Why some botched competitions ruin businesses, while others short-change consumers.
Why some botched competitions ruin businesses, while others short-change consumers.
Why some botched competitions ruin businesses, while others short-change consumers.
Pepsi twice ended up in court after promotions went disastrously wrong. Other big companies have fallen into the same trap - promising customers rewards so generous that to fulfil the promise might mean corporate bankruptcy. Businesses and customers alike are sometimes blinded by the big numbers in such PR stunts …
How assuming others understand exactly what we are thinking gets people killed.
How assuming others understand exactly what we are thinking gets people killed.
How assuming others understand exactly what we are thinking gets people killed.
Why were soldiers on horseback told to ride straight into a valley full of enemy cannon? The disastrous "Charge of the Light Brigade" is usually blamed on blundering generals. But the confusing orders issued on that awful day in 1854 reveal a common human trait - we often wrongly assume …
The height of stupidity is being too stupid to know you are stupid... and it's more common than you think.
The height of stupidity is being too stupid to know you are stupid... and it's more common than you think.
The height of stupidity is being too stupid to know you are stupid... and it's more common than you think.
The hijackers of flight 961 wanted its pilot to fly them to Australia - and wouldn't listen to his pleas that there simply wasn't enough fuel for the mammoth trip. What would cause them to totally disregard the advice of an expert when the stakes were so very high? The …
A doctor who killed hundreds of patients left us clues... but why couldn't we see them?
A doctor who killed hundreds of patients left us clues... but why couldn't we see them?
A doctor who killed hundreds of patients left us clues... but why couldn't we see them?
Family doctor Harold Shipman got away with murdering his patients for decades. He was one of the most prolific serial killers in history - but his hundreds of crimes largely went unnoticed despite a vast paper trail of death certificates he himself had signed. Why do we sometimes fail to …
Being clever doesn't protect us from scams... sometimes knowledge makes us fall for intricate deceptions..
Being clever doesn't protect us from scams... sometimes knowledge makes us fall for intricate deceptions..
Being clever doesn't protect us from scams... sometimes knowledge makes us fall for intricate deceptions..
"The Pope" was a revered Dutch art expert - and yet he fell for a not very convincing forgery of a "lost" Vermeer masterpiece. The forger had duped other art connoisseurs too - including the high ranking Nazi Hermann Göring. But perhaps Han van Meegeren's biggest con was to convince …