’scuse me, but is that hepatitis c on your face?
A new breed of medical advertisement has caught my attention lately: Have you seen the guy with the busted-ass face peering out at you from your morning newspaper yet? ‘Cause it freaks me out every time.
Rather than using the typical ‘ask your doctor about Wellexetra’ or so forth, we find a gentleman whose face looks like it went seven rounds with a young, tire-iron wielding Holyfield plaintively -agressively? - looking at you while the caption reads ‘If Hep C was [sic] attacking your face instead of your liver, you’d do something about it.’
The grammatical case notwithstanding - the ad copy should use the subjunctive mood ‘were’ rather than the indicative ‘was,’ not that I’m picking nits - I was fine with feeling inadequate after Enzyte’s Natural Male Enhancement pills and I was fine with thinking of many things at once before finding out I actually had Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. But now I have to be fine with something I won’t know exists until I get screened for this ’silent killer.’ I’m sure I’m being (shortsighted / callous / medieval), but I make a concerted effort to get medical advice from my doctor, rather than, say, advertising.
As if I didn’t have enough to be neurotic about (say nothing for beaten faces on my morning commute), now I’ve also found out just what would happen were a Category 4 hurricane to hit New York City. Next will be earthquakes in Chicago and locusts in Seattle and armies of zombie-like Hep C sufferers in Topeka.
Oh, were all those ads I mentioned sponsored by drug companies putting out for-profit ads? Nevermind then. I’m sure they have my best interests at heart, like freaking me out of my morning stupor by showing me an abused face. Thanks, modern medicine!
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
D-man
Please allow me to nit-pick beyond the grammer. If indeed Hep C were abusing your face in the same manner as it abuses your liver then seeing it on your morning commute would probably have brought your breakfast to your lap. There would be no brusing and abrasions. Instead your face would be a dripping ooze of flesh falling away from your skull. Now how’s that for pretty? Didn’t any of these pharmaceutical giants learn anything from the frying egg-brain analogy?
Also is it even possible for a hurricane…no matter what category to hit NYC full force? It has always been my understanding that hurricanes and their Indian Ocean counterparts, typhoons, spawn in warm water. Perhaps global warming can be used for this future catastrophe. I’m more worried about acid rain melting buildings and people’s faces ala Hep C.
Oct 7th, 2005
Lindy
Alright kid……. We got it. That is a horrible picture and has actually stopped me from visiting your silly little site. As I only know of 3 other sites on the entire net, this distresses me quite a bit.
You dont like looking at it on the train and I hate looking at it when I go to get my Ziegler fix for the day. Change that picture and put up something with butterflies or puppies or something.
oozing face puss….. thats just great.
Oct 9th, 2005
NCS
What is wrong with you? You must be anal or something.
You are totally missing the point of the ad and your interpretation is just selfish. How it effects you…..think about how Hep C affects the people who have it better and how they suffer. To pick on the grammar is just pointless. The whole point is that Hep C is a silent killer because there are no signs or symptoms until it gets too far along. If you saw outward symptoms, like something wrong with your face, you would get treatment.sooner.
If I was you, I’d remove this all together or rewrite it to be a bit more knowledgable or sensitive to the issue at hand.
Nov 25th, 2005
Mike
Hello,
You shouldn’t pick on the grammar because because if you had it. It will not be fun. It’s horrible I tell you because I have Hep C and I had treatment this horrible diease.l It KILLS YOU. It’s a time bomb I tell you. Look if you had it I wouldn’t think its funny. You don’t know what the medication does to you do you? If you had this illness then I don’t think you would re-word the grammar.
Nov 25th, 2005
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