I have a problem with the new advertisement series from the
makers of Tylenol. You may have heard their catchy jingle on the radio or TV: get back to
normal… whatever your normal is. ™. The idea is that by taking a Tylenol
pill the consumer can eliminate the pain that he/she is feeling and return to
their normal lifestyle. This may be a very effective ad campaign for them, but
I have a problem with it.
People with chronic pain can’t just take one pill of anything much really to
return to what is considered by mainstream society to be “normal”. Sometimes “normal”
for people with chronic pain is (wait for it) ... pain. No Tylenol pill will “cure”
their pain, nor should people with chronic pain be told that if only they took
one Tylenol pill they could rid themselves of the condition which has been
plaguing them for potentially years.
Our society glorifies the able-bodied as gods and goddesses
of aesthetically pleasing beings. Everything must be beautiful and symmetrical,
and everything must function fully. The overwhelming majority of companies use
models who are young, able-bodied, slim, and nearly unrealistic looking in
order to sell their products or services. I have always been bothered by this,
because this isn’t how life really works.
This latest ad campaign from Tylenol really irks me because
I feel it targets the able-bodied community and offers a convenient “cure” for
minor pain relief for them. Those with chronic pain are excluded merely by the
fact that there is no “cure” for their pain. Furthermore, the company is
pressuring its consumers to take their product to return to normal. The way the
company is doing this is by equating normal with a bodily state which is
pain-free. Therefore the company is effectively sidelining and ostracizing those
whose “normal” bodily state is not pain-free. I am bothered by this.
While
the company may be making a health profit and selling its product quite well
thanks to this new jingle they should perhaps reconsider what they are doing to
the hundreds of thousands of people out there who are being shut-out from
participating in this idyllic concept of a “pain-free” normal.
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