1247 Metric Perversion

Back when I was in school, everyone was weighing in, in measured ways, about the importance of learning how to convert to metric. Inches to centimeters, quarts to liters, that sort of thing.
And I always thought, it’s pointless. Just change over. People will get used to it. Think about it. Do you ever care how many quarts are in a 2-liter bottle of Pepsi?
Or do you just stop drinking when you’re full?
So it was really odd recently when I picked up a packet of Sun Chips and saw the following. Emblazoned on it in a little heart shape it said, “18 grams of whole grains per 1 ounce serving.”
Aargh. They used both metric and American in the same sentence. Now I have to do the conversion!
Even worse, for my math-challenged brain, the package contains 1½ ounces of chips. Fortunately, they also put how many grams 1½ ounces is, 42.5, so the calculation is a little easier. 1 ounce is 2/3 of 1½ ounces, so 2/3 of 42.5 grams is approximately 28.34 grams.
If I were them, I would have done it that way in the first place. Because now it looks really impressive. In every 28.34-gram serving, you get 18 grams of whole grain. That’s pretty close to 2/3 of every chip being whole grains.
2/3 whole grain is mighty impressive for a snack food. Too bad they made it so confusing to us non-mathletes out here with that metric conversion.
Metric perversion if you ask me.
There’s a basic rule of advertising: K-I-S-S-, Keep It Simple Stupid.
“18 grams of whole grain per 1 ounce serving,” may be better for my heart.
But the simpler “2/3 Whole Grain” would be better for my brain too.
America, ya gotta love it.