“There’s a sucker born every minute”
16 February 2007 by Stardust
Havidol –
“WHEN MORE IS NOT ENOUGH”
P.T. Barnum is credited with the saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute” and it’s so true. People will believe anything, and when it comes to medicine they are just waiting for that next new pill to come on the market.
Australian artist Justine Cooper created a fake drug and a fake ad campaign for the drug to parody the tactics used by the drug industry to sell their wares to the public.
Amazingly, many people think this is a real drug and the pill-poppers are all over this one even though it doesn’t even exist!
LINK: Fake drug, fake illness — and people believe it!
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A media exhibit featuring a campaign for a fake drug to treat a fictitious illness is causing a stir because some people think the illness is real.
Australian artist Justine Cooper created the marketing campaign for a non-existent drug called Havidol for Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (DSACDAD), which she also invented.
But the multi-media exhibit at the Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in New York, which includes a Web site, mock television and print advertisements and billboards is so convincing people think it is authentic.
“People have walked into the gallery and thought it was real,” Mahmood said in an interview.
“They didn’t get the fact that this was a parody or satire.”
But Mahmood said it really took off over the Internet. In the first few days after the Web site (www.havidol.com) went up, it had 5,000 hits. The last time he checked it had reached a quarter of a million.
“The thing that amazes me is that it has been folded into real Web sites for panic and anxiety disorder. It’s been folded into a Web site for depression. It’s been folded into hundreds of art blogs,” he added.
The parody is in response to the tactics used by the drug industry to sell their wares to the public. Consumer advertising for prescription medications, which are a staple of television advertising in the United States, was legalised in the country in 1997.
Cooper said she intended the exhibit to be subtle.
“The drug ads themselves are sometimes so comedic. I couldn’t be outrageously spoofy so I really wanted it to be a more subtle kind of parody that draws you in, makes you want this thing and then makes you wonder why you want it and maybe where you can get it,” she added.
Mahmood said that in addition to generating interest among the artsy crowd, doctors and medical students have been asking about the exhibit.
“I think people identify with the condition,” he said.
The “Important Safety Information” is hilarious:
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Problems can be avoided if you take HAVIDOL only when you are able to immediately benefit from its effects. To fully benefit from HAVIDOL patients are encouraged to engage in activities requiring exceptional mental, motor, and consumptive coordination. HAVIDOL is not for you if you have abruptly stopped using alcohol or sedatives. Havidol should be taken indefinitely. Side effects may include mood changes, muscle strain, extraordinary thinking, dermal gloss, impulsivity induced consumption, excessive salivation, hair growth, markedly delayed sexual climax, inter-species communication, taste perversion, terminal smile, and oral inflammation. Very rarely users may experience a need to change physicians.
Talk to your doctor about HAVIDOL
[Ed note: Revenant has pointed out that "There's a sucker born every minute" was actually said by one of PT Barnum's competitors. Thanks Rev!]
16 February 2007, on 4:19 pm
Brilliant!
Love the chemical name she gave it(in the second line of the ad, immediately below the ‘brand’ name, ‘Havidol’): phonetically it reads as ‘Have a fine time (hydrochloride)’. Amazed that so few didn’t see through it right there.
Reminds me of a colleague in the early 60s who was writing a thesis on the level of acceptance an advertising campaign would have to achieve in order for it to reach ‘critical mass’ – defined as ‘general acceptance by the public of the claims made for the product’. If I recollect correctly, his conclusion was that the number was remarkably small.
Overtones, too, of McLuhan’s ‘the medium is the message’.
Guffaw!
16 February 2007, on 4:28 pm
Too funny! It seems than interns aren’t the only ones subject to “suggestibility”. They are notorious hyphochondriacs…
I’m glad Cooper did this. It makes the case that allowing BigPharma to use this tactic of directly marketing to the general public is (A) a huge mistake and (B) gives us another chance to remind the public that BigPharma’s annual budgets devote an unconscionable percentage to marketing and a criminally smaller percentage to research and development. It is also the reason they fight patent expiration and generics. It has been reported that most of the recent drugs “were the low-hanging fruit”, the easily developed ones. Now they have to climb higher and work harder for the new ones. Which means that they either take from the marketing budget–or just market harder!
What fools these humans are! “There’s a pill for everything what ails ya” is a myth…
16 February 2007, on 4:36 pm
While browsing around I found this. I have seen this before…I love creative people. Parody gets the point across and makes people think so much better than just straight boring facts.
Colonblow
16 February 2007, on 4:44 pm
I love it. This is so good. The Important Safety Information is just the best.
16 February 2007, on 4:47 pm
Try taking the quiz on the Havidol website! Hypochondriacs will have a field day with it!
16 February 2007, on 5:51 pm
Prescription drug advertising direct to the public…”legalised in the country in 1997″.
Which assholes were involved in THAT greedy, twisted, moronic, fuckhead move?…
I wonder!
Adding all that advertising expense into the price of drugs mix…without any price regulation of the pharmaceutical drug companys…its no wonder the consumer, ultimately, gets it in the ass…
similar to George Carlin’s description of…
“Servicing the account!” [Bend over?]
I couldn’t find that exact excerpt…but check this related YouTube video.
[Unlike a similar title, this one (hopefully) completely loads; sound/vid a bit out of 'sync']
“George Carlin – Advertising Lullaby: (Stand-up Comedy)”…[5:03]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pei0fbfiNJY
16 February 2007, on 6:13 pm
Actually Barnum never said it, at least not on record. http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html
16 February 2007, on 6:44 pm
Revenant, I know, that’s why I wrote he is “credited with the saying”, not that he actually said it. Like your link says, “Actually, it was said by his competitor.” Still, there is truth to it no matter who said it.
16 February 2007, on 6:59 pm
Cool! Havidol (TM) even comes in suppository form – for those who want a more “direct” effect, I suppose…!
16 February 2007, on 7:11 pm
Here’s the result of my test (I’m no hypochondriac, BTW)…
16 February 2007, on 7:50 pm
LRHOL(laughing really hard out loud), thank you Stardust for posting this!! A lot of the new drugs advertised for emotional and physical problems are BS. It’s a tool to make people even more submissive and stupid. I laugh my ass off every time I see those restless leg syndrome comercials cuz so many people really believe they have it and that it is a real condition and in reality they probably just have to pee(at least when my legs feel restless its usually cuz I have to pee) or they need to get a little more exercise like walking to get their circulation fuctioning properly. And don’t even get me started on the drugs for emotional problems! I work dogs with severe insecurities all the time and I NEVER EVER use drugs to get them past it. And as an incest survivor who does have symtoms of PTSD, I have never used any drugs to get me through it. I use natural psychology and sometimes a little weed(I think more for fun than anything, but it sure does take the edge off and puts me in a really good mood
.) to get me through it. And emotional problems stem from childhood traumas that can cause a rush of andorphanes(sp? brain fart) that can naturally be balanced by moving the brain forward with out meds. Its a LOT easier than it sounds.
Anyways great fucking post stardust a double kudos to you!!
Amy
16 February 2007, on 8:08 pm
Old Git, aren’t these kinds of adverts strictly ILLEGAL in the UK? I’ve no doubt US Public Relations people are putting fierce pressure on MPs and the Prime Minister to allow this kind of advertising, but I hope the UK continues to resist.
Havidol = “have it all” … guffaw!
“The disease that proposes itself as the cure”, to paraphrase Karl Kraus.
Reminds me of a funny aside buried in the middle of Umberto Ecco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, too.
All those ads for “sleep aids”….sleeplessness and insomnia could be a sign of deeper psychological issues the sufferer is deliberately avoiding and would be better if those things were faced, rather than medicated.
I speak from personal experience on that one.
Just another symptom of the nightmare we call the American Dream…our love of the quick fix…rather than complicated, long term solutions for better health and better living.
“Handing all your problems to Jesus” is another favorite “quick fix”, incidentally.
16 February 2007, on 10:50 pm
LRHOL(laughing really hard out loud), thank you Stardust for posting this!!
SNTC – When I saw this I was laughing out loud, too. It is so close to the real ads we see on television that my husband and I just shake our heads at as the announcer reads the list of possible side effects.
Every single damn time I go to my doctor he wants to give me some new pill. I already take three different things for asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and one to regulate heartbeat. He doesn’t even look up any interactions before he pulls out the prescription pad and starts writing! It’s not only my doctor, it’s everyone in my family’s doctor and doctors of friends, too. And every time I go to the doctor there is some pharmaceutical peddler dressed in their usual black attire and little pull-along tote waiting to see him. When my doctor wants me to try a new drug he goes into his drug storeroom and pulls out a shitload of samples for me to take home to try. It’s unreal how drugs are being pushed. All that D.A.R.E. bullcrap they make the kids go through in school instead of teaching them to read and do math, and the medical profession is pushing prescription drugs left and right and people go right along with it.
My sister just went to the doctor for severe pain in her elbow and right away before taking xrays or anything, her doc whips out the pad and pen and starts writing a prescription. She asked what it was, and he told her it was an anti-imflammatory. So she said, “can’t I just take Aleve” and he said, “yeah, sure!” They are in cohorts with the drug companies and I know from a friend that doctors get a bonus or win trips and stuff from the drug companies for prescribing a certain amount of their drugs.
Even if I am getting an antibiotic for an infection, I always call the pharmacist and ask about interactions with my other medicines or if it might cause any problems for any of the conditions I have. Some drug combinations could be deadly.
16 February 2007, on 11:06 pm
If you haven’t checked out the testimonial videos and the Havidol site, here they are. I like Guy’s testimony. LOL!!
And this from the FAQ list…ROTFLMAO!!!!!
17 February 2007, on 1:20 am
Cooooolll…so where can I get some? Duh-HAR! I can put it on the night stand right next to my pet rock.
Genital twitch? I can…make ‘em twitch by thinking about it, if I so desire.
17 February 2007, on 6:32 am
Even if I am getting an antibiotic for an infection, I always call the pharmacist and ask about interactions with my other medicines or if it might cause any problems for any of the conditions I have. Some drug combinations could be deadly.
Chances are that you won’t be given the correct answer.
No pharmacist I have ever encountered, and many general practitioners, consultant ophthalmologists, even consultant psychiatrists, are aware that there can be severe adverse effects, including psychosis, from topically applied ophthalmic drops to treat glaucoma, despite the fact that this has been written up extensively in the appropriate journals for nearly 30 years now!
17 February 2007, on 9:38 am
I know, but it’s just as easy to help quash these myths
What gets me about the sleep aid ads, is that one of the side effects is drowsiness…
17 February 2007, on 10:15 am
I know, but it’s just as easy to help quash these myths.
Rev, Myth quashed. I made an editor’s note in my post making the clarification.
17 February 2007, on 2:02 pm
Damn Stardust, that is scary, but I know exactly what you mean. I hate going to the doctor anymore especially military doctors! Everytime I have gone they try to put me on pain killers and antidepressants. I broke my back a bunch of years back and instead of recommending physical therapy, they wanted to load me up on prozac, shit for migrains, muscle relaxers and pain killers. For fuck sake how can anyone function on all that shit?? I groom dogs as well as rehabilitate them, if I took all that shit there would be a LOT of dogs with missing ears, eyes, peckers and so on. Lol
I think it all comes down to making LOTS of money while keeping people numbed up and dumb!
Amy
17 February 2007, on 3:06 pm
Will my insurance cover Havidol? I’m concerned about the “financial lactation” side effect”!
17 February 2007, on 4:27 pm
SNTC:
Did any of those physicians recommend THIS? -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcTHtFpRI0c
17 February 2007, on 5:26 pm
JJR,
I am greatly disappointed in you for saying this…
It’s people like you who keep snake-oil salesmen poor.
Shame on you!
17 February 2007, on 5:26 pm
KA – That was great!
18 February 2007, on 2:29 am
Star: “Welcome to Pottersville” linked your post! See The fault lies not in the stores, but in ourselves
I let him know I had linked to him (we’ve emailed a few times in the past) but he took your link away with him as he left!
18 February 2007, on 2:30 am
Hey! Look for my post in the spam folder!!!
Please???
18 February 2007, on 2:31 am
18 February 2007, on 10:58 am
Naomi…rescued. The queue demons are still at it. Like trolling fundies, they keep coming back to torment us, unfortunately. Wish I could figure out why it happens (with the demons, we know fundies just love their daily dose of persecution).
20 February 2007, on 11:41 pm
Some psychologists estimate that fully 40% of the general population never advances past the concrete operational stage of cognitive development, meaning they are entirely incapable of understanding satire. Combine this with the fact that so many people in western consumer based societies are drastically searching for that one next, magical material thing (or religion) that will finally stop the displeasure they take in living, and it is really no wonder that so many people believed this to be an advertisement for a genuine pharmaceutical.