How Change Happens

3Change Hearts and Policy

“You don’t have to change a thing. The world could change its heart.”

—Singer Alessia Cara, “Scars to Your Beautiful”

TELL A TEN-YEAR-OLD you’re writing a book about how big social changes happen—like how almost nobody smokes these days because we know it can kill you, but not so long ago nearly everybody smoked, everywhere, at the doctor’s, in McDonald’s, in the car. And the response might very well be like the one given by this author’s ’tweenage son: “Oh, you mean like the cat video on YouTube?” Faced with a blank stare of non-recognition, he elaborated: “It’s got all these funny cats and it says smoking’s really bad because your cat can get cancer and die, too. It’s got like millions of views!” (It was clear from his tone he was speaking to the only person on earth who had not seen this video).

We searched YouTube and immediately found #CATmageddon.¹ The fast-paced commercial was jam-packed with quirky clips of homemade-looking cat videos: A cat clad in a tiny pirate costume wielding a hook marches on hind legs; a cat “plays” the piano; a cat bats at a tablecloth trying to cover up a nasty-looking ashtray filled with grungy butts. The boldface punch line was simple: “SMOKING = NO CATS = NO CAT VIDEOS.” It was brilliant. You couldn’t not watch it. We replayed it over and over, giggling every time. Then we got sucked into searching for other random pet videos (which did not relate to how secondhand smoke causes cancer in cats).

But the point wasn’t ...