NyQuil's scientific advisors are not doing their jobs. Or, more likely, don't exist.
Is it a little petty to go after NyQuil for an obvious joke that just happens to be of questionable scientific merit? Maybe. But then again, there are about a hundred other ways the joke could have been written that wouldn't have violated the fact that roosters' crowing is not based on simply seeing the sun. What's wrong with just saying "...before we got the rooster" or "...before the rooster moved into the bedroom" (as it apparently has)? Of course, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the people who made this ad think that roosters crow because they see the sun; it seems like a common bit of folk wisdom even though thinking about it for more than ten seconds should be enough to make anyone realize that it doesn't make a ton of sense (and if you actually own a farm, chances are you've noticed that roosters crow at various times, for various reasons).
The thing that always gets me about NyQuil ads is the way they kind of tiptoe around the fact that the main purpose of NyQuil is to knock your ass out. It'll be the best sleep you ever got with a cold because once the drug that's five times as powerful as morphine gets in your system, you'll be lucky if you don't wake up covered in your own urine. I'm not sure why they bother dancing around this as though it's not totally common knowledge at this point. No one's taking NyQuil and trying to go to work immediately after. Except perhaps for the people who made this ad.
You must sit home and stare at the wall grumbling. This was a well written commercial that was funny as hell. So what if it isn't scientifically accurate? Since when are there accuracy restrictions on what constitutes a good joke? You have no sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteWow, really? Even taking it exclusively on humor merits, a one-liner about a blind rooster is both "well-written" and "funny as hell?" Did you actually burst out laughing when you saw that? Because I feel really bad for you if so. You must be the same person who writes into the newspaper insisting that "Momma" be put back on the comics page.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Windier, so what if a pharmaceutical ad isn't accurate? What the fuck do I care? Since when is accuracy a consideration when it comes to drugs, or my health, or medicine in general? As long as it's vaguely funny, I love it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little far-fetched, pushing the very limits of what's 'ironic' and what's just a blatent set up for a punch line. but I wouldn't say inaccurate. Ah, if ONLY, it like morphine. Hey, at least they are taking a better approach than the long-ass symptom list again: "Sniffling-Aching...-So-you-can-sleep medicine." we've been sitting through for 20 years.
ReplyDeleteVarious reasons? Let me guess... you know more about being an ad critic than you do about roosters, right?
ReplyDeleteBut yes, they most certainly do crow at various times.