Internet Activity 8: "Malcom Gladwell on spaghetti sauce"

Have you walked down the aisles of an American grocery store and wondered why there are sometimes 3-10 varieties of the same brand? Take Cheerios, for example, there are: Honey Nut Cheerios, Multi-Grain Cheerios, Banana Nut Cheerios, Berry Burst Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios, etc. In this TED talk, Malcom Gladwell discusses the history of marketing research and the work of one man who changed the way food scientists and marketers think about the idea of consumer preference.

Assignment:

1.) This talk is 17 minutes. Pay attention and take careful notes. Go to the website and use the interactive transcript to find new vocabulary words in the speech.

2.) Using the context of the speech and your web dictionary define the following words and terms:

aspartame
straightforward
plot
bell curve
dismayed
"educated guess"
placated
adherence
"focus group"
"horizontal segmentation"
"culturally authentic"
universals or "universal principles"
variability