Good call...

[alexpgp]

I'm glad I decided to watch Scent of a Woman. Pacino's acting was something to behold, and I had forgotten how inspiring Frank Slade's defense of Charlie was. The icing on the cake was the change in the presentation's format: the hosts kept the chitchat to a minimum and the overall number, length, and frequency of breaks was only slightly onerous, in my opinion.

This segues awkwardly into one particularly irksome ad I've seen recently several times. It's for some kind of medicine, but I honestly cannot recall which one (which must say great things for the ad, I guess, but I digress...). In fact, the ad does not explicitly say what the medicine is supposed to do (I paid that much attention), and the only thing I actually came away with from watching the ad is that legendary NFL player and coach "Iron Mike" Ditka endorses the product.

(I just did a little research, and apparently, the product Ditka is hawking is Levitra, a compound that addresses erectile dysfunction.)

So, I'm having a little trouble with an ad campaign that has a Famous Person say fabulous things about Product X, without explicitly saying what X is supposed to do. I can just imagine the scenes in doctor's offices all over the country:

"Hey, doc, I was watching TV last weekend where ol' Iron Mike Ditka did an ad for something called Levitra. Said it was good stuff. Can you write me a prescription?"

Well, at least this kind af approach does not allow the prospective patient to perform self-diagnosis, which is always fraught with risk.

Cheers...

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

OMG - I thought that was the stuff I was supposed to take for a runny nose. I guess that explains why I'm having trouble walking now ;)