i have crohn's disease. the medication i take has a commercial on tv in the united states. (no it isn't skyrizi).
i normally think about this drug in terms of whether its working. somewhere, someone had to think about its brand identity. there have been meetings. people have presented options for how the medication should make me feel, in addition to whatever it is medically supposed to do.
the ad has a person out on a run.
i can see why they chose running. its a convenient way to show a body cooperating with its owner. they have decided to go somewhere and their body is participating in that decision. that is an attractive proposition.
the issue is that if i went for a run, i would shit myself immediately. i also can't even go for a run because i have osteoarthritis in my left knee from crohn's disease. i said "i can see why they chose running" but i actually can't. crohn's ate my knee.
some of the things i actually want from this medication would be difficult to make a commercial about. i would like to eat lunch and then think about something other than having eaten lunch. you could film someone eating a sandwich and then continuing to sit there, uneventfully. i would find this compelling.
its strange enough to see a pharmaceutical product on tv. i did not select this medication because i felt it had a brand. i did not even select it. it was given to me because i failed 2 other medications. one of those medications gave me cancer. the other one did absolutely nothing, which actually caused crohn's to infiltrate my lungs. i definitely cannot go running.
either way, i see it on tv and go 'oh, that's mine!'. for a second, something that usually belongs in a styrofoam cooler that UPS brings to me is now out in the room with everyone else. for a brief moment it makes the whole situation feel less solitary.
but then i remember that someone paid to produce that feeling. unfortunately, knowing how advertising works doesn't grant me immunity from advertising.
i'm irritated they put some person out in the world running as the depiction of this medication. i want what they represent. i want enough room in my life to make plans that assume i'll feel okay. i want my body to be become boring enough that i can direct my attention elsewhere.
ideally, the medication works so that i forget about crohn's for a bit. then i turn on the television and there it is.