Category: Micro Clips

Southwest Airlines – Winglets (a.k.a. Doohickeys)

In this 2014 commercial, Southwest Airlines highlights a new fuel-saving technology—winglets, affectionately dubbed “doohickeys.” The airline explains that these wingtip extensions improve fuel efficiency, helping them lower costs and, in turn, offer lower prices to customers.

This ad is a fun and accessible way to show how technological improvements can shift the supply curve. Teachers can use it to illustrate how increased productivity lowers production costs, which leads to lower prices and greater availability—in this case, more affordable flights for more people.

Thanks to Matthew Jordan from Lincoln-Way East High School for the clip submission and description suggestion!

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The Tom Green Show – Undercutters Pizza

In this sketch from the Tom Green Show, the host engages in an unconventional experiment where he shadows a pizza delivery driver. As the driver delivers orders, Green attempts to undercut the original pizza company by offering the customers a cheaper pizza from his makeshift, mobile operation, Undercutters Pizza. Despite the lower prices, customers react negatively, some even threatening violence if he doesn’t leave their property. In real markets, firms often vie for customers by offering lower prices for substitutable products.

Thanks to Kevin Carlson for the clip submission!

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Talladega Nights – No One Lives Forever

This funny scene involves Ricky Bobby (played by Will Ferrell) discussing his prospects for longevity with his pit coach. When warned about the dangers of reckless driving, Ricky confidently cites advances in modern science and his substantial income as reasons he might live exceptionally long—perhaps to 245 or even 300 years old. Though exaggerated, Ricky’s statement underscores a real economic observation: higher income levels are correlated with better health outcomes, largely due to better access to healthcare and medical advancements.

Thanks to Scott Cunningham for the clip suggestion!

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Hobby Lobby – Christmas Competition

The holiday commercial illustrates key economic concepts through the story of two young entrepreneurs competing to sell hot chocolate. Initially, both firms engage in product differentiation by progressively increasing their decorations to attract customers. This competition raises their average costs above what would be necessary in a more competitive market.

The ending of the commercial takes a surprising turn: instead of continuing the costly competition, one firm pivots to selling a complementary product (marshmallows). This demonstrates the potential power of collusion or cooperation, where firms can align their strategies to raise overall profits, behaving more like a monopolist rather than competing solely on price.

Thanks to Patrick Johnson for the clip submission!

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Condor Pipe Tobacco – Reducing Externalities

Negative externalities are activities that generate costs that accrue to people not directly involved in those activities. These effects are generally unattended. From the pipe smoker’s point of view, the noise generated by the rowdy boys was an external cost.

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KAYAK: Don’t do it yourself (Vacuum)

This KAYAK advertisement showcases a person who insists on manually handling tasks, including booking travel, despite acknowledging it’s not the most efficient method. He thinks he can do everything the best (absolute advantage), but fails to recognize that people can be better off when they focus on their comparative advantage instead.

Thanks to John Kruggel for posting this clip on Twitter/X!

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Joseph: King of Dreams

Disney’s Joseph: King of Dreams is based on the Biblical story story of Jacob and his twelve sons, with a particular focus on Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph’s privileged status, marked by a special coat given to him by Jacob, stirs deep jealousy among his brothers. This animosity intensifies after Joseph shares dreams that symbolize his future dominance over his family.

This scene highlights how Jacob’s brothers are motivated by envy and the desire for profit. They seize an opportunity to rid themselves of Joseph. In a calculated move, they decide to sell Joseph into slavery, a practice institutionalized in their society, gain profit. This decision reflects not only their personal resentment but also a profit motive, as they benefit materially from selling their brother. Their actions are facilitated by the existence of slavery as an institution within their society, which provides them with the means to translate their malicious intent into a profitable outcome.

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Evan Almighty — Sunk Cost Fallacy

In the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark, God decides to reset creation, sparing only Noah, his family, and pairs of animals in an ark. This decision to start anew instead of persisting in a flawed creation illustrates His ability to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, where one refrains from continuing a venture due to past investments.

‘Evan Almighty’ modernizes this theme. Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) is instructed by God (Morgan Freeman) to build an ark amid skepticism. Like God’s decision in Noah’s Ark, Evan’s choice to build the ark, disregarding past norms and expectations, mirrors the economic principle of evaluating future potential over past costs, exemplifying the avoidance of sunk costs.

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Gary Gulman – An Ode to Oreos

The Oreo cookie may be the best cookie of all time. Comedian Gary Gulman would agree. In this standup session, Gulman highlights the various ways that Oreos have innovated their product and even provided double the filling for no extra cost.

In the second part of the joke, Gulman highlights the ways that Oreos have differentiated their products in order to compete with other cookies. You never know what that little cookie is up to until you stop by on your way through the grocery store:

Thanks to Michael Lucas for the clip suggestion!

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Can you negotiate at Target?

Price tags are an interesting phenomenon when you consider that it wasn’t all that long ago that negotiating in stores was a common practice. Price tags improve efficiency because they present full information for customers who don’t have to worry about negotiating, but it doesn’t mean that the price is the most efficient price. There are markets all around the world that display one price, but involve sellers willing to negotiate. Jia Jiang finds out that Target is not one of those markets.

Thanks to Bryan Sloss for sending in this clip!

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