Sunday, March 25, 2007

You're in control

In spite of a recent (declined) invitation to start publishing some stuff on a television bloggers' site, I don't think that I tend to blog much about the sights and sounds that come from the television box. I saw a commercial tonight, however, that incensed me into making a public complaint.

The advertisement was for a prescription medication called Enablex®, which claims to help with overactive bladder (OAB). I have no doubt this is a serious problem, and their website claims that 1 in 5 adults over 40 suffer from this malady. That seems a bit on the high side, but if their product works, that's probably a good thing for millions of people.

In their commercial, sufferers of OAB are depicted as bouncy balloons filled with liquid. I can only assume that the liquid in question is urine.

My question is this: should I really have to ask that there be fewer urine-filled balloons on television? In the jpeg at right, the thinly-encased waste matter seems to be about to enter a bookstore. They had already showed the thing bursting open once, on the street in front of other balloons. I'm sure this would be mortifying (I'm guessing the implication that losing control of your bladder causes instant death was unintentional) but to have such a thing happen in a bookstore would be criminal. Unlike when a human actually wets him/herself, the balloon's contents went simply everywhere. So many books would be ruined.

So, yes, I am taking a stand. No more urine-filled balloons on my television, please.

Actually, come to think of it, no more urine-filled balloons anywhere.

7 comments:

Caroline said...

Can you keep it at '0 witty replies' ... because this isn't witty.
I am horrified at the the state of your society. I may never visit America as a result.
Ever.

x

basest said...

maht,
i've been wondering if you might want to come over and participate in the annual block party and water-balloon fight.

Ms Melancholy said...

At risk of not even being vaguely witty, there are many, many ways of dealing with an over active bladder. And fueling the profits of the pharmaceutical industry shouldn't be one of them. I should know. I could pee for England in the next olympics, should they ever decide to hold a world-class peeing event.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

Such advertising is puerile and only confirms my fears that too many people are morons. At least, so the big minds on Madison Ave. would have us believe.

So many commercials are offensive. This one is only the tip of the balloon.

I would be forced to leave a bookstore that stunk of urine and harbored tiny bits of colored rubber stuck to book jackets.

david santos said...

Hello!
Thanks for you work and have a good week

Ms Baroque said...

One of the strangest things about America is all the TV commercials for prescription drugs. It is just unaccountably bizarre in numerous, really quite a few different, ways. The commercials announce by their very existence a disjuncture in how people think about their health - that is, they split it into two things, between consumerism and medical expertise - which calls into question (of course) the entire current state of health care. Americans (some connection, surely? Ed.) are noticeably more likely to be on prescription medication, more likely to call their medication "meds", & much more likely to throw around drug brand-names in casual conversation, as if everyone knows what they all are.

On the plus side, this advertising makes the drug companies' acquisitiveness much more transparent on that side of the Atlantic...

I can only wholeheartedly agree with you, Maht, on the subject of these balloons! Disturbing. As to the bookstore aspect, the temptation ultimately would be the question: where best to deploy these balloons... and I'm sure no one wants to think of their ageing friends in that light.

The Moon Topples said...

Caroline: Nope. Just by coming to my site you officially qualify as "witty." And America isn't so bad. We turned Hugh Laurie into a sex symbol after you guys failed to do so for nearly 20 years.

Basest: Hmm. Sounds like fun and I...wait a minute!

Ms. M: I suspect they'll never make peeing an Olympic event. It would be too humiliating to take home anything but the "gold."

HinSF: I don't think they still have a "Madison Ave," but that doesn't make your remarks any less true. And yeah, I'd have to leave such a bookstore as well. In fact, I think I have, when I used to live in Roger's Park.

David: Thanks, and I hope you have a nice week as well. I tried to stop by your blog, but I don't happen to read Portugese.

Ms. B: Did you insert an editorial comment inside your own comment? Nice. And I had kind of forgotten when I did this post that America is somewhat unique both in the shambles of its health care system and the brazenness of its advertising. Thanks for reminding me of both. That sounds sarcastic, but it isn't.