Do these little phlegm characters gross you out?

I am convinced that we, as a society, have flushed the last modicum of our decorum with these commercials. We all get snotted up and have to blow our noses and cough up nastiness, we all get that way at some point. I was taught to get up, go to some secluded place and take care of it. If it did require medication to clear up, we looked for something called an expectorant. I do not ever remember talking about it with family, let alone others. It is just one of the myriad gross little issues that we deal with, our bodies have many of these functions we do not bring into the light of day, or at least we did not used to. So, what has happened to our society that we have allowed this nasty and sometimes gross advertising, it seems to me should still be whispered about in the comfort of our doctors office or our own homes.

The little booger man, who is the spokesperson for one brand of expectorant is but a symptom of a larger openness that I am not sure I like. I have to change the channel when those commercials come on because I find them disgusting! We are introduced to a little green man, Mr. Mucus is the name given me by the company. We find that he has a family, so it is not good enough to gross us out with just booger man, we have to be introduced to his bride and his children. GROSS! We even to a look at the furniture and the living conditions he sets up, inside our chest cavity. We can see by his attire that Mr. Mucus is a working man, not a white collar guy although no one is immune from needing an expectorant but for some reason they chose a working man. Can you imagine if he were wearing an Armani suite and tie – how would we feel about that? On their web site I even found his Bride wearing a grass skirt. Are you seeing the ridiculousness of this advertising campaign?

A bit more time on their site and I found little mucus men picketing, like striking workers, the use of the product they were advertising. I also found Mucus Maximus, I assume a take on Russell Crow’s character in the movie Gladiator. Really, really? I see that mucus man gives pep talks and has gone on a world tour as well. I see another where he is wearing a tee shirt that says Mucus Power – I think that is a take on the Black Power movement of the 60’s but I am not sure. In another the kid is wearing a shirt that says “Daddy’s favorite mucus”. And yet another has him spinning a basketball and it indicates team mucus. This ad campaign is one of the nastiest things I can recall. I think we should relegate Mr. Mucus back to the foggy and shadowy existence on little placards in doctors’ offices! I believe I would die from being congested before I would buy an expectorant from this company.

Mr. Mucus seems to be the culmination of many topics that I thought were better left for the privacy of the home or the clinical setting of the doctor’s office. Maybe I am just old fashioned, hell I am only 44 and never thought my sensibilities were that far off track with my demographic. Maybe they are not, as I still have not talked with others about any of this. Not sure if you are comfortable sitting watching an advertisement for vaginal itching or erectile dysfunction with your kids, boy or girlfriend or spouse, I am still not and do not ever want to be. Why do these ads persist then? Only thing I can come up with is the drug companies. They are driving this stuff on us and acting worse than a heroin pusher keeping a junkie hooked and supplied. They have dreamed up problems for which only they can offer assistance and then have some advertising agency dream up a campaign to make this new medication part of our lives.

I believe they have taken over the world and are on a quest to make each and every one of us beholden to them for EVERY part of our lives. Think about it, when was the last time you watched a commercial break that did not include a medication spot? Could be anything, from a birth control pill to a cure for restless leg syndrome to a depression medication that will solve all your woes. All of which have a list of side effects that are startling to hear. Even the cure for Mr. Mucus can cause, headache, dizziness, vomiting and there are reports of a rash. A rash where? Those are mild compared to some. If you read the pages of side effects of the H1N1 vaccine you would not normally wish that on someone you did not like. Seems we are somewhat masochistic when we treat ourselves for our problems. Just look at the side effects of one of the erectile dysfunction medications. You know it is bad when that description starts out with the following, very few drugs work perfectly, and “blank” is no exception. Just about every drug has side effects that arise because the drug is flowing throughout the body and may affect parts of the body unintentionally. For example, aspirin is a drug that relieves pain, but this same drug can also erode the stomach lining and thin the blood. And those are just the side effects of aspirin. Yes all of that was listed before the side effects of the erectile dysfunction medication. My favorite for this drug was it could cause color vision problems and potentially an erection lasting more than 4 hours.

Oh well, I guess I am just on a soap box for now that I should just get off of, I believe I may start a Facebook group called “Ban Mr. Mucus from all advertising”. This whole thing has given me a headache, I better go take something for that.