A drop in the bucket

Jessica:	Tell me, Chris, when I say “tobacco ad,” what comes to your mind?
Chris:	Like an advertisement about cigarettes?
Jessica:	Yes.
Chris:	Well, you don’t really see many ads for cigarettes these days. So what comes to mind are those vintage ads from the 50s and 60s. They were hilarious! I saw some in an antique shop once. One ad for Camel cigarettes shows a doctor holding a pack and the slogan: Give your throat a vacation - Smoke a fresh cigarette. Can you believe it?! Those posters are collectible items now!
Jessica:	You found them hilarious?
Chris:	Sure, in a ridiculous sort of way… Times were different back then! People didn’t really know what cigarettes were doing to their lungs, but now there are plenty of ads on TV and in newspapers that detail the negative health effects of smoking. The addictiveness of cigarettes, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and other health concerns...
Jessica:	Have you noticed that all of those ads mention a certain Federal Court order?
Chris:	Yeah, I know what you are referring to. They are "corrective statements," part of a court-ordered ad campaign that tobacco companies in the United States must release to inform the public about the dangers of smoking. I’m actually glad to see them! I think they are a good remedy for the damage done by tobacco companies in the past. And they have to pay for them, too, which adds to the penalty. That campaign definitely cost them an arm and a leg!
Jessica:	Sure, they are expensive, but the whole campaign is just a drop in the bucket! It’s simply not enough to undo the harm caused by their deceptive practices. A few ads paid for by Big Tobacco – Philip Morris, Lorillard, and some others – cannot repair the damage done by 50 years of civil fraud.
Chris:	It may be a drop in the bucket, but the ads are still meant, to some extent, to reverse some of the damage by admitting that they lied and providing real information about the consequences of smoking.
Jessica:	Reverse? Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the US alone. That’s more than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, car accidents and gun-related incidents combined. Millions of nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. You can’t reverse all that!
Chris:	OK, there’s no denying those terrible figures, but if these ads are only a drop in the bucket, what else would you like the tobacco companies to do?
Jessica:	Don’t get me wrong Chris, placing ads in newspapers and on television is a move in the right direction, but the way young people consume media has fundamentally changed. For instance, only about 5% of 18 to 29-year-old Americans get their news from printed media on a regular basis.
Chris:	Of course! They're all getting their news from YouTube and Facebook.
Jessica:	Or a variety of other popular platforms. So, you see, if these “corrective statement” ads are not seen on these key sites, unfortunately they won’t reach the youngest sections of the population. The same people who, of course, Big Tobacco sees as their future clients, which they need to replace the old and dying.
Chris:	Yikes! That’s a grim perspective... but I understand your point now. I would expect that people who smoked for years pretty much know by now that it’s addictive and not good for their health. So, I think you’re right, the focus should be on young people and if the ads are not effectively reaching them, then the entire campaign seems like a drop in the bucket.

A drop in the bucket

Imagine filling a large bucket with water, one drop at a time. It would take a very long time to fill the bucket because a single drop is just a small fraction of all the water that is needed. The phrase “a drop in the bucket” refers to an amount which is very small. So small, in fact, that on its own it can be considered inconsequential.

The expression is often used to illustrate how small something is, or how much more of something is needed to achieve a certain goal. It can also be used to criticize the relative value of a contribution, by making it sound unimportant or inadequate. Put simply, if we say that something is like a drop in the bucket, we mean that it’s a very small part of a larger whole.

As many popular phrases do, this one comes from the King James Bible. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 15 (Isaiah 40:15) it reads: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance…”

Example 1:

An individual donation of $100 would be very generous, but it would still only be a drop in the bucket of our fundraising goal.

Example 2:

What I make in a year is a drop in the bucket compared to what the CEO makes in a week!

Example 3:

5 tons of food and supplies sounds like a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to help those affected by the flood.