A study by two associate professors of economics at Dartmouth College may finally prove what you have always known in your heart-of-hearts to be true: ski resorts exaggerate weekend snowfall in order to drum up business. But why does the study sound so much like an iPhone commercial?
From 2004-2008, the Dartmouth College economists behind the study, both skiers who felt they’d been burned by mountain reports in the past, studied snow reports from various ski resorts and compared them to nearby government weather stations.
Their report, titled Snowed: Deceptive Advertising by Ski Resorts, compares the snowfall reported by ski resorts with that compiled in government weather records. The study reveals that ski resorts report 23 percent more snowfall on weekends.
But according to the study, new technology, where available, is forcing ski resorts to be more honest. The study, which begins at this point to sound almost like a sales pitch, cites SkiReport.com, an iPhone ski-report app that enables skiers to post conditions from the mountain in real-time. The authors go on to say that snowfall “exaggeration” falls in resorts where skiers get iPhone reception.
Although this somewhat damning study appears to be well-researched (over 20 cited sources), readers should analyze the full report before deciding that the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain at their favorite ski resort is being purposefully manipulative.
I’m no economist, but as a journalist the fact that the final page of this report is actually a screen shot from SkiReport.com featuring a gigantic advertisement for the aforementioned SkiReport.com app on the iPhone is cause to raise an eyebrow. Sure the idea of new, real-time technology plays a huge role in the study, but focusing only on the iPhone and the SkiReport.com app seems either lazy or advertorial.
A quick search of the report reveals that the word ‘iPhone’ is used 23 times in the 20-some-page report, and the website ‘SkiReport.com’ is mentioned nine times. To put things in perspective, the word ‘ski’ is only used 52 times (that number doesn’t account for the nine times ‘ski’ is used in ‘SkiReport.com’). It should be noted that, for every 2.26 times the authors use the word ‘ski’ in this scientific study, they also feel obligated to mention the iPhone.
Of course the authors are only using AT&T, SkiReport.com, and the iPhone as evidence to show how new technology is changing the way ski resorts report snowfall, but there are myriad other ski report websites and applications out there that can be accessed on various networks using all sorts of smartphones. Why such a focus on these? Why did they choose to end their report with a gigantic SkiReport.com screenshot and iPhone advertisement?
I think we can all agree that the report proves what it set out to: that skiers should not rely on profit-hungry resorts to get accurate weekend snowfall information. But then where should they get this information? The SkiReport.com application on the iPhone certainly comes to mind…
Overall the product placement is a relatively small part of an otherwise very interesting study. Was it a problem for you? Do you think the study has some deceptive advertising of its own? Check out the report and decide for yourself.
Here is the abstract (I added the bold):
Casual empiricism suggests that deceptive advertising is prevalent, and several classes of theories explore its causes and consequences. We provide some unusually sharp empirical evidence on the extent, mechanics, and dynamics of deceptive advertising. Ski resorts self-report 23 percent more snowfall on weekends; there is no such weekend effect in government precipitation data. Resorts that plausibly reap greater benefits from exaggerating do it more. We find little evidence that competition restrains or encourages exaggeration. Near the end of our sample period, we observe a shock to the information environment: a new iPhone application feature makes it easier for skiers to comment on resort ski conditions in real time. Exaggeration falls sharply, especially at resorts where iPhones can get reception.
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This is why I prefer to use the mt’s web sites as most Mt’s have telemetry reports that are connected thru federal regulations. One would say “oh , thats the government . Right , they dont lie !?” lol .