Don’t steal this salmon, originally uploaded by futureshape.

First time I’ve seen a security tagged food item in a supermarket. Usually security protection has been reserved for bottles of expensive alcoholic drinks, and clothes.

Can the choice to add a security tag to an item tell us more about the perceived value of this item than its actual price? Any chance that this tag will make you think that this item is really “premium”? There’s an interesting anecdotal story (via Wikipedia) about the way potatoes were introduced to Greece:

The way Kapodistrias introduced the cultivation of the potato remains famously anecdotal today. Having ordered a shipment of potatoes, at first he ordered that they should be offered to anyone who would be interested. However the potatoes were met with indifference by the population and the whole scheme seemed to be failing. Therefore Kapodistrias, knowing of the contemporary Greek attitudes, ordered that the whole shipment of potatoes be unloaded in public display on the docks of Nafplion, and placed severe-looking guards guarding it. Soon, rumours circulated that for the potatoes to be so well guarded they had to be of great importance. People would gather to look at the so-important potatoes and soon some tried to steal them. The guards had been ordered in advance to turn a blind eye to such behaviour, and soon the potatoes had all been “stolen” and Kapodistrias’ plan to introduce them to Greece had succeeded.

Fast forward to the digital domain: what could be a more accurate predictor of a music track’s popularity than the number of people who are “illegaly” downloading it?