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Maggie Controversy:The Illusion of Truth !

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I confess that I was never a great fan of the iconic 2-minute instant Maggi noodle but found it strange that this darling of mothers, school-goers, hostel students, travellers and bachelors of several decades should be catapulted so suddenly to a “Gee…it is poison…I wouldn’t give it to even my dog” status and burnt in street corners like effigies of Ravana.
What I gather from the press is that a food tester from Uttar Pradesh detected higher levels of lead than the permissible 2.5 parts per million, in the tastemaker concentrate that comes with the noodle pack, raising alarm over possible chronic lead poisoning. Excess lead entering the body can cause harm. Once upon a time when water pipes were made of lead, chronic lead poisoning was not uncommon producing abdominal cramps, anaemia, nerve toxicity (foot drop was a common feature in which the foot could not be lifted off the ground and had to be dragged) and aggressive behaviour. It was also sometimes seen in children who chewed on the lead of their lead-pencils.
The manufacturer, Nestle, points out that when the tastemaker concentrate is mixed with the noodle, as it is supposed to be done before consumption, lead concentration drops and comes down to acceptable limits. Further, the lead seems to come from onions used in making the concentrate and reflects high lead content in the soil of Indian fields, suggesting that we pay attention to our backyard where we grow our foods.
Wherever be the ‘truth’, a good David-versus-Goliath fight of this kind never fails to arouse an audience napping since the last general elections. And when newspaper headlines, TV screens, loud media anchors, activists and panic-stricken poor consumers join in a cacophony proclaiming injustice, insult and harm to society, the $2.5 billion sized Goliath is bound to be felled and brought to his knees.
This debate sent me wondering as to what is the nature of ‘truth’ (ANY truth for that matter) and if repetition actually CREATES truth. Did repetition as was used in advertising for Maggi over the years as a safe wholesome instant food, or repetition that it is harmful as is being done across all Indian media, really persuade us to accept what we think is the truth?
And although it seems too simplistic, that’s exactly what psychological research suggests: Repetition is one of the easiest and most widespread methods of persuasion, that has the power to transform even a lie into a truth.
Psychologists call ‘Easy to understand = true’ the illusion of truth effect and it arises at least partly because familiarity breeds liking. As we are exposed to a message again and again, it becomes more familiar. Because of the way our minds work, what is familiar is also true. Familiar things require less effort to process and that feeling of ease unconsciously signals truth, a phenomenon called cognitive fluency.
By the time the actual findings on the raging Maggi controversy comes up, we would have unfortunately already made up our mind about the truth!

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