1…ha ha ha,
2…ha ha ha,
3…
So the official ruling is 63 individual flaps. However, as @bruitist noted, four of these are double flaps reducing the count of hidden pictures to 59.
It is perhaps an unhealthy curiosity about why this is such a common form of marketing?
- Do we humans perceive “more than 60” to be a larger number than 63?
- Were the graphics developed in parallel so the exact number wasn’t known at the time the design was locked down?
- Was there internal dissent regarding 59 vs 63 flaps and they compromised? (Nearly 60 flaps! Approximately 60 flaps or so!)
- Is the number 60 sufficiently easier to digest than 63 that it makes a more frictionless value proposition, with the “more then” tacked on for mere accuracy?
The internet can’t answer all the questions of life yet.
I think so.
When I moved here the first local freesheet through the door said that High Wycombe’s shopping centre (in the middle of town, and you can see the sky in a few places, but it’s basically the same shops as every other shopping centre) was now rated “in the top 50” shopping destinations in England. My wife and I looked at each other and said “it’s number 50, isn’t it?”. And as far as I recall it was.
See also the apparent confusion in marketing over “less than half price,” “better than half price” and “more than half price.”
And the third-of-a-pound burger which people thought was smaller than a quarter-pounder.
We need a biweekly meeting to hash this out. So… wait, how many meetings is that?
And of course the Cool Cash scratchcard debacle, in which the lack of education of the average Brit was made plain:
The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: "On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn’t.
“I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I’m not having it.”
By the same token, I think humans as a whole will feel something priced $9.99 or $29.99 is somehow much better than $10 or $30 at a quick glance. It just feels cheaper if that tens digit (or hundreds, or thousands, etc.) is one less, even if the actual difference is just one cent.
I suspect it’s because ‘63 flaps’ would be boringly precise.
‘More than 60 flaps’ contains a bit of mystery. And any kid is going to want to count them to see how many there are.
I’m pretty sure most kids wouldn’t have noticed how many flaps were being advertised!
And if they do have to make a last-minute production change, there’s a margin of error.
Underestimate kids at your peril!
1
Note King Ham -= Nottingham?
? Ace/Card?
2 solved
Award = Blue Peter Badge
Carrier = Brown Paper Bag
Character = Red Riding Hood
Programme= Pink Panther Show
Route = Yellow Brick Road
Safety guide = Green Cross Code
remnant: Black Pool Tower
1 SOLVED - Buck King Ham Pal Ace - Buckingham Palace
I think this needs a warning for Britishness. Question 2 includes multiple references that you likely wouldn’t get if you didn’t grow up in the UK.
It is from GCHQ…
True, but there’s British and then there’s “lived in Britain long enough to understand what a Blue Peter Badge is” (spoiler for question 2).
“If you don’t get these references, you are not sufficiently British to be a spy for us.”
Exactly!! Don’t want any old Johnny Foreigner doing it!