It All Adds Up

In last Sunday’s edition of the largest San Francisco Bay Area newspaper, the front section was only eight pages long, and it contained ten advertisements. Of those, five tried to sell the reader on how to feel better. It seems that the pain in the back is a major problem, and one full-page advertisement described the advantages of spinal decompression, another on curing lower leg pain, and a third on sciatica. A fourth advertisement came from two chiropractic doctors who declared that they could help anyone suffering from “arthritis, knee pain, cartilage damage, bursitis, tendonitis, and crunching and popping sounds.”

However, those essential sounds help me know that I am still alive.

There was also another regularly run advertisement for 50% off implants and crowns, along with a free initial consultation (Reg. $400). See the earlier July 28^th blog for similar, competitive advertisements that may help Obama’s fund raising.

Also on Sunday, that same newspaper published an informative, laudatory 24-page section on the $1.3 billion Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers football team. The stadium is about forty-five miles from San Francisco.

That section contained thirty-four advertisements filling thirteen total pages. One advertisement offered a “49ers Specials” good for both hair loss replacement, as well as for treatment to enable you to be “the man you used to be.” There was only one advertisement on dental implants.

In a front-page article in the main news section, an extremely talented writer got carried away and likened the stadium to other well-known edifices noting that “every great civilization in history has relied upon monumental architecture to assert its power, from the Parthenon of ancient Athens to the cathedrals of France.”

Let’s hope that he was being facetious.

Print advertising in my daily newspaper is somewhat entertaining and acceptable, including those from companies who are trying to enhance my body and improve my health. 

I am truly grateful for the healthful commercials that run on the evening news on NBC, CBS, and ABC. They push products to better handle life’s true medical problems including indigestion, constipation, bladder control, impotence, incontinence, diabetic nerve pain, heartburn, eye problems, being overweight, and overwrought.

After each product’s benefits have been extolled, the viewer is then inundated with hurriedly spoken warnings on the usage. They make me wonder if it’s worth buying products that help pharmaceutical companies to increase their already massive profits.

Every little bit adds up.