Demazin: Right notes, wrong lyrics
Surely, those old Codral Cold & Flu™️ ads – y’know, those ones with people heading off to work with a cold or the flu, but popping pills that relieved their symptoms, with a catchy tune playing and lyrics that went “Soldier on with Codral, soldier on” – would go down like a lead balloon these days, right?
What’s that you say? You don’t remember them? Right then, here’s a blast from the past:
Promoting “soldiering on” in the middle of a pandemic — that would be, like, double-plus-un-good, wouldn’t it?
And connecting your company’s cold and flu medication with that kind of message would surely be the business equivalent of bringing a pandemic to the doorstep of your respectable brand name. You’d be tarnishing it via guilt-by-association with a now-recognised highly toxic value of soldiering on, rather than staying home and self-isolating so you don’t infect others. Surely?
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Here’s my favourite philosophical tip. Watch out for the “surely argument”. Whenever someone starts a sentence with the word “surely”, they’re often (perhaps unintentionally) subtly shifting the burden of proof onto you, implying that you need to disprove their claim, even though they may not have actually cited any reasons to support their assertion. So, next time someone starts a sentence with “surely”, here’s your response: “Surely not!” It will prompt them to articulate the reasons they think support their view, and it will buy you time to reflect.
So, anyway, that’s what I thought. That it would be morally double-plus-un-good, and the equivalent of a commercial (in both senses) pandemic for your brand name, to re-use that toxic advertising message. But it turns out I was wrong — there you go, Surely not!
Here, have a listen to the tune of Laura Branigan’s “Gloria”, but notice how the lyrics are just so wrong, yet again, in both senses:
Admittedly, this advertisement for Demazin™️ is way funnier than those old stodgy 1980’s and 1990’s Codral Cold & Flu™️ commercials. Really, I love the edgy humour in Clemenger BBDO Sydney’s advert, and Laura Branigan’s tune still totally hits all the right notes for my Gen-X ears:
But them lyrics,… man, they’re wrong! They peddle that same old toxic value of soldiering on, instead of resting and recovering which your body needs. In case you missed the new Demazin™️ advert’s lyrics coz you’ve still got Branigan’s original ear-worm stuck in your head, here they are:
“Demazin, for when the kids are sneezing, and everyone is sickly, and you’ve got work to go to, but you have got the answer, so head into the bathroom, get D-D-Demazin!”
Lyrics to Clemenger BBDO Sydney’s 2020 advertisement for Demazin™️
Seriously? We’re dredging up toxic norms and recycling them in advertisements in the current global situation? This just add fuel to the pandemic. Seriously, it borders on negligence — that is, if you weren’t aware that these are toxic values, and if you also weren’t aware that toxic values can kill people. On the other hand, if you were aware of these things, but yet you couldn’t care enough – perhaps because you wanted all the lols from making a funny advertisement, or all the advertising dollars – then that’s called recklessness.
I’m no saint. Like many other people, I’ve used cold and flu remedies when I’ve had work to do. I get that part. But it’s wrong to take them because “you’ve got work to go to”. We shouldn’t be going to work. Most certainly not if “the kids are sneezing, and everyone is sickly”.
Can we please stop peddling toxic values in advertisements?
If you’re not convinced that toxic values kill lives – or perhaps you think I’m being harsh and you object to my saying that surely they do and suggesting it borders on negligence or recklessness – then check out the latest episode of the Philosopher’s Zone on ABC’s Radio National. It offers tips on how we can all help turn the tide of this pandemic, rather than pouring petrol on the flames.