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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Four out of five doctors prefer Camels. The fifth prefers women."''}}
Stock phrase in commercials for non-prescription products with some purported health
Sometimes phrased as "Nine out of ''these'' ten doctors agree," showing you a group of men in white coats with stethoscopes. This is a clue to what's really going on.
Your brain hears "
Alternatively, the claim may reflect reality, but what is being claimed isn't the same as what is being sold: listen carefully. Did nine out of ten dentists really say that their brand of toothpaste was best, or did nine out of ten dentists just agree that ''toothpaste in general'' is a good idea? Did they say they would recommend ''this'' brand over all other brands, or did they just say they would recommend it?
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As a result, it has in recent years become fashionable for some commercials to poke fun at the trope, implying that the tenth doctor ''would'' have endorsed their product, were it not for some external force (he was reaching for the "agree" button when a poisonous snake bit him, sending him into a convulsion before he could agree).
For the classic disassembly of these sort of statistics, may we recommend Darrell Huff's ''How to Lie with Statistics''? The 1950s were a lot less naive than you might assume. And indeed, this is a subtrope of [[Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics]].
This trope has nothing to do with [[Doctor Dolittle]], [[Doctor Doom]], [[
{{examples
* The original instance of this phrase comes from Trident gum, where "four out of five dentists recommended sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum". They didn't add the qualifier "if their patients ''insisted'' on chewing gum", nor did they tell you that [https://web.archive.org/web/20090106074345/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_174a.html the fifth dentist recommended that his patients not chew gum at all].
** Years later, Trident would parody this device by having four out of five dentists endorse the gum, with the fifth accidentally denouncing it (being knocked unconscious and landing his face on the "NO" button, [[Squirrels in My Pants|having a squirrel crawl up his leg]] and [[Groin Attack|bite him in the groin]], causing him to yell [[Big No|"Nooooooo!"]] etc.).
** This was parodied on an early episode of ''[[Friends]]'' - someone enters and says "Guess what!" and Chandler immediately quips, "The fifth dentist caved, and now they're all recommending Trident?"
** It was also parodied in a 2004 ''[[
* The legendary [[Stan Freberg]] parodied this as far back as the early 1960s with a commercial he made for Chun King Chinese food which proudly proclaimed that nine out of ten doctors recommended the product. The camera then revealed nine smiling Chinese doctors and one scowling Anglo one.
* An extreme example: an ad for Whiskas claimed that "8 out of 10 Cats prefer Whiskas." This was later changed to "8 out of 10 owners who expressed a preference said that their cats preferred Whiskas." ("who expressed a preference" means there could be twenty thousand cats who'll eat anything for every eight Whiskas lovers, but they don't count.)
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* Played with [http://chromagic.blogspot.com/2010/12/batrollin-for-your-pleasure.html here]: "Ten out of nine experts recommend it."
* Parodied by [[David Letterman]] on his talk show, when he claimed that "3 out of 4 Americans make up 75% of the population."
* [
* Parodied when ''[[
{{quote|
'''Graeme:''' That's right. Mind you, it did take us a long time to find the right nine doctors, woo hoo hoo (makes loony signal) ... and the elephants! }}
* ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' had a few comics where Pig introduced his friends, five doctors, four of which agreed on everything, the fifth of which always disagreed. This was for more than just chewing
* A strip in ''[[
* Humorous advertising-deconstruction program ''[[The Gruen Transfer]]'' has actually registered the company "Nine Out Of Ten Experts", and are offering the company's endorsement to products for a "small fee". Nine Out Of Ten Experts recommend The Gruen Transfer.
* A commercial for Tylenol stated that "9 out of 10 doctors recommend Tylenol!" The ''very next'' commercial was for Advil, stating "4 out of 5 doctors prefer Advil!" Humanity is screwed.
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* "Nine out of ten sociopaths agree: You gotta see [[Animutation|Hyakugojyuuichi]]." How's that for meter?
* Yet another parody, in ''[[Sam and Max]]: Reality 2.0'':
{{quote|
'''Sam''': What did the fifth one do?
'''Max''': He kept sobbing, and saying, "Why can't we all just get along?" }}
* [[
* Dying after beaming into a toxic atmosphere in ''[[Space Quest]] V'' results this quote, "4 out of 5 doctors agree that beaming into a toxic atmosphere without the proper equipment can be hazardous to your health."
* A variation: speaking of ''[[
** Another version: "9 out of 10 doctors agree: [[Tom Baker|Four]]'s scarf is too long."
* Colin Mochrie on ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]?'':
{{quote|
** Or how about: "Nine out ten doctors agree the tenth one should really chill out."
* On February 15, 2008, a news anchor on ''[[Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'' said, "A survey shows 51% of Canadians believe there is such a thing as love at first sight. The other 49% are men."
* A strip of ''[[
* A humorous variant in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'':
{{quote|
* Played for laughs in ''[[Assassin's Creed
*
* The joke "9 out of 10 people enjoy gang rape". No prizes for guessing who the 10th person is.
* There are [[Fauxtivational Poster|demotivators]] with "Five out of six people agree: [[Russian Roulette]] is completely safe".
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]
[[Category:Nine Out Of Ten Doctors Agree]]
[[Category:
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