A recent ad campaign for a pharmaceutical called Myrbetriq
(nice spelling there, guys!) shows a woman being nagged by a cartoon version of
her bladder, tugging at her arm while she’s in line, etc., to indicate that she
has problems with having to go to the bathroom frequently. It’s kind of a cute
idea, but the idea and presentation is so similar to the ad for the
antidepressant Abilify that it makes me think about those ads more than
anything. (The Abilify ads are completely cartoons, as opposed to having just
one animated element, but other than that, they’re amazingly similar.) I mean,
the bladder is meeting with this woman and her doctor to learn about the drug
just like in the Abilify ads (although at least they don’t watch a film of the
doctor talking about the drug, run by the doctor wearing the exact same clothes
as he does in the film). It’s cute and all, and I guess it does work as an
informational ad campaign, but for my tastes it’s too similar, and as such it’s
easy to mix the drugs up in your head. But if both campaigns are made by the
same ad agency, it sure does save them time and money on creative work, doesn’t
it? (Of course, if both campaigns are not
made by the same ad agencies, then I’d guess one agency might just have a legitimate
complaint of being ripped off in the concept department.)
It does strike me though that if the woman in this ad has a
bladder that’s a separate entity from herself, maybe she could just leave it at
home like a pet dog or cat, and perhaps that would solve her problem. You see,
it’s clear that the bladder nags her a lot, but as it’s not inside her doing
any job, it’s also clear that the nagging is not related to her own body
function. So she really ought to just leave it at home, and then maybe she
wouldn’t need the drug. (But I wonder if it’s even legal to have a pet bladder?
And where did she get one anyway? Did she surgically remove it from an enemy of
hers and then use black magic to make it sentient? I’m beginning to think this
woman is pretty warped!)
Here’s the copycat commercial:
And here’s an example of those Abilify ads:
