Do you need reasons to celebrate being diabetic ?

A passing glimpse of the Ad seem to imply that.

However the matter is more serious.

Bayer Health Care want to claim that their new glucometer, Contour_Ts, is more reliable, user friendly as compared to others in the market. This,they claim to have achieved by making the batch coding of the strips redundant.

In order to grasp this message I had to read, re-read the Ad.


The 'Header' though announces about 'Blood sugar testing...decoded' did not sink-in quickly as I felt 'what is there to code in blood sugar?'

Later I realized that the Ad is referring to the change of 'coding chip' before the use of a new box of strips as in the case of their competitors. This of course is supplied with every box of strips one buys.

Touch wood, I am not a diabetic but I have seen and used the conventional instrument referred . I am not aware of any coding confusion though technically there is some
probability .

What initially amused me was the picture of the lady with a big smile as if she has been presented a new mobile or a camera.

The bigger picture showing the model leaning on to a wall with a tired smile seem to remind a case of dysmenorrhoea rather than diabetic. She does not look old enough to run the risk of diabetes.

The copy of the Ad is meandering by explaining the basics of diabetes like the need for balance in medication exercise, food etc.

Rather the copy should have concentrated presenting a case study on 'how the need for changing the coding chip' can create confusion or inconsistency in results between different batches of strips.

The copy should directly point out the advantages of Bayer's technology in comparison to others in achieving the desired consistency.

The purpose of the Ad is really meant for those who are already diabetic and are aware of the glucometer in instant measurement. They don't need a sermon on balancing diet exercise and drug :(

There seem to be a lack of rapport between the technical team and marketing team of the Company.

Voice of India: AD that fails to impress

The very name reminds you the punch line of Amul's 'the taste of india'. Granted that it is not a punch phrase but meant as the " name' of a dedicated Channel for News in Hindi.
Take a look at the print Ad which wants to convey that the Channel's commitment for only True News and No "gas", a colloquial usage for rumor or imaginative stories. The copy in Hindi sounds alright ; "baaki brahm, hum khabar hai"

The visual is ridiculous, picturing a flue gas stream to give a figurative meaning for flatulence (or gas ?).
Nor, there are any picture of industrial activity in the background to claim an incidental super impositioning of the case that lends itself for mis interpretation in a lighter vein.
All we get to see is only fence posts and green meadow !
My response to this Ad: Poor execution, fails to make any sense.

Reliability of Water Purifiers

A recent news item in Deccan Herald questions the 'tall claims' of safety of the purified water and efficiency of the units sold by different manufacturers

(you may read the full text by clicking on the image).

Most of the ADs on television, on this subject, tend to create an image as if Damocles's sword is hanging above you in the form of contaminated water.The only choice you are left with to protect your family, according to them, is to buy one water purifier; spend rest of your life hale and healthy!

While the author of the above article is concerned about failure of the most of the 'purified' water units to the meet the safety levels, I wish to know, how much of these 'levels' are truly required?
To put in a different way, are we over protecting ourselves, in the process, depriving our body's ability to develop its own defense mechanisms?

Are we allowing ourselves to be brain-washed by the vested market-interest ?

I give you an example from my experience. About twenty years back I had to spend six weeks abroad for a training. The small community had an excellent supply of treated water which was disinfected thoroughly using some permissible germicide. Just after landing back in India at Mumbai, in my brother's place, with the first sip of water I developed severe throat infection. Next two days I had to suffer.

My conclusion was, and is, that the protected water for six weeks had stripped me off my natural defense mechanism. No wonder my body immediately became vulnerable for infection on return.

Do we have protection mechanism against bacteria and virus ? Yes, that's what knowledgeable people say.

Our body produces "macrophages" which keep circulating in our blood.These 'alert cops' have an ability to deactivate a trouble creating virus the moment they are spotted in the blood. By enveloping the virus with a protein the virus is deactivated even before it can find a safe location to settle down and create a problem.

In order to produce many of this macrophages there should be some triggering or signaling situation, like getting exposed to somewhat adverse environment. In a sterile environment our body may not generate right type of macrophages and remains unprepared against any infection in a new environment.

It is similar to a situation when a person who is habituated to walk only with slippers and shoes on road finding it extremely difficult even to walk few meters on barefoot as his soles have become too sensitive. On the other hand we find millions in the world walk bare foot on gravel, on hot tar roads and even in forests! Anatomically we are no different from them, yet we failed to tune our body for a rough & tough situation.

MY BASIC QUESTION REMAINS,

Do we have to really worry about purification of water ?

Can't we manage with simple boiled water ?

Here is a video clip by one of the harassed customer who purchased a Reverse Osmosis purifier. Conclusion is left to you.

What is AWAU all about

Hi !

Everyday we are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements all around us. The AD WORLD AROUND US tend to create a world of fantasy if we are to believe them.

You may live without microbes contaminating your toilets, floors and body leave alone the drinking water.

You may grow a lustrous long hair using a XXXX Hair Oil and make it 'dand druf proof ' using YYYY protein shampoo finally to sacrifice it in a famed ZZZZ Beauty Clinic !!

We can save labour and drudgery using a washing machine, a dish washer and a vacuum cleaner to save time to visit a premiere Health Club. There we may burn the calories that tend to bother us as informed by the doctor in a white coat in an AD -between the time breaks of a mega serial !

The list would be endless. My intention is to share with my readers the reactions I feel about any advertisement as a common person with its Plus & Minus points, aesthetics in execution and above all the correctness of information to the best of my ability.

The intention is to critically view the ADs that appear in different media and get the Reader's viewpoint to see where the convergence lies.

Incidentally I may share any interesting news on "mis-adventures" of people who become victims of hyped claims for a wider awareness as case studies.