You would have thought the Olympics were exciting enough - or at least controversial enough - to keep the media in proper news stories but it seems not.
The BBC is reporting that "only" 36 per cent of us answered "yes" when asked whether we are more excited about the Olympics today than we were in January.
At first glance it sounds bad and it was certainly portrayed as bad news for Olympic organisers. But it's possibly worse news for people who like to see statistics used in a sensible and meaningful way.
Consider the case of somebody who was super excited about the Olympics in January but is still just as super excited today. Not more so. Asked that question, they would rightly answer "no".
"I couldn't get more excited," they might respond, while waving an Olympic flag and eating one of the official snackfoods of the London 2012 Olympics. But they still go in the "no" column.
But somebody who "probably couldn't give a toss about the Olympics" in January whose position has since matured to "definitely couldn't give a toss" would also answer "no", as would anybody whose utter lack of excitement about the games has been total and unwavering.
But there may also be lots of people who are very much in favour of the Olympics who simply do not feel any more excited now than they were at an arbitrary point earlier in the year. After all, the games hadn't started then and they haven't started now.
So the "no" camp could consist of impossibly excited Olympics fans, some disenfranchised grumblers and a lot of different people in between.
Chips and missiles
Meanwhile the "Yes" camp will include all sorts, from the fans whose already feverish excitement is growing further as the games get nearer to more reticent souls who are looking forward to the sport finally beginning and the interminable build up, with its talk of chips and missiles, finally ending.
Or to put it another way, the "yes" camp could consist of impossibly excited Olympics fans, some disenfranchised grumblers and a lot of different people in between.
And all of this of course is assuming anybody can remember how excited about the Olympics they were in January, which I certainly can't. I don't think I'm more excited now but I'm definitely in favour of the games and looking forward to them.
The fact this nonsense question and the flawed statistics it produced tell us nothing is neither here nor there of course. The story was clearly intended in a glance to make people think that only a third of us are excited about the Olympics. We're in a negative phase of the Olympic story arc (or the "Olympic news parabola", as Charlie Beckett branded it this week).
However, this hasn't been the dodgiest Olympic stat of the week.
That honour goes to the outlets reporting there is "a 50 per cent chance" that a bomb or deadly weapon will be taken into an Olympic venue. The reports are based on one person's account of the training security staff have received and a finger in the air guesstimation of the risk posed by persons unknown.
Ridiculous
And it's not just the media losing a little perspective over the forthcoming games. Index on Sponsorship pointed out this week that LOCOG is trying to change the way the internet works.
This from LOCOG's online terms and conditions:
Links to the Site. You may create your own link to the Site, provided that your link is in a text-only format... and agree that no such link shall portray us or any other official London 2012 organisations (or our or their activities, products or services) in a false, misleading, derogatory or otherwise objectionable manner.
So you're not allowed to link to the London 2012 website if you're going to be rude about them? Good luck enforcing that.
Meanwhile, BBC mockumentary TwentyTwelve may have long since been left trailing by the beyond-parody real life lunacy of LOCOG, but it's still worth tuning in for the final couple of episodes and the Digital Strategy of PR agency Perfect Curve is well worth a watch... if only for the line about "Twibbons, Twadges and Twandanas"...
The website linking rule is unenforceable, but a Google search for 'terms and conditions linking to our site' reveals that London 2012 are by no means the only website with a similar condition attached.
Posted by: Stuart | Jul 14, 2012 at 18:13
Couldn't agree more. Reassuring to see your article display just two places below the BBC's video for a Google search of "are people excited about the olympics".
It seems 80% of BBC statistics are misleading and the other 30% are just plain wrong.
Posted by: Matt | Jul 15, 2012 at 11:13