Heat on a scale of 1 to 2

I was recently watching a Cowboy Kent Rollins recipe video on YouTube. I don’t particularly need the recipe, I just like his persona. The Cowboy was advertising his new hot sauce when he mentioned, “On a scale of 1 to 2 it’s likely about 1.5 in heat.”

I thought that was an interesting way of putting it.

I also think Kent Rollins is easy to overlook on his marketing prowess due to the skill he has with the persona he has created.

“1.5 on a scale of 2” has a much different connotation than 7.5/10 even though they are equivalent.

Here is the difference:

1. The context on a scale of two instead of ten changes what people are used to, so they make different decisions.
2. 1.5 sounds low because people are used to scales of ten, this may allow some people who say “I don’t like spicy to try it.

The context can matter. If you want to get people to think about something, rather than knee-jerk, changing the context will make them think. Try it out and you may find you get quadruple of 50% of half of your typical results. Or maybe even more!