their graduate in college.
This was at Indiana University in Bloomington.
He weighed 425 pounds early in his college career
and wanted to make a big change.
So he began eating it subway twice a day.
So what he said is I'll have a six inch turkey sub
for lunch and a foot long veggie sub for dinner.
No condiments, no cheese on either one, baked chips,
and a diet soda with each.
And I'm just gonna walk a lot.
He lost 245 pounds.
Someone who knew him as a freshman ran into him
when he was an upper class man,
who was just shocked.
And asked, well, how did this happen?
Jared told the story and the guy said,
you know, I'm gonna tell somebody to school newspaper.
So the school newspaper did a story in Jared Fogel.
It then got picked up by Men's Health magazine
for a special they were doing on stupid diets
that actually work.
And so both the school newspaper clipping
and the Men's Health article were seen by...
Paying attention to this person
that we've been begging you to pay attention to.
That's what John Cawley wanted to know.
As he considered how to answer this question,
he turned to some influential economic research
on the notion of repugnance.
So Al Roth, who's a Nobel Prize-winning economist
wrote an article about how repugnance
or visceral disgust can be something
that affects market transactions just as much as prices.
He gives examples of how things are outlawed
like the consumption of horse meat or selling a kidney
or paid sex work.
And people just find them offensive
and want them to not happen.
And so it really wouldn't be surprising
if people when they see a subway remember the headline
they just saw the CNN story they just saw
about these reprehensible crimes.
When I think of repugnance, I think of transactions
that some of the science of celebrity endorsement,
I think it's a pass.
But I do appreciate the offer, John.
I would also like to thank John
for the good conversation we had today,
along with Zab Johnson and Al Roth.
I am curious to hear your views
about celebrity endorsement.
Send us an email where at radioatfreakonomics.com.
Coming up next time on the show,
have you found yourself wondering why these are the only two
people with a chance to become president of the United States?
The question is, what is your question?
The question left.
Who is on your list, Joe?
The true story of America's political duopoly.
That's next time on the show.
Until then, take care of yourself
and if you can, someone else too.
Freakonomics Radio is produced by Stitcher and Renbud Radio.
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