I am amazed at how stupid commercials can be. Or maybe they think we are that stupid? Like the one for Boniva. Sally Fields says, "My friend tells me she has to set aside time once a week to take her [bone strengthening medicine.]" (I put the brackets because I don't remember her exact words at that point, but that was the meaning.)
And I think, oh my goodness! How much time does it take to pop a pill?
Of course, Boniva's draw is that you only have to take it once a month. Let me tell you, I'm so impressed by the benefit of having to take a pill once a month rather than once a week. I could save at least four minutes. Enough time to . . . oh, I don't know, hang up my jacket -- which I haven't been able to do for months, because the truth is, I have to set aside time every day to take my vitamins. Wow, if I had Boniva, my jacket wouldn't have all this cat hair on it. Think I'll go to my doctor and ask for this wonderful medicine.
But what really gets me is how much this commercial probably cost. It was clearly professionally done, and with Sally Fields -- well, sure, as an aging star, she's available, but I doubt she's cheap -- the commercial probably cost several thousand dollars to create. And then how much it costs to run on cable/satellite shows is -- wow, I just don't know. But I do know that Sally Fields gets paid royalty every time it shows on TV.
With that much money put into it, you would think the creators would make something much more clever and creative, and you would think the executives of the company that sells Boniva wouldn't sign off on this drivel. It's no Superbowl commercial.
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2 comments:
Yeah, I've always wondered why taking a pill once a month was so much less a burden than taking a pill once a week. How the hell am I going to remember to take a pill once a month when I have trouble remembering to take one once a day? If it's that much less routine, it's that much easier to forget.
At least part of the answer is that the pharmaceutical companies can't get profits from old medications when the patents expire and generics come on the market, so they have to sell something new and different in order to keep getting the big bucks -- even if the new and different medication isn't any better than the old one.
I'll just keep taking basic calcium supplements, eating dairy products, and exercising. I don't really see that the fancy pharmaceutical products do anything other than make the drug companies rich.
You make a good point about routine and forgetting. But as for the drug companies trying to make more money on new drugs that don't actually do more . . . it wouldn't work if we didn't just jump at every new drug as THE solution to whatever ails us.
Connie
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