Werther Originals are butterscotch hard candies. But the
Werther effect is the tendency for copycat suicides after one is publicized in
the media. And since both the candy and the copycat suicide effect have the
same name, why not combine them for one effective television commercial for
Werther’s Originals? Here’s how this might be accomplished:
The spot opens with the title: “Werther’s Originals
presents: The Werther Effect”, and then it moves into the narrative portion: A
kid wants to eat a Werther’s Original candy, but his parents say he can’t
because candy is bad for his teeth and fattening, so the kid commits suicide,
making it onto the news. And pretty soon after, any and every child who is
denied a delicious Werther’s Original candy also commits suicide. They’re
dropping like flies all over the place, and all because evil parents are trying
to deprive them of the butterscotchy goodness of Werther’s Originals candies
(those monsters)! So to save the future of humanity, all the governments of the
Earth mandate that every child must be provided with and permitted to eat all
the Werther’s Originals candies they want from now on: otherwise we may not
survive as a species! And then the new slogan could be: “Werther’s Originals:
They’re to die for!”
This is the Werther effect:
