You Won’t See Me, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

May 17, 2014 Martha Thomases 3 Comments

The newest advertisement that is driving me bonkers, right up there with ads for boner pills, car insurance, cars, beer and vaginal strengtheners is for a new drug for blind people.

The commercial itself is like many many many commercials for new drugs, including an explanation of what the drug is supposed to treat.  The ad says that there is a condition called “non-24,” which affects people who don’t see sunlight or darkness.  Their sleep patterns get derailed, so that they might stay awake at night and fall asleep during the day.

I have no doubt that this is something that is disruptive to those people who suffer from it.  While what happened to me was in no way as severe or frightening, I found that just living without electricity for a few days during Hurricane Sandy completely messed up my circadian rhythms.

But here’s the thing:  Why is Vanda, the pharmaceutical company that makes the drugs, advertising on television?  Why do they go to the trouble of including their web-site url on screen?  Why do they hire male and female actors of different races?  Their target customer can’t SEE any of these things.

And then maybe you go to the website (in the link above).  You know those annoying sites that start blaring music and voice-overs as soon as you connect?  This isn’t like that.  It’s all text and pictures.  I have no idea how a blind person would deal with it.

But why take a drug?  Doesn’t an alarm clock work just as well?

I suspect that the real target audience for this commercial might be the families of blind people, who are irritated (or worse) by their loved ones’ disruptive schedules.  It’s easier to give someone a pill than deal with the problem.

Drug companies love chronic conditions.  They love it when patients require medication on a regular basis for life, instead of finding an actual cure.  It doesn’t matter if it’s something simple, like an allergy, or something life threatening, like cancer.

There is a ton of much profit in these drugs.  Like so much in our political landscape, this means that our healthcare system is affected.  You can look at this chart for the tip of the iceberg.

You know where there isn’t a profit?  Doing what we can to encourage people to take control of their own health.  I’m not saying that every disease is a result of a poor diet and lack of exercise, or that people who don’t wear sunscreen deserve to get skin cancer.  Instead, I’m saying that it feels good to feel like a participant in one’s own life and healthcare.  That we do people a service when we point out that maybe it’s not good for their kids to eat 10 pounds of sugar a year just from their breakfast cereals.

Sure, medicine is a great thing when you need it.  But when you don’t, when you take a pill just because some pharmaceutical company told you to, you don’t improve your health, just the company’s bottom line.  Your life isn’t better.  You’re just passively consuming more and more.

Ask questions.  Knowledge is power.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, always wanted an alarm clock that didn’t wake her with buzzing or clanging, but with a round of applause.