, just facts.

@grabble7605 2 ай бұрын

Manipulating data is politics.

@Twitch0331 3 ай бұрын

A doctor tells his patient that he has bad news and even worse news. "Okay," says the patient, what's the bad news?" "I'm afraid you have cancer." Shocked, the patient responds, "That's terrible! What could be worse then that?!" The doctor says, "You also have Alzheimers." The patient responds, "Well, that's awful, but at least I don't have cancer." 😂

@HawaiiFoodAndFun Ай бұрын

I miss Gottfried too

@keithcappamore 3 ай бұрын

This video was 40% funnier than the last one I saw which was 20% longer, so there's an inverse correlation all up in here

@RictusHolloweye 3 ай бұрын

Brevity is the soul of wit.

@bradthebad01 3 ай бұрын

Survivorship bias on the potato chip statistic. The ones who died of chipping can't answer the survey.

@LarisaC. Ай бұрын

Plus, “people” answered, not people who ate pretzels.

@MercuryA2000 2 ай бұрын

One of my favorites is this: Pretty much every bar graph you see doesn't actually start at 0. They'll go from like 3,000 to 3,100. Suddenly a 50 point difference looks a lot bigger now doesn't it?

@DiscoFang 2 ай бұрын

The worst offenses of this is when comparing 2 graphs, one has the scale completely changed. Very common.

@BoraHorzaGobuchul Ай бұрын

Also omitting axis labels, also using nonlinear scales for axis values

@draheim90 Ай бұрын

I’ve used the Alzheimer’s and smoking one as an example to my friends or students for how stats can be twisted. Heard it first by a prof back in grad school who said something along the lines of “Smoking has a lot of negative health effects, but it’s one of the few things known to drastically reduce your chances of getting Alzheimer’s.” I don’t think most people got it.

@scdrescher1 2 ай бұрын

The numbers never lie. It’s the people interpreting them that do

@crissd8283 19 күн бұрын

Often the people collecting the "data" are also flawed.

@somersetcace1 3 ай бұрын

I was all set to add my worthless two cents on marketing deception but he presented this so well, there's no need! The only thing I would add is they do the exact same thing in politics.

@user-qv8df9vj2o 3 ай бұрын

He explained exactly what media does every day

@charliemason4355 2 ай бұрын

'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.' Mark Twain

@sugarnads Ай бұрын

That was actually british prime minister benjamin disreali.

@thohangst 3 күн бұрын

The more I watch this fella, the more I like his schtick. Genius is rarely appreciated in its day.

@gregofthelake 3 ай бұрын

In some ways, he reminds me of an old comedian named Tom Lehrer. Tom did funny songs, not stand up. But, he was a mathematician from Harvard and taught political science at MIT.

@michaelwarren2391 3 ай бұрын

I had his album, "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer". My favorite was "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"

@trapspringer9891 3 ай бұрын

@@michaelwarren2391 I love that song. I don't have any of his albums but "Masochism Tango" is hilarious.

@michaelwarren2391 3 ай бұрын

@@trapspringer9891 It certainly is!

@tandemdwarf745 2 ай бұрын

New Math and Lobachevsky might be more in line with Don's comedy

@Hartz4Empfanger Ай бұрын

fun fact: Lehrer is german for Teacher, so someone named lehrer being a uni/collage teacher is kinda funny

@AnthonyMute 3 ай бұрын

I always admire his jokes which are mostly PG. You don't have to be using sex, politics or even race to be funny. And to add it all up he can crack you up with slides 😂😂😂

@DerekDavis213 3 ай бұрын

Two out of ten people agree.

@Volkbrecht 3 ай бұрын

Personally especially the sex jokes bore me. Most of us have been there, it's really not a controversial topic. Just something that is better kept private.

@gopalshekar986 2 ай бұрын

"What's your name, maths guy?" "Mathews"

@magicmulder Ай бұрын

Gesundheit!

@gopalshekar986 Ай бұрын

@@magicmulder lol :)

@mirastor1796 18 күн бұрын

Somehow this reminds me of that study about colon cancer. They compared eating habits from USA vs south africa and found out, that south africans are less likely to get colon cancer due to their diet. Only problem: Average life expectancy at this time was 55 years in south africa and chances for colon cancer increase at 65 years.

@uncaboat2399 3 ай бұрын

Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't see the bear. What matters is whether the bear sees *you!* And make sure you run faster than the guy next to you ...

@boulderbash19700209 2 ай бұрын

Statistics say the reason for divorce : 5% out of boredom 30% monetary problems 25% infidelity 100% marriage

@driggs2109 2 ай бұрын

SOOOOO GLAD this guy popped up in my recommendations!!! Definitely my kind of comedy! Extra points for the novel/original jokes/concept! Unique AND rofl hilarious!!!! New sub for sure.

@zurc_bot 2 ай бұрын

The periodic table tie is ❤‍🔥

@QuietCastle 3 ай бұрын

I really enjoy Don's comedy! Great stuff!!!

@Groov3lab 2 ай бұрын

Oh how this brings back memories of the past 3 years

@darylfoster7944 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, like how the jab was going to reduce your chance of dying from virtually nothing to virtually nothing.

@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461 3 ай бұрын

THANKS DON,🤗 FOR THE LAUGHS 😂💚💚💚

@ZX81v2 2 ай бұрын

Class Act. Well done

@betheva5917 2 ай бұрын

80 year old guy goes to the doctor and says his right leg hurts. The doctor says ‘well, you’re not getting any younger’. The old man replied, ‘my left leg is just as old and it doesn’t hurt at all!’

@basilpitt717 3 ай бұрын

I love this guy!!!

@mattresbert 3 ай бұрын

Brilliant stuff ❤

@justayoutuber1906 2 ай бұрын

I remember having his album back in 2000

@thefriesens1071 Ай бұрын

This is actually important for people to understand.

@JohnSmith-rr3jt 2 ай бұрын

This is absolutely rampant in politics as well lol, and really any other area that people who don't understand statistics try to use them to fit their agenda.

@davidbatista1183 2 ай бұрын

High five ☝✊☝ 😆😆

@doughuffman5790 Күн бұрын

Favorite marketing meme; “up to” really means LESS THAN. “Removes up to 100% of grease.”

@AceTriggerz 15 күн бұрын

These are great

@leaf16nut 3 ай бұрын

Who do I give the props too, Don McMillan or his mom 😂

@Dave-sw2dm 3 ай бұрын

I remember all the X times more likely when they were marketing the jab. Very few believed me when I said X times more likely means nothing if you dont know what the first number is. 10 times more likely than 1 in a million is only 10 in a million.

@genewilliams617 23 күн бұрын

Well played!

@cesarbritoram 2 ай бұрын

You should be part of "An evening of unnecessary detail!"

@billneisius6778 4 күн бұрын

Most automobile accidents occur within 50 miles of the address on the vehicles registration. Therefore, register your vehicle as far away as possible

@glencrandall7051 3 ай бұрын

great numbers.🙂🙂

@yseasablayrolles4922 3 ай бұрын

Thanks 😂

@ssgtmole8610 17 күн бұрын

101 in binary is 5 in decimal, so that is the math/computer science "high five!"

@jaredkennedy6576 3 ай бұрын

There's lies, damn lies, and statistics. It's amazing how data can be manipulated, especially if you disregard the whole causation/correlation thing.

@angeladawn805 3 ай бұрын

That's the quote I was gunna put up, but you beat me to it, what are the odds?😉

@justinjones3918 3 ай бұрын

Reminds me of a Bill Hicks stand-up bit about how people in Marketing should unalive themselves...

@camdobson5433 3 ай бұрын

As an unreasonable person who also happens to see a lot of bears I now live in fear

@SMHman666 3 ай бұрын

Cam Dobson. That sounds unbearable!!

@williamlavelle7786 Ай бұрын

Remindes me of a book or article from the 60's that was titled "How to lie with statistics". Really, you could look it up which was a joke line from a Jewish comedian back in the day.

@Bosnian.Spartan 3 ай бұрын

3:32 Dr. Gundry be like

@hebercluff1665 3 ай бұрын

Remember, 9/10 dentists recommend our toothpaste!

@sabinrawr 3 ай бұрын

"Don't Look at Bears" is a good alternate title for this show.

@lyfeobserver 2 ай бұрын

Actually a true statement at the end, when you encounter bears you aren't supposed to look them in the eyes since it's a form of challenge🤔

@edmunddianga8641 3 ай бұрын

😂😂😂i didnt think id like it😂😂

@billschiller6649 2 ай бұрын

Hey… you got a laugh outta your picture. It’s worth it.

@hunkim4787 3 ай бұрын

Someone please explain the last joke, how do you get 10x? In order to get 10x I'm assuming you'd have to have ppl who get mauled by a bear but never see one, right? How is a person that never see a bear but gets mauled by one calculated?

@TheShepdawg9 3 ай бұрын

The math drove me crazy too

@thegsp 3 ай бұрын

Your mom really said out of sight out of mind

@dragonsuper6195 3 ай бұрын

My dad would have loved this guy, my dad was an engineer, a physicist and a chemist,

@kevinspacey5325 2 ай бұрын

Dude math teachers that are funny are the best.

@mikedillon9417 24 күн бұрын

My dad used to say when you quoted statistics that he had read that 95% of people who die of cancer of the rectum have used toilet paper and he’s not going to quit using toilet paper.

@nschlaak 3 ай бұрын

In using his bear mauling statics times the amount of bears I've seen in the wild, and including the ones at the Zoo, how do I say this accurately and succinctly? Oh yes, I'm in really big trouble.

@StephanieMT Ай бұрын

still wanna know why that last dentist dont reccomend anything

@ajaxfire 3 ай бұрын

Hoping to see a slide on having AI in PowerPoint

@VIDEOSASDE Ай бұрын

The young man photo is definitively Raphaelian, or rather Joycean if you swap 'artist' with 'nerdist'.

@davidwitte8469 2 ай бұрын

Number one threat to American: Bears Who remembers this?

@markeastwood74 24 күн бұрын

Since they introduced the national lottery to the UK in the mid-90s, I've been telling people how to double their chances of winning. 😎👍

@gazorbpazorbian 2 ай бұрын

the smoker voice should be done imitating the electronic voice

@danielmadar9938 3 ай бұрын

😂

@saxon6 2 ай бұрын

Torture the data until it tells you what you want to hear

@danarcher3415 2 ай бұрын

Mum is right

@Derecq 19 күн бұрын

I'm always wary of people who use percentages instead of actual numbers of things. For example electric car sales have increased by X% per month hiding the fact that 100 EV's cars sold last month and 107 EV's sold this month.

@Dethneko 3 ай бұрын

Tell your mom you don't need to see the bear to get mauled by it. On second thought, maybe don't do that, she'd probably have a heart attack. Maybe. I don't know the statistics, you're the math guy, you tell me.

@OrenLikes 3 ай бұрын

"75% of heart problems are of smokers 50+ years old" -> If you don't smoke, you won't make it to 50...

@JMill77 2 ай бұрын

where does the "10x more likely to get mauled" figure come from? Or is it just comedy?

@richardfitzwell0420 2 ай бұрын

You can call 25 people “dozens of people”

@bbgun061 Ай бұрын

24, even!

@kebsis 2 ай бұрын

I guess Weight Watchers is saying that you can lose three pounds a week, and then remain in Weight Watchers to help keep it off after that.

@bbgun061 Ай бұрын

So you spend the rest of your life three pounds lighter. Good diet plan...

@jgesselberty 3 ай бұрын

No one plays with the numbers and statistics more than politicians.

@romualdcaffeserre6230 29 күн бұрын

Marketers lies more

@admiralcapn 3 ай бұрын

3:33 - wait, which "Don" am I watching? #MadMen

@michaelhatch1994 3 ай бұрын

Somewhere in there, there should be a punchline that includes bears and bare, what are the odds.

@vicvic3683 3 ай бұрын

Are you allowed to tell those jokes after the marketing of a remedy for the most popular cold with 97% efficacy has begun?

@IceRungs 3 ай бұрын

There's an actual video of a physician claiming smoking lowers your chances of getting Alzheimer's 😂😂😂

@OrenLikes 3 ай бұрын

Death Statistics = Sadistics...

@rahulbhisesays 2 ай бұрын

1:58

@AlanEmmons-qw6bg 27 күн бұрын

I like when an ad says ten times more likely to die! But ten times more is 10 times more! why because less is more in multiples unless its a negative number.! Or something like that? Help me!!!😱. Just listen to the ads and see the oxymoronic way they phrase it!?!? Like save 5 times more in savings?? Or don't watch ads on TV you'll get five times more confused!!😳. But you should say save twenty percent on your purchase or 1/5th less!! Have a confusing day friends.?😵

@unclecreepy4185 3 ай бұрын

He didn’t really talk about it, but that’s the problem with random polls where they ask 1,000 people. If you went to a school with 2,000 kids, or lived in a town of 5,000 people and 1,000 of those people were polled, it might have some relevance. If you poll 1,000 people and it’s suppose to represent 332 Million people, then anything you gleaned from the poll is meaningless. We polled 1,000 people and 12 of them have been to the moon, therefore, it’s estimated that almost 4 million people have been to the moon.

@anthonyg6083 3 ай бұрын

🎉

@mikenoodle100 3 ай бұрын

There’s an old saying, “Figures lie and liars figure”. Marketers just prove it.

@aresorum Ай бұрын

4:49 How did he reason to be able make that claim?

@davidrochow9382 2 ай бұрын

I wonder if drop bear attacks were taken into account?

@OrenLikes 3 ай бұрын

Cigarettes are the main cause of statistics...

@aresorum Ай бұрын

2:34 He’s a pro-what guy?

@IrvingIV 7 күн бұрын

Pretty bright guy He stumbled over his words

@TheShepdawg9 3 ай бұрын

The math on the final slide has triggered my brain. He could've used the correct mathematics and the joke still would've worked. 10x more likely?

@westhillswood51 27 күн бұрын

There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.

@thunderbirdizations 18 күн бұрын

Finger, no finger, finger Uhmmm isn’t that the middle finger?

@QIKUGAMES-QIKU 3 ай бұрын

Why does this feels like it's from the 90s or 00's ?

@Ogrematic 2 ай бұрын

Statistics are bs. We learned how to alter results in psychology and sociology.

@owlNolan 3 ай бұрын

3:06 can someone explain? This is exactly what I thought, it's a fact and this is how I operate (btw, I'm not diagnosed with autism yet)

@tman250 3 ай бұрын

To put it into perspective, suppose a different scenario. imagine a catastrophic earthquake happens, on average, once in 10000 years in your city. Imagine that a catastrophic flood happens, on average, once in 5000 years in the neighbouring city. The flood is twice as likely as the earthquake, which means that your city is twice as safe as the neighbouring city. In practice though, you will be unlikely to experience either one in your lifetime because you will only live a hundred years (or perhaps 200 years with medical tech :-P ). Because you're unlikely to experience either of these events, you don't need to base your life around any facts about them. For example, if you got offered a better job with a better salary in the neigbouring city, you wouldn't stay in your current one just because it is "twice as safe". As far as you're concerned, any lack of safety in either scenario is miniscule and can be ignored. Coming back to the potato chip argument. Yes, people choke on potato chips and pretzels. But the so called "choking" is barely a cough, meaning that it doesn't have a material impact on a person's ability to live or their quality of life. Given this, you can safely ignore any information about how "safe" these are with regard to choking. We are overloaded with information all the time. So we need to figure out which information, when acted upon, will have a material impact on our lives. Any information that doesn't materially improve our lives should be ignored. What the comedian is getting at is that some marketers are experts at getting you to make decisions based on information that you should really just ignore. So when a marketer says "A is 3x safer than B", you should first ask "how safe is B really"? If B is already so safe that you don't think about it, then the increase in the safety of A is not really worth thinking about. I.e. don't bother choosing A over B - just pick whatever you want.