Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Brain/Pharma Ads


Viewing the 3D tour of the brain made me think about all of the times that I hit my head and since I recently hit my head very hard in the front I was more interested in learning about this area of the brain. Luckily I found out it is not as important as some other sides of the brain. Clicking on each section and being able to read a concise paragraph about that part’s function helped me understand the brain and its functions more than I did before. I have taken some psychology classes and have learned about the brain so I knew some of the information but I definitely learned a lot from the 3D tour.  I think that the information was easy to learn on this website because it is not fancy doctor terms or anything too difficult, the language used is definitely aimed at a general audience and the visual of the brain helps me connect what I am reading with my own brain and see what parts of my own head are very important.

I do think that this is a good example of the idea that the “truth can be made visible” because as Michel Foucault determined, it is experimenting, measuring, analyzing and ordering that help us see the truth through vision. I think that being able to study the brain like this is the truth being made visible. As the example in the textbook points out a brain with no drug use and a brain with drug use look very different and this is the truth being shown in a visible picture. There is solid evidence that the brain of someone who uses drugs differs from the brain of someone who does not use drugs.

The Advil advertisement had a checklist of symptoms that the medicine is supposed to cure. The list includes headaches, backache, muscle ache, menstrual pain and minor arthritis pain. It also has the slogan “the every pain reliever.” The list of symptoms that Advil treats is listed with check marks and is the main attraction to the ad. Advil apparently works wherever it hurts.

There is actually no list of side effects on this advertisement, which I am surprised about. If you read the bottle there are many side effects listed, probably more than the amount of symptoms it is meant to treat. The advertisement promises the consumer that their pain will be relieved if they take this medication. The pill bottle promotes what the pill will look like and creates brand recognition; whenever someone sees a bottle like this one they will associate it with Advil. The copy on this advertisement is plain, simply and clear that it will relieve whatever pains the consumer is experiencing. Even the colors used are meant to make the consumer memorize that Advil is associated with these exact colors.Even though this advertisement doesn’t have people in it to sympathize with, I think that it is just as effective because it is an upbeat ad and it is familiar to us. 

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