Last week, I was watching a toothpaste ad, and the spokesguy said "As a scientist and a father of four…" My snake-oil alarms started blaring. As a scientist? What kind of scientist? A chemist? A psychiatrist? A computer scientist? Science, as a very basic definition, is a pursuit of knowledge. To be a scientist, one simply has to study something. So, one can be a scientist in any subject. It doesn't suggest a degree, an expertise, or even a subject of interest when one says "scientist." The only thing the word does (when applied like this) is trick the public with the connotations we apply to the word, especially in context of a product. Please don't fall for this stuff in commercial or political campaigns. If they don't state real qualifications, disregard the testimony or statistics.
Note that this comic doesn't mean to downplay Meteorology. It is certainly a real and important science. The point is it has nothing to do with weight loss. It's the same as a cardiologist was consulted as an expert on climate change. It's fine for them to have opinions on the subjects, but it's nasty to trick the public into thinking they're experts.
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