Abilify cartoon- an oxymoron?? |
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Christine
Honor Roll Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: NYC Status: Offline Points: 1094 |
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Posted: 10 Dec 2011 at 2:28am |
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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.
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?
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.
Still, I like it.
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PaWolf
Revolutionary Hoary Ol' Chestnut... doncha know.... Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: GreatWhiteNorth Status: Offline Points: 40769 |
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Nice name...got a bit of a 'holy' feel to it, along with a 'dull ring'.
THAT was exactly my first thought when I saw the commercial!
Right. 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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X <sig.nature>
"What we do for ourselves dies with us, What we do for others is and remains immortal." - Albert Pike |
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Dear
Junior Executive Joined: 24 Feb 2011 Status: Offline Points: 221 |
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I LOVE that little depression monster. It's so cute and looks even more adorable when it's all slumped over in defeat. 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.
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Please, stop saying "Awesome" in commercials! Your actors are not awe-inspiring and neither is your product.
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missyme
Junior Executive Joined: 16 Nov 2011 Status: Offline Points: 60 |
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The robe is hilarious, but the medication is scary stuff!
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MissyMe
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Lelly
Commercial Hater Joined: 13 Nov 2011 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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I don't appreciate their descrimination against bathrobes!
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"OBJECTION!"
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Ad nauseous
Revolutionary Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Connecticut Status: Offline Points: 23601 |
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Way to cutesify depression Abilify I'm sure people with depression appreciate that.
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One good thing about TV-you could always turn it off
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Neil R
Junior Executive Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Location: Statesboro, GA Status: Offline Points: 635 |
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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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Mindybolt
Commercial Hater Joined: 30 Dec 2011 Location: Cartoon Network Status: Offline Points: 247 |
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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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Neil R
Junior Executive Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Location: Statesboro, GA Status: Offline Points: 635 |
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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 but now I have to wonder if that sort of campaign was considered
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Mindybolt
Commercial Hater Joined: 30 Dec 2011 Location: Cartoon Network Status: Offline Points: 247 |
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Of course--I wouldn't put it past them not to amp up the creepiness.
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Snesgamer
Junior Executive Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Aptos, CA Status: Offline Points: 3166 |
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Ugh - way too much animation effort wasted on a depression commercial.
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Parker51
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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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Thor
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So, the farther-removed the "doctor" is from an actual doctor, the looser the FDA/FTC rules are?
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Parker51
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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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musicman
Revolutionary Formerly 0000 Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Location: Greater Boston Status: Offline Points: 7539 |
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Does that depress you? |
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Synesthesia
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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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Is this love big enough to watch over me?
Big enough to let go of me Without hurting me, Like the day I learned to swim?-Kate Bush The Fog |
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Christine
Honor Roll Joined: 16 Apr 2008 Location: NYC Status: Offline Points: 1094 |
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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! 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!)
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Umbrella Girl
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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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When it rains, it pours.
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