January 04, 2012

Using visualization to mislead

Here's a recent advertisement in the Times of India, touting the Times Now television channel's viewership:
The difference between Times Now and CNN IBN is barely four percentage points, and yet, the three dimensional pie exaggerates the difference.  In fact, at this angle, CNN IBN would have lesser projected surface area even if it's share of the viewership was larger than Times Now's.

Here's the full advertisement, which appeared on page 9 of the Mumbai edition of The Times of India on 27th of December. It should be accessible from here, with a few clicks.