A quantitative analysis of the graying of Barack Obama's hair

by nkrumm • 12 years ago

55 12 12 years ago

rhizome• 12 years ago

I always figured his handlers were just having it dyed less and less to enhance the "experience" image.

jfoster• 12 years ago

Looking at the photos, it does seem like it may be dyed. There are several rather gray-looking images, followed by quite dark-looking ones.

readerrrr• 12 years ago

That is probably the result of different lighting conditions. If you look at the skin you will notice it is brighter or darker as well.

chton• 12 years ago

2015 Ig Nobel award for Politics, right there.

I love this kind of 'research'. It's frivolous, but there is an underlying point about the stressfulness of presidency.

robert_tweed• 12 years ago

I don't think a parody is elibible for an Ig Nobel.

troymc• 12 years ago

Is this paper a parody? If yes, a parody of what?

dimva• 12 years ago

This paper was published in HARD PNIS, which is not a parody and uses real data.

Source: http://pnis.co/about.html

mijoharas• 12 years ago

(graph) Gray value of Obama’s hair (expressed as % similar to Morgan Freeman’s Hair) over time, with annotations of important events. I think this line sums up the study best for me.

rbanffy• 12 years ago

Well... He probably has the crappiest job on the planet...

md2be• 12 years ago

It's not the stress of his job that is graying his hair it is the fact that BO continues to smoke cigarettes. shameful (particulry since his major accomplishment is ACA.)

lmg643• 12 years ago

I was under the impression that presidents dye their hair regularly.

If a politician is too old - dye out some (or all) of the gray. Reagan being an extreme example - not a single gray hair.

If a politician is young - Clinton, Bush, Obama - add some gray, until nature catches up.

Gray hair conveys "gravitas" - age, and experience - exploits a natural human bias. I'm sure this is focus-grouped to death. This all being in the age of Color TV and HDTV of course - I doubt Kennedy stooped to this level. Pretty punishing, and just imagine a 4K picture or better down the road.

A quantitative analysis of the graying of Barack Obama's hair

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