Tuesday 28 February 2012

NHS - Bowel Cancer


[Visit4ads]

White man 1: I don't really know how to put this..
White woman: I'm a bit worried...
Black woman: Something has not been right for weeks...
White man 2: There's always a ... bit of blood...
White man 3: Well it's loose .. really loose...

Voiceover: Blood in your poo, or going more often with looser poo[1], are possible signs of bowel cancer. If you've had either of these symptoms for three weeks or more, tell your doctor.

Dr Terry Bowley: It doesn't matter how you tell me, just tell me.

Voiceover: Finding it early makes it more treatable. Be clear on Cancer.
More money wasting by the NHS[archive], and they're talking down to you this time. 
Are there really adults that use the infantile word 'poo,' when talking with other adults, when there are a wealth of words that could be otherwise used, e.g. fæces, stools, shit, crap?

The last two of which could probably be used as adjectives for this advert.

More seriously, who really needs an advert to tell them to go to the doctor if they've been shitting blood or have had diarrhea for three weeks? 
Most who would go anyway, would go long before the three weeks (with or without this advert,) those not so inclined to bother their doctor with something so minor as blood pouring out their anus is hardly likely to change their mind by watching an advert that patronises them by calling the stuff that comes out of their rectum 'poo.'
[1] Is this the P.C. phrase for 'the shits' or diarrhea these days?

5 comments:

  1. I agree with you entirely. Whilst I knew what the phrase "blood in your poo" would mean, I haven't heard any adult use the word "poo" since before my early teens and I'm left thinking not about health issues, but the advertising agency who they must have paid to make that ridiculous advert. It's the kind of rubbish you'd see from a team on The Apprentice, before one of them on that team is fired.

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  2. The Doctor's name is Dr BOWLEY or should that be Bowel-ly

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  3. "...Dr BOWLEY..."

    The close brush with nominative determinism wasn't entirely lost on me when I wrote the article :)

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  4. Dr Bowley is my GP and an excellent one at that.

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  5. Since I'm having problems viewing the video over 2 years after it was put up (seriously Visit4Ads?) I'm having to rely on memory here, and point out that I think he should stick with his day job and not go into acting...

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