Bad Math

There's a Pizza Hut ad airing on television these days with Jessica Simpson and the Muppets, hawking the new "4-for-All" pizza. In it, Ms. Simpson says that because there are four little pizzas, and a total of 18 different toppings, and then, after producing a blackboard and uttering a couple of mathematical terms, declares that there are "six million, three hundred twenty-one thousand different combinations."

Somebody at Pizza Hut didn't do their math right. Given the terms put forth, there are only 5985 different combinations for the 4-for-All pizza. That is less than one-tenth of one percent of the cited number. Is this intended to mock Jessica's ditzy reputation? The blackboard would tend to suggest otherwise, and the viewer certainly leaves the ad thinking there are millions of combinations, not thousands.

Still, it's always good to see the Muppets on TV, even if they are commercial shills.