In this ad for Lipitor, some guy tells of how he and his childhood friends used to bet who could come the closest to the edge, and the camera shoots him from just over the edge of a rock, so it looks like it’s just the side of a big boulder. Then, there is a reverse shot, and we see that this is a cliff! So, he and his friends must not have liked each other very much (!); or else they were all cowards, because apparently none of them ever went over the edge! Then he says something about taking needless risks as a kid, but that he was still “over the edge” with his cholesterol. And just when I thought this was going to be a public service announcement to try to encourage bully-type kids to fall off of cliffs, too! (Hey, it’s one way to stop bullying!)
So then they say stuff like how 80% of people who have heart attacks have high cholesterol, but they don’t talk about what percentage of people have negative side effects with Lipitor. Oh, that’s right: It hasn’t been around long enough yet for us to really know if it’s even more dangerous long-term than high cholesterol! Oh, well: I’m sure it’s probably safe if it’s on TV! Like Vioxx. Remember that stuff?
But what they ought to do is say stuff like: “100% of people who don’t take Lipitor die!” And then they could have it written in teensy tiny fine print that everybody dies, eventually, and that’s all they really meant. That’s what I’d do!
