McDonald's restaurant is moving in the right direction.
On its new table top flip device telling about its history and food
quality, except for calories, metric was used throughout (g & mg etc). Only
totals were listed in both oz and grams. It's a major step toward the SI.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Victor Jockin
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:32 PM
Subject: [USMA:43086] Re: consumer education on the metric system
Very well put and absolutely correct. The only area in which I slightly
disagree is your assumption that FMI actually believes those things. It is a
fully disingenuous attempt to avoid the possibility of some trivial one-time
costs.
From: Phil Chernack
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 10:17 AM
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:43085] Re: consumer education on the metric system
Well, I pose this one:
Does the avarage consumer know and understand the differences and
relationships between ounces, pints, quarts and gallons? Many times I see unit
pricing in quarts but the items being sold have no mention of quarts on them.
They are either fl oz, mL or L. It seems to me to be very disingenuous on the
part of the food marketing industry to "claim" most consumers don't understand
metric or rather, understand customary units better all the while they are
changing package sizes to non-standard sizes and putting only fl oz rather than
expressing rounded up units such as quarts or gallons. Meantime, the unit
pricing does not reflect these. You know as well as I that most consumers
don't even pay attention to the units on the package to begin with. They buy
by size--that is small, medium, large. How many people have been hoodwinked
into thinking they are buying a half-gallon carton of something when it really
contains less. The package size is a little smaller but it "looks" like a
half-gallon.
As for the space argument that rationally sized metric products won't fit
into the current racks, refridgerators or shelves is a specious one at best. I
have seen plenty of rationally-sized metric products in the supermarkets from
soda and juice to cleaners and they fit fine.
One other note, the FMI refers to the "metric experiment" I have news for
them: it's no experiment. As many here can point out, many industries have
converted to metric or work in metric with no issues and have made the
deliberate decision to do so. What we have is a long, slow, painful
inevability that could be made quicker and less painful.
Phil
On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Paul Trusten <[email protected]> wrote:
FMI claims that the American public does not understand the metric system
and is not demanding metric products. I think there is some truth to this
claim. Although the U.S. public has taken to metric soft drinks (and hard
drinks, too) , it remains to be seen if the average U.S. shopper understands,
upon inspection, how, for example, a 1 L bottle relates to a 500 mL bottle or a
750 mL bottle. Now, you and I on this list laugh at such a statement, because
we have made this understanding of metric units as instinctive as cents relate
to dollars. But FMI is talking about the average consumer who, under the FPLA
amendment, suddenly will be faced with labeling, shelf tags, and advertising in
metric units only, and will have to make a purchase based upon metric-only
labeling. Its point that numerous questions will be handed to store personnel
is a valid one (I speak here from personal experience as a retail pharmacist
over the years, when any consumer-product issue comes up from behind and taps
the public on the shoulder) .
We must face the fact that Americans are generally not taught or oriented
to using, and comparing, metric units. Buying a 2 L bottle of Coke is one
thing, but really processing that measurement information is another. Does the
average shopper know that 2 L = 2000 mL, and can (s)he yet quickly and easily
relate a 2 L bottle to a 250 mL bottle? I don't think so. I say we need to
work to change that. We who extol the advantages of metric need to educate our
fellow Americans on features, and the virtues the metric system. This just
isn't common knowledge yet in America.
Developing a plan for consumer metric education is going to be a top
priority for me at USMA in the coming months.
We can accomplish two things with mass consumer education: to reduce any
possible public confusion over metric units, and also to sell the decimal
advantage of metric.
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
Public Relations Director
U.S. Metric Association, Inc.
www.metric.org
3609 Caldera Blvd. Apt. 122
Midland TX 79707-2872 US
+1(432)528-7724
[email protected]
