Wednesday, July 23, 2008

WE'VE COME A LONG WAY FROM "I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP": It often feels like you can't go minutes without seeing some ad for drugs treating an awkward medical condition, and in each case I feel most sympathetic towards the actors or actresses who are called upon to convey the sensation of that impairment and its release.

One can imagine the commercial's director announcing, "Okay, Bob,, I need you look like you're suffering from low flow ... now smile like you just produced a gusher!" Or as I just saw on tv, "Mary, I need you to sit in that airplane seat and convey that your stool is not soft ... great! Now get in that hammock and smile contentedly." And, of course, "I recognize that I have herpes but I'm not going to let that stigmatize me, because it's under control, but I can't act too excited, can I?"

My favorite such ad, however, is neither on tv nor reflects a medical condition -- it's signage that filled Philadelphia International Airport until recently which instructed "Don't be a victim: don't go with an unlicensed limo driver," greeting tourists with the prospect of unsavory chauffeurs luring unsuspecting passengers into their lorries with the promise of Lower Merion and the reality of Upper Darby, the looming threat of shady operators not knowing their Cherry Hill from Chestnut Hill. And these ads were illustrated with headshots of the ostensible victims of unlicensed limousinery -- middle-aged folks with confused looks on their faces, as if to say "I really don't think this is the way to Huntingdon Valley, but I'm afraid to say something."

I can't be alone in appreciating these actors and their craft, or in listing other maladies (real, future or fictional) for such ads.

No comments:

Post a Comment