Comic for Wednesday, June 25

Comic for Thursday, June 5

Wireless Merger

I just heard Verizon is buying out Alltell. Now what happens to Chad?

Not that I’m against the deal or anything. I happen to use Verizon, but that’s only because it’s what the rest of my family uses – as well as many of my friends – and being on the same network helps keep costs down a bit.

I’m going to miss the commercials though. Hopefully the ad agency will be sensible and just discontinue them instead of trying to make one to reflect the deal. That and they kinda stopped being funny after the original Sprint guy left for better things.

So long Chad. We’ll miss you … at least, until we spot you on a new ad campaign

Comic for Tuesday, May 27

All in a day’s work….

I started my new job with the state yesterday, and I have decided that ti’s substantially interesting to merit its own comic. Whether I can find something funny to fill the daily quota I’m planning for it remains to be seen I already have a couple ideas, but once I actually get them drawn I’ll submitthem all on one day and specify which date each belongs to, until I’m up to date.

We Were Only Freshman

A year gone. You’d think I’d have gotten used to the way time behaves by now, but it seems weird to think I’ve already finished a year of college! Plenty of memories and friends to keep, at least.

I guess the only thing that really bothers me about my first year is my performance. I didn’t exactly do stellar my first semester, and even this semester there wasn’t much improvement. I almost wonder how much better I’d done had I not purchased a laptop… oh well. Can’t do anything about that now. Learn from my mistakes, right?

Now that I think about it, I never thought I’d be the kind of person to have a blog. Of course, when I thought in those terms, I was usually thinking about a blog on MySpace or similar sites. In fact, I kind of already have one at deviantART, but I managed to convince myself that my journal there didn’t count as  a blog Actually, I think from now on I’ll put my journal entries here, and put a link in my dA journal. That way I can keep my focus their to my art and the community.

I wonder how many people in the English 220 online course keep using their blogs after the year’s through…?

Singulair… and suicide?

“SINGULAIR is a prescription medicine approved to help control asthma in adults and children as young as 12 months and to help relieve the symptoms of indoor and outdoor allergies (outdoor allergies in adults and children as young as 2 years, and indoor allergies in adults and children as young as 6 months).”

The ads by Singulair are some of the very few by a medicinal drug company that I actually paid any attention to after finding out that it helps with asthma as well as allergies, only because it struck a chord on a personal level. Since I was a young child, I have had a form of asthma triggered by strenuous activity. This becomes a double-whammy of sorts around springtime, because not only is that when I’m at my most physically active, that’s when all the pollen and other allergens come about, which are common asthma triggers as well. In general, this doesn’t concern me much; I have not had anything close to an asthma attack for a very long time. However, if I do push myself, then trouble starts. Naturally, this is what attracted me to the commercials (not necessarily the medicine itself).

 This commercial I found couldn’t be embedded. But, it does a good job as far as drug commercials go. It catches attention, first of all, with the animations. It explains how the drug works, and how that sets it apart from other allergy drugs. It lists possible possible side effects, like headaches and infection. It has small messages, like “Available by prescription only” and “Once a day” to act as warnings of sorts about how the medicine should be used, and they’re not to small to read. To me, that marks a good drug commercial. It lets the viewer know almost everything they’d need to know, short of consulting a doctor.

 

…Almost.

Recently (I’m not sure how long ago) KOAT did a news segment with Dr. Barry Ramo showing possible correlation between Singulair and suicide

As the video implies, neither Merck nor the FDA researched ALL possible side effects, even though eleven thousand clinical study patients never reported any suicidal thoughts or tendencies; that, or Merck simply didn’t include that side effect along with the others in its Singulair commercials. It’s on the labels, sure: they said they changed the label FOUR TIMES to reflect a wider range of side effects. But personally, I think they should’ve at least included “suicidal thoughts, change in behavior,” etc. in the possible side effects, on the small chance that the reported situation happens.

 

Also: Dr. Ramo, could you a least pronounce the drug’s name correctly?

Effective Marketing

Celebrities? In THEIR commercials? It’s more likely than I thought…

So I was corrected in my assumption that celebrities weren’t a “selling point”, if you will, for Orbit commercials (Thanks, Angelina!) I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to find that out, but I guess corporations use celebrities to sell/endorse their products eventually.

Anyway, I did some brief research on Wrigley’s website, specifically in the “Corporate FAQs” and “Environment, Safety and Health” pages. Here’s some info from the FAQs:

- “The vision of the Wrigley Company is to have WRIGLEY BRANDS WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF EVERYDAY LIFE AROUND THE WORLD.”

- “Outside sources estimate that Wrigley brands account for approximately 60% of the total chewing gum product unit sales in the United States. Globally Wrigley brands account for slightly less than half of the total chewing gum sales.”

- Factory tours aren’t allowed, simply because the facilities aren’t equipped with glass gallery walkways to separate tourists from the dangerous manufacturing machines. So, to find out exactly how it’s made, you either have to take their word for it or get hired in a factory and manage to sneak in some sort of recording device.

As far as the ESH page, there is quite a long manifesto  declaring their affiliations with several organizations, namely Britain’s EnCams [http://www.encams.org/home/] and the Technical and Further Education Institute of New South Wales [http://www.tafensw.edu.au/]. They also list various guidelines they follow to ensure the protection of their workers and an environmentally friendly… environment. Whether these “rigorous guidelines” are followed or not, I have yet to find out, but will soon.

 

Sadly, none of this seems to come through in any Orbit commercials, which is quite a shame. (Or maybe it does and I’m too thick to realize it!) In any case, the first thing to examine will be their claim that Orbit is proven to whiten teeth (based on an 8-week clinical study, apparently).

Orbit Gum Double Analysis part 1

In order to make up for my lack of an AdJournal last week, I’m doing two this week. (Not to make up the grade, mind you, just to meet quota, so to speak.) I’m fairly certain I won’t get both up by the deadline, but I’ll definitely get one up. So! Ad number one, “The Cheating Husband:”

 

Image/Sound: For the majority of the ad, there is nothing that truly identifies this as an ad for Orbit gum. As I gathered from the module on image and sound, lots of commercials use particular images and/or sounds to build recognition of and familiarity with the campaign, if not the company. Near the end, the spokeswoman, Vanessa Branch, comes on screen, along with her catchphrase of “Fabulous!”

Accompanying that is the familiar fanfare for these commercials. The ad ends with the slogan, “A good, clean feeling, no matter what.”