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Abilify cartoon- an oxymoron??

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Christine View Drop Down
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    Posted: 10 Dec 2011 at 2:28am
Here's the video: http://youtu.be/oGQcibFC9q0
 
I like this commercial, totally innocuous, nicely done.
 
But let's talk about the Robe of Depression. Confused
 
First, the damn thing lurks in her closet. Get rid of it!! Ah but it's symbolic, okay fine. Then quit making it look so much like Cookie Monster.
 
And then the scene in the doc's office, where he shows a movie of HIMSELF talking about the side effects. WTF?? Is he on the Abilify maker's payroll causing him to prescribe so much of it, that he's sick of repeating himself? Shocked
 
And why is the Robe taking notes?? It's as if he's learning all he can about what he's up against so that he can use it against the victim. Ouch
 
Still, I like it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PaWolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2011 at 8:51pm
Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:

 
I like this commercial, totally innocuous, nicely done.
 
But let's talk about the Robe of Depression. Confused
LOLNice name...got a bit of a 'holy' feel to it, along with a 'dull ring'.
Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:

 
First, the damn thing lurks in her closet. Get rid of it!! Ah but it's symbolic, okay fine. Then quit making it look so much like Cookie Monster.
ShockedTHAT was exactly my first thought when I saw the commercial!
Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:

And why is the Robe taking notes?? It's as if he's learning all he can about what he's up against so that he can use it against the victim. Ouch
WinkRight. Evil friggin' robe ain't goin' anywhere! It's gonna learn...and when you least expect it, it's gonna getcha!
 
I've also wondered about the 'newly paved road' that magically appears at the end.
What is with that 'road'? What is it trying to symbolize?
It clearly isn't a 'yellow brick road' and I don't think it is a 'road to recovery' (but it IS bi-directional, doncha know).
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dear Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2011 at 12:12am
I LOVE that little depression monster. It's so cute and looks even more adorable when it's all slumped over in defeat. Hug I never took offense to a cartoon-y depiction of depression, having suffered myself a few years back, it did kind of feel like a gloom monster following you around.
It makes me laugh when the monster as a robe is taking notes, as if it's plottin' to thwart her recovery. Muahaha.
Please, stop saying "Awesome" in commercials! Your actors are not awe-inspiring and neither is your product.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote missyme Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2011 at 5:27am
The robe is hilarious, but the medication is scary stuff!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lelly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2011 at 5:59am
I don't appreciate their descrimination against bathrobes! LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ad nauseous Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Dec 2011 at 4:42am
Way to cutesify depression Abilify I'm sure people with depression appreciate that.Angry
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Neil R Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Dec 2011 at 4:57pm
I've never understood why this commercial was ordered as an animation.
Other than a simple animated "depression spook" dropped into the thing, it could easily have been live action.
And I wondered why the "doctor" shows a movie of himself talking about the happy pill.
Maybe he needs to ask his doctor if "Egotrim" is right for him
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mindybolt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Dec 2011 at 5:23pm
 If it was ordered as "live action" it'd be much creepier, though. Cutesify? It's not "cutesifying" depression. Cutesifying it would be having little Care Bear-ripoffs dancing around the screen and demanding you to be happy by taking Abilify.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Neil R Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Dec 2011 at 5:40pm
Originally posted by Mindybolt Mindybolt wrote:

 If it was ordered as "live action" it'd be much creepier, though. Cutesify? It's not "cutesifying" depression. Cutesifying it would be having little Care Bear-ripoffs dancing around the screen and demanding you to be happy by taking Abilify.
 
 
Wouldn't creepy be the way to go to sell this side-effect-maker?
Scaring those sad sacks into demanding it from the doctor so that little dark Joe Btsflk cloud would leave them alone?
 
Ok, I'm just being mean about that Wink but now I have to wonder if that sort of campaign was considered
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mindybolt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Dec 2011 at 5:58pm
Of course--I wouldn't put it past them not to amp up the creepiness.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Snesgamer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Jan 2012 at 11:10pm
Ugh - way too much animation effort wasted on a depression commercial. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Parker51 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2012 at 3:24pm
Seems like there may be a subtle explanation for the use of the screen. The advertising agency is exploiting "deceptive framing" to get around so-called "white coat" rules in advertising. The medical disclaimers are not being presented by a doctor, or a fictional representation of a doctor. Rather the commercial is pushing into an inner reference frame to give a double-fictional representation of a doctor, which somehow does not run afoul of the FTC or FDA.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Thor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2012 at 3:34pm
Originally posted by Parker51 Parker51 wrote:

Seems like there may be a subtle explanation for the use of the screen. The advertising agency is exploiting "deceptive framing" to get around so-called "white coat" rules in advertising. The medical disclaimers are not being presented by a doctor, or a fictional representation of a doctor. Rather the commercial is pushing into an inner reference frame to give a double-fictional representation of a doctor, which somehow does not run afoul of the FTC or FDA.

 
So, the farther-removed the "doctor" is from an actual doctor, the looser the FDA/FTC rules are?
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Parker51 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2012 at 5:05pm
Originally posted by Thor Thor wrote:

Originally posted by Parker51 Parker51 wrote:

Seems like there may be a subtle explanation for the use of the screen. The advertising agency is exploiting "deceptive framing" to get around so-called "white coat" rules in advertising. The medical disclaimers are not being presented by a doctor, or a fictional representation of a doctor. Rather the commercial is pushing into an inner reference frame to give a double-fictional representation of a doctor, which somehow does not run afoul of the FTC or FDA.

 
So, the farther-removed the "doctor" is from an actual doctor, the looser the FDA/FTC rules are?
 
 

Seems that way.  How many commercials do you recall, for example, that have a serious-looking person in a suit, in front of shelves of leather-bound volumes, taking their glasses off for emphasis as they speak? Are they a doctor or lawyer, or are they giving the deceptive (but legal) unspoken impression that they are some kind of expert?

Do you recall the famous (and satired) catchphrase, "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV?"  That originated from an actual commercial from the 80's with either Chad Everett (TV  drama doctor) or Peter Bergman (soap opera doctor) about Vick's cough syrup.

It's related to the concept of "deceptive framing."  In this commercial, the advertising agency seems to be exploiting context and framing as another convoluted end-run around "white coat" rules. Scientist, author, and social critic Dr. Douglas Hoftstadter, gives the example of a commercial about a commercial. A celebrity endorser is depicted doing a fictional commercial, where he does the straight take after the director yells "action!", holding up the product to the camera and saying, for example, "I love Buzz Cola!" Then the director yells "cut!", the endorser wipes his brow and says something like , "Whew!  That was hard work doing a commercial, now to enjoy this Buzz Cola!" The writer of the ad and the makers of Buzz Cola hope that you'll forget that, though we've popped out of one inner frame (the fictional commercial) when the (fictional) director yelled "cut!", we're still in the frame of a real commercial, not the next outer frame of reality.

So, the part of the Abilify commercial where the fictional animated doctor pulls down a filmscreen is almost the reverse of the Buzz Cola deceptive framing example.  Instead of popping out of an inner frame to give the false impression that we're now "real", the Abilify commercial is pushing into an inner frame, providing a safe, legal indirection that this is not the (fictional) "real" doctor talking, this is a double-fictional representation of a doctor talking, which somehow is technically not in violation of the "white coat" rules.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote musicman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2012 at 6:29pm
Originally posted by Snesgamer Snesgamer wrote:

Ugh - way too much animation effort wasted on a depression commercial. 
 
Does that depress you?
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Synesthesia Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2012 at 8:43pm
Robes seem too cuddly and comfortable to represent depression. And, yes, it is annoying that the doctor has a film of HIMSELF.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Christine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jan 2012 at 4:33pm
Hmmm, never heard of "white-coat rules," all I know is that doctors can't be portrayed in a negative light (imperfect perhaps, but not evil.) That's got to do with the AMA or something.
 
Seems odd that even a cartoon doctor would have to have an extra-fictional representation of himself! Confused One would think that there are rules inherent to the advertising itself to ensure that the information is accurate. Isn't that what the voiceovers are about? Or are the voiceovers the way to remove the information from the image, unless the image is given the "extra-fictional" treatment??
 
Does seem like there are a lot of animated and cartoony drug ads now that I think about it. Prilosec even has a toy stomach for sale (or used to!) LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Umbrella Girl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2012 at 1:58pm
I love the little depression monster, too!  And that robe is hilarious, especially when taking notes!  I also liked the previous commercial when the depression was a "ball & chain".
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