People Choose King Size Frozen Candy Bars Over Free 10oz Silver Bar (Worth $150)--Social Experiment

[big_dog]

plus there's a coin store right next door to boot...

[Travis_0004]

1. The silver would buy me 150 hersheys bar

Plus I prefer the cookies and cream hersheys.

Ill take the silver

[big_dog]

4. same guy also tried to sell a solid gold coin in San Diego for $25 (no takers)

n/t

[DFW]

11. The Heshey bar/Silver bar choice seems more believable

That seems like he's trying to show how little people know, whereas someone trying to sell something obviously worth $1100 for $25 seems like a drug addict desperately trying to raise cash for his next fix with a stolen item.

Either way, I don't care HOW hot it was out there, if I was convinced it was purely a publicity stunt with no stolen objects involved, I'd have grabbed the silver bar faster than you could say "DUH!"

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. Was that before or after Better Call Saul?

[Lancero]

20. Had someone walked up to me and made that offer, I'd have denied it...

Mainly because I know how much gold is worth.

Gold coin, $25 bucks? A educated consumer would say bullshit, no way would someone be stupid enough to sell something that valuable for that much. In cases like this, most people would think the item fake or stolen and in the vast majority of cases be correct.

I suppose it's a interesting example in how educated consumers can shoot themselves in the foot.

[brooklynite]

2. I don't think the issue is not knowing the value of silver...

...it's KNOWING (more or less) the value of silver and not believing someone on the street would give you one.

[big_dog]

3. plus the candy bars were COLD/FROZEN & straight from the freezer!

important fact on a sweltering hot day..

[petronius]

7. Yeah, if I try to imagine how I'd respond on the fly to this I'd probably

choose the chocolate as well. Considering that there is so much internet-driven emphasis on punking people on the street, and I can quickly assess the reality of a chocolate bar (versus a bar of silver), it would seem like a win to grab a free chocolate bar and quickly break contact with the weirdo. (Although if I really wasn't in the mood for chocolate--maybe I stepped on the scale that morning--I might take a flyer on the silver.)

If the silver was offered by someone whose credibility I could assess, for example if my employer offered to pay me in equal weights of chocolate or silver, then the silver would be obvious...

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

26. I'd take the silver. How do you know the edible item isn't poisoned?

Even if the silver is fake, you're not going to eat it.

[uponit7771]

18. +1, anyone grow up in the inner city would've chosen the candy. No one in their right mind would be

... giving away 150.00 no strings on the street.

People don't want to get caught up in anything, people are more generous with food than other tangible items...

The people running the experiment don't live in the inner city

[PoliticAverse]

5. There have been some experiments where people refuse to take free money given out

by a stranger on the street.

[big_dog]

10. this guy bought a taco at the drive up for 0.99 and paid with gold bullion

not sure what the point of it was other than some restaurant manager is gonna hit a 1,500 jackpot that night..just heard about this stunt on the morning dj radio the other day

[PoliticAverse]

12. Sounds like a 'pr stunt' for someone. n/t

[UtahJosh]

6. The sales pitch seems a bit skewed to me...

It looks to me like he's emphasising the candy and downplaying the silver for the most part. A more scientific approach would be to have a sign offering the choice or something. The way he's selling it, I might tend to think the silver was somehow valueless (even though he is careful not to lie about it), and opt for the "safe" food choice myself - though given a few minutes to think about it, duh.

[big_dog]

8. i think people misunderstood it as 'raw silver' from coin because some US money is still half silver

any quarters before 1964 are technically 'silver coin' that could be melted down because there is some of that real metal inside them

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I would have taken the silver

If it is not real, it's ok. If it is, I just scored. But my mind thinks that way.

[pa28]

13. They all took candy from a stranger rather than a free 10oz silver bar.

Good to know.

I have a rather large stack of those 10oz bars and instead of buying a safe all I really have to do is conspicuously place a jumbo Hershey bar nearby. They'll take the chocolate instead.

[big_dog]

14. humans are strange creatures indeed.

just make sure the candy bars are COLD!

[flamingdem]

15. Silver is overrated

Chocolate is not.

[delrem]

16. I'd have brushed this guy aside and stepped up my pace to get out of range.

Last time anything remotely like that happened to me was as I was walking by immersed in my own business, shopping for veggies and stuff, someone reached out to give me a wrapped candy chocolate in a store, which I instinctively took as it was posed as a generous offer with a smile and .... He grabbed my hand as he put the chocolate in it and held on, and with the other hand passed me an electronic device to aid me in answering his questions. He held on, like I was some monkey doing the "monkey grabs food from jar and can't get hand out with closed fist" trick, And I came as close as I've come in decades to striking him. The bloody electronic device itself was tethered to him. Wow, I let him have it verbally - didn't care that it was in a grocery store and all the customers around me were neighbors and "scenes" were taboo.

In this case the guy is using people to get a good youtube video of them being "fools", for whatever reason - but mainly because he's a jerk. It sure the hell isn't an "experiment" in "social science".

[KentuckyWoman]

19. I'd have told him to buzz off.... period

Anyone who offers me something on the street, whether a sheet of paper or a 150 bucks in silver, is going to get the eye roll and a face palm thanks to lessons of the past.

[bobGandolf]

21. I sure as hell hope this is a joke.

I can see some choosing free candy bar, but for the life of me not the majority.

[Vinca]

22. How hot was it outside?

[dembotoz]

23. how come they never ask me

[madokie]

24. I have a hard time believing this as fact

it smells like bullshit from the get go.

[Orrex]

25. Maybe they were disbarred.

[Chan790]

27. I wouldn't take the silver either.

Actual in-hand units of precious metals are not as easy to move as you'd think. You can't take the silver bar to the adjacent coin shop and sell it. Actually, the only place I know of around here that buys precious and semi-precious metals is a pawn shop that openly admits they only pay 35% of by-weight value.

Candy bar or a silver bar I have to go out of my way and burn a couple hours to get $52.30 for and take the risk it's fake in the first place?

Candy bar.

[uncle ray]

28. coin shops absolutely DO buy off the street.

one of my best friends works at the largest one in my area. she told me of someone who recently walked in off the street carrying a large bag of coins. she graded them right there and cut the person a check for 250k. your experience is not typical.

[Chan790]

31. Not coins...ingots or bars. n/t

[Marr]

29. A better choice would've been between silver and a piece of kryptonite.

On the one had, werewolves-- but on the other hand... Superman.

[Oilwellian]

30. How interesting

Not one person in the video took the silver. Do you suppose it was heavily edited because the person doing it has an agenda? From what I've seen of his past work, he's a wannabe O'Keefe.