It was one of those radio ads which you wish you could rewind just to make sure you heard correctly, to make sure it wasn't some spoof put on for your amusement.
The gist of the advertisement was, "If you are not on medication, and have never been on medication, contact us to test a range of free medications."
If nothing else, barring the spoof potential, this proves an old suspicion of mine. Pharmaceutical companies promote addiction.
I say this, because my ancestors lived into their 90s without ever taking a pill or managing their diets. Their children smoked profusely but managed to survive into their 80s despite the hacking coughs and patently bad lifestyles encouraged by the early 20th century. Even for them, pills were a rarity. Subsequent generations became enslaved to a bucket load of pills and did not do so well. Mortality rates, in some instances, dropped by twenty years.
On a more pertinent note, this was poor advertising copy. I understand exactly what the intent was, but the manner in which it was expressed reflected badly on the client because highly cynical listeners like me make toast of the content.
Cute or catchy doesn't make good copy. All writers fall victim to their inner stupidity, but this should not happen when someone else is paying the bill.
