Originally Posted By JohnS1 Just a note that I didn't use the word "bawdy" - that was Toonie. My point was that our tv is silly, stupid, inane. Look at our ads for complex and expensive prescription pharmaceuticals, for example. How do most of these ads promote these meds? By using cartoon characters, implying that Americans can't understand the product or its uses unless a cartoon bladder or talking wad of phlegm tells them about it. Every other ad relates to beauty care, or vanity products, in which models talk about the latest anti-wrinkle cream as if it's a cure for cancer. How shallow and stupid all these ads make us appear. Personally, I refuse to buy any products that employ ads which make people look stupid, or which talk down to consumers.
Originally Posted By hopemax Walt and Ward Kimball used cartoons to explain rocketry to people back in the day, and the US and Russian government used those "cartoons" to educate their people. The use of animation does not automatically imply stupidity or talking down. Animation is funny, it's eye catching. And I'm not sure the rest of the world is much better than us. How about we get Mr. X in here to talk about Japanese television.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>By using cartoon characters, implying that Americans can't understand the product or its uses unless a cartoon bladder or talking wad of phlegm tells them about it.<< Actually, it's not that at all. It's that by making the genital wart/depression/roach more approachable by turning it into a cartoon character, it helps simplify the message and make an off-putting subject slightly less off-putting. Rather than showing a hideous roach getting blasted with a cloud of Raid, instead an animated version of the roach is killed in a comic, symbolic way. It's really just an attempt to use catchy or memorable shorthand to communicate a complex idea within the limitaions of a 30 or 60 second spot.
Originally Posted By JohnS1 "it helps simplify the message and make an off-putting subject slightly less off-putting." Here's a novel idea - if it's off-putting, how about leaving it off the air altogether. People can call their doctors to discuss off-putting topics, thereby leaving the rest of us out of their personal hygiene/health matters.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan The fact is, sometimes these ads are the thing that helps people know they aren't the only one that might have a certain embarassing itch or something more serious. And there are several remedies for headaches, menstral cramps, depression, foot fungus, etc. To compete in a free market, these companies have to get the word out about their products. Anyway, if the world hates us specifically because of our Tampax ads, I'd be surprised by that. (If they hate us for those Head On commercials, however, it would be understandable.)
Originally Posted By JohnS1 I get your drift, Toonie, but I also believe that a goodly percentage of other people are convinced they have something which they really don't have because they are constantly inundated with new ads featuring the acronym of the day (COPD, ED, IBS, RLS, etc.) then they run right out and insist that their doctor prescribe what they saw on TV. Remember the days when there were NO ads on TV for prescription drugs? Maybe some people were unaware because of that, but too many people are way overprescribed in my view, and the plethora of ads is one contributing reason.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Anyway, if the world hates us specifically because of our Tampax ads, I'd be surprised by that.>> When I was young I always thought it was really cool how Tampax helped women swim. I wondered why there wouldn't be something like that for guys. ;-)
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Remember the days when there were NO ads on TV for prescription drugs?<< Yes. And I remember the days when people were embarassed to have a colonoscopy or get anything having to do with "naughty" parts checked out. People would suffer needlessly. I'm not saying the dancing diarreah commercials are saving lives or aren't sometimes uncomfortable to watch, but I don't know that too many people are overprescribed. If anything, too many people suffer with depression and countless other maladies that can be treated.
Originally Posted By jonvn "they aren't the only one that might have a certain embarassing itch " I'm not? Wow. Is there a support group?
Originally Posted By DAR There's an ad on right now for a pill that cures Restless Leg Syndrome. And I swear they said that one of the side effects was a "sudden urge to gamble."
Originally Posted By jonvn I just looked up what on earth restless leg syndrome was. I think I have that....too. Here is a quote from wikipedia. I like it: "Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) (which is also sometimes referred to as Jimmy Legs, Jumpy Legs, Jiggly Legs, Jimmy Jams, Gravy Gams, Heebeejeebees, spare legs, "the kicks", kicky-outy legs, stretchy legs, or sewing machine foot."
Originally Posted By JohnS1 That's the other crazy thing about ads for some of these meds. They may possibly help with one malady, but there is always a laundry list of side effects - many of which are worse than the malady itself. The side effect lists for many depression meds routinely list "suicidal feelings" as a side effect. That's just absurd. It's like a diet pill listing "binge eating" as a possible side effect.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <There's an ad on right now for a pill that cures Restless Leg Syndrome. And I swear they said that one of the side effects was a "sudden urge to gamble."> I noticed that one too, DAR, and it just struck me as so incongruous, I wondered if I heard it right. But then I saw it parodied - they showed the actual ad, in which it listed possible side effects as "drowsiness, sudden urge to gamble..." and then the comic said "So THAT's why I woke up on top of that pit boss in Vegas."
