So I’m gonna spoil the fun right here and say that this is one of four viral videos created by “Cardo Systems” to advertise a boring headset or something. These were watched by over 16 million viewers on YouTube and probably more; mine was via a forwarded email. At first glance this seems pretty plausible, but there’s a couple of obvious clues that it’s a total fake. Firstly, the corn doesn’t move. Anyone who’s popped a kernel or two in their life will know that it’s a pretty explosive occurence. Yet in the video, once the popping starts, the unpopped kernels, even when placed snugly together, remain undisturbed. I would expect at least some movement. The other dead giveaway is that the camera pans away from the popcorn for several seconds. This happens in every video.

Now that’s not to say that this kind of advertising shouldn’t be applauded. I think it’s brilliant. And way more original than something like the Air Force One gag. There’s a few reasons the cellphone popcorn concept in particular makes for successful viral marketing. Firstly, there were four separate videos seeded to YouTube, each apparently from different countries. This adds to the authenticity, creating the illusion that it’s a worldwide phenomenon. Secondly, the videos appear to contain real people who seem genuinely astonished at the result; the Japanese one especially. You believe it because they believe it. The third reason unfortunately alludes to gross scientific ignorance. The majority of people have little or no understanding of how cellphones work or radio waves for that matter. So they believe it because they can’t easily explain it. One physicist summed it up nicely by pointing out that if cellphones emit enough energy to cook popcorn, they would cook our fingers (not to mention ears and faces) every time we used them. Actually I think it’s a combination of ignorance and the media hype around cellphones and the dreaded “R” word in general. This leads to widespread but relatively mild distrust, which spawns the little voice whispering “Hey… that might actually work”. The final reason I can think of is that while it looks simple enough to do, you’d have to actually make the effort to go get some popcorn, then get eight phones set up to try it out for yourself. Now there are plenty of people who have actually gone to the effort, as a simple YouTube search proves. But most people will just watch it and forward it on to their friends who will just watch it and forward it on, etc.

Alas the Mythbuster in me can’t just let it rest there. We’ve disproven the myth, now we have to reproduce the result. And you’re not allowed to use CGI like Cardo did. That’s CHEATING dammit! One theory involves a hidden heating element, but that’s busted because it would burn right through the table. Or if it was under the table, you wouldn’t get enough conduction through a wooden table, for example. You might be able to use Kari’s microwave gun… Anyway it’s gonna annoy the bugger out of me until I solve it. Or at least until I lose interest.

… maybe the whole thing was staged inside a giant microwave… or maybe the phone’s infrared was just on a really high setting…