Last night I saw this on TV:
Interested to hear what others think.
Itâs nice to see that theyâre showing someone young. I know that they talked about losing work days, so what they seem to be showing is someone with an inflammatory arthritis, hence not being able to get out of bed in the morning.
Thatâs what I thought Stoney. I think itâs effective on quite a few levels.
Also itâs not as if it is part of some genre, I havenât seen anything like it before on tv & we donât get similar awareness raising ads about other diseases so I reckon if nothing else itâs going to pique peoplesâ curiosity.
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Wow! I havenât seen that yet and it is effective on lots of different levels. Well done Arthritis Research.
Iâm wondering if they have other ads with different scenarios.
Itâs well done isnât it? Really nails just what a total catastrophe (inflammatory) arthritis can be.
Yes, it really nails the feeling. But I have pretty big misgivings, because I donât believe it hits the target market well (who are not us).
I know a number of people (and from social media realise there are a lot more out there - perhaps a near-majority) who ascribe our type of diseases to âyou must have done something to deserve itâ âyou could get over it if you triedâ, and for those people, showing an ex-con who then lets down his sons mum by saying he canât he canât care for him, and doesnât show up for his new jobâŚ
Well it just validates them. And makes it easier for them to believe itâll never happen to them, because they are âgoodâ people.
So I hope there are some pretty good follow ups, because whilst I donât see it from the above point of view, I can put myself in the shoes of people who do, and itâs potentially a negative message, rather than the positive one intended.
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Seems odd decision to show someone leaving prison? Iâm pretty sure 99.99% of people with arthritis donât have criminal records so why confuse the story by using a character that will immediately have less sympathy from the majority of the public.
See what youâre saying Jen & Pilgrimchris. But I rather like that it doesnât show a perfect citizen for a change! It may just get certain messages out there to other imperfect citizens including those who may actually be marginalised and hard to reach. And I also think young men of the non-marginalised, non-ex-con variety may also realise perhaps for the first time that something with arthritis in its name could affect them.
I think ideally theyâll have a range of characters and situations. Itâs different, thatâs for sure!
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This⌠if there are 5 different once showing different people and situations itâs really good! But if itâs just this one leave out the prison and make everyone proud of him for getting a job⌠make him seem like he actually wants the job instead of making it feel like he loves to have an excuse to not work⌠Since he already took a short cut probably which landed him in jail and lost his wifeâŚ
I think that itâs strongest point actually. But given its âdifferentnessâ with the quirk of someone just getting out of prison made it more watchable if that makes sense. Also using such a young character normally thought of as in the âprimeâ of life was good too.
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I guess whatever we think of the ad, itâs a bold attempt to increase awareness of arthritis. Shame that OA & inflammatory varieties are linked, not 'cos Iâd downplay the challenges of OA, just that we all know how misleading our âarthritisâ tag can be. But it does seem to be inflammatory arthritis that is covered.
Also, the campaign is called âthe nationâs joint problemâ i.e. a play on the word âjointâ to emphasise the economic cost of arthritis as well as its impact on the patient. Featuring an ex-prisoner on the verge of becoming an active member of society fits into that quite well I think.