For $75, Would You Advertise This?

[InformationGeek]

So here I am, watching What Would You Do? on ABC and I saw this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKXpfK98E-s
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf9Abu0ZWc8
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After watching it, I was shocked.  I would have stopped when the girl first started losing her hair.  I would think I'm smart enough to stop right there and others would as well, but seeing these people gives me doubt.  Please tell me you guys wouldn't do this!

[LilCerberus]

I once had a job as a product demonstrator for Pro-Sparkle, an overpriced glass cleaner & jewelry polish.

For $75 & a chance to be on TV, I'd write, produce, direct & star in the next ad for Santo Gold.

[Allhallowsday]

There's a word for people like this, but it's not polite.  I will say they're prostitutes.  Here's a few other words: Scumbags.  Turds.  Whores. 
That was sad.  InformationGeek, you deserve: 

[Jim H]

There's a word for people like this, but it's not polite.  I will say they're prostitutes.  Here's a few other words: Scumbags.  Turds.  Whores. 
That was sad.  InformationGeek, you deserve: 

Please don't bad mouth the prostitutes.  They're physical laborers doing difficult and dangerous work, but outside of legal issues it's essentially honest.  :-P

But yeah, this is how a very large percentage of all people in any given population react to stuff like this.  Not saying I disagree with your assessment, but experiments like this always get results very similar to this.  A lot of this has to do with social conditioning and the ease with which people are manipulated rather than poor ethics.  And everyone who sees these things says that, of course, THEY wouldn't react this way.  And indeed, *some* people don't.  But a good chunk of people do (usually a significant majority of people in studies/tests like this).

I'm reminded of the Milgram experiment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

In particular, this theory related to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

People think "Well, if I don't do it, someone else will, and they're just telling me what to do anyway...".

Possibly the best result of things like this is it can lead to greater psychological awareness.  Anyone who has read about these sorts of studies would, I should think, be less likely to go along with it.

[Newt]

We watched that last night too, InfoGeek.  But I was not so much shocked as sickened.

No; I would not take their money and do that.  Personal integrity means far too much to me.  (I will admit that it has taken a good chunk of my lifetime to grow that backbone, however.)

[Newt]

Please don't bad mouth the prostitutes.  They're physical laborers doing difficult and dangerous work

While you're at it, please refer to them by the much more politically correct term: sex trade workers.

...but outside of legal issues it's essentially honest.  :-P

Honest?    You are too funny, JimH!

[Allhallowsday]

There's a word for people like this, but it's not polite.  I will say they're prostitutes.  Here's a few other words: Scumbags.  Turds.  Whores.  That was sad.  InformationGeek, you deserve: 

But yeah, this is how a very large percentage of all people in any given population react to stuff like this.  Not saying I disagree with your assessment, but experiments like this always get results very similar to this.  A lot of this has to do with social conditioning and the ease with which people are manipulated rather than poor ethics.  And everyone who sees these things says that, of course, THEY wouldn't react this way.  And indeed, *some* people don't.  But a good chunk of people do (usually a significant majority of people in studies/tests like this).

Well, I've always been an iconoclastic dissenter.   
Please note these people responded to an ad offering $75... how many people saw the ad and had zero interest in the money?  Hmm?  If they were offering $7500 I could almost understand it; however, no one could ever offer me enough money to lie and make a permanent record of it.   

[3mnkids]

Some people will do anything for money. Its disgusting. Was this the same show that had the actors playing polygamist to see what strangers would say to them or something like that? I turned it off as soon as they got the actors all dressed up... roughly two minutes in     I hate television.

[InformationGeek]

Some people will do anything for money. Its disgusting. Was this the same show that had the actors playing polygamist to see what strangers would say to them or something like that? I turned it off as soon as they got the actors all dressed up... roughly two minutes in     I hate television.

Yes, this is the same show.

I personally like the show because it makes me think.  What would I do if I was in the situation and makes me realize certian things when I truly think about myself, whether they good or bad. 

I think the show is pretty good and my favorite one and the one that I found most shocking was when they had 2 groups of kids vandalize a car.  One group was black and the other was white.  Horrifingly enough, only 3 people either called or confronted the white group of kids about their destruction.  There were 2 other calls to 911 though during their part, but for reasons that would surprise you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNu-WZdHzaA
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[Rev. Powell]

There is a somewhat hopeful message buried inside that lesson.  The psychologist they interviewed mentioned that individuals in mobs will not trust their own judgment and Will instead wait for a leader.  If one of those people had stood up and said "this is wrong, I'm leaving," it's a good bet that the others would have followed.   

What this means for us is that if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation and need the courage to do the right thing, we should reflect on the fact that other people are almost certainly looking for someone else to take the first step, too.  If we do the right thing, they will follow.   

[Andrew]

What this means for us is that if we ever find ourselves in a similar situation and need the courage to do the right thing, we should reflect on the fact that other people are almost certainly looking for someone else to take the first step, too.  If we do the right thing, they will follow.   

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke. 

I think of this quote quite often.

[judge death]

I have some mixed felings here.

On one hand, people who'd advertise this stuff without knowing anything about it and make claims they knew were false, like the money back guarantee, are scumbags.

On the other, people who buy stuff based on infomercials are idiots.

[The Gravekeeper]

You know what's scary? This isn't the first experiment about this kind of thing. I seem to recall one that, by today's standards, is unethical. The participants were told that they were helping out with an experiment to improve another person's memory by giving them an electric shock every time they got something wrong. The shocks would become more intense with every failure. Or so they thought. There wasn't actually another person there getting the shocks, but after a certain point there'd be screams of pain every time they "shocked" to other person and eventually the "person" would start begging for mercy.

Most of the participants in the experiment kept right on shocking the person they thought was there even though they were free to leave any time they wanted. These were just ordinary, everyday people, too. Scary, isn't it?

Rev. Powell: That's exactly right. And that's exactly how Hitler managed to turn perfectly normal people in monsters who had no problems with indirectly murdering their neighbours. If only people would turn that bit of human psychology toward some good on such a large scale we'd see some major changes for the better in the world.

[Jim H]

You know what's scary? This isn't the first experiment about this kind of thing. I seem to recall one that, by today's standards, is unethical. The participants were told that they were helping out with an experiment to improve another person's memory by giving them an electric shock every time they got something wrong. The shocks would become more intense with every failure. Or so they thought. There wasn't actually another person there getting the shocks, but after a certain point there'd be screams of pain every time they "shocked" to other person and eventually the "person" would start begging for mercy.

Most of the participants in the experiment kept right on shocking the person they thought was there even though they were free to leave any time they wanted. These were just ordinary, everyday people, too. Scary, isn't it?

Yeah, you're referring to the Milgram Experiment I mentioned (but didn't summarize, which I probably should have) above.

Deciding that wasn't unethical enough, it was eventually redone elsewhere with real shocks to puppies (no joke), and yielded much the same result.

[judge death]

You know what's scary? This isn't the first experiment about this kind of thing. I seem to recall one that, by today's standards, is unethical. The participants were told that they were helping out with an experiment to improve another person's memory by giving them an electric shock every time they got something wrong. The shocks would become more intense with every failure. Or so they thought. There wasn't actually another person there getting the shocks, but after a certain point there'd be screams of pain every time they "shocked" to other person and eventually the "person" would start begging for mercy.

Most of the participants in the experiment kept right on shocking the person they thought was there even though they were free to leave any time they wanted. These were just ordinary, everyday people, too. Scary, isn't it?

Yeah, you're referring to the Milgram Experiment I mentioned (but didn't summarize, which I probably should have) above.

Deciding that wasn't unethical enough, it was eventually redone elsewhere with real shocks to puppies (no joke), and yielded much the same result.

Who did that? I'd like to see how he reacted to a taser to the scrotum.