I have a real issue with commercials and ads that promote the idea that germs lurk everywhere and we’re at real risk if we don’t buy a certain soap, cleaner or spray that eradicates these dangerous pathogens.
These commercials illustrate their point with special effects showing tiny, creepy-crawly things on doorknobs, shopping cart handles, telephones and toilet handles. They are enough to send anyone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies over the edge. It’s true; germs are everywhere, but if they were all that dangerous, wouldn’t people by the thousands be dropping like flies?
Germophobia (the closest Latin term I could find is “mysophobia,” the pathological fear of contact with dirt because of contamination and germs) is a growing problem, according to a therapist with whom I spoke several months ago. He specializes in treating people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and says that it’s an uphill battle against this Madison Avenue assault. The goal of these ad men and women is to sell a product with little regard to the harm that’s being done, and their commercials only confirm the legitimacy of germophobia.
I know people who won’t go to the bathroom anywhere except home (this certainly limits life experiences) and others who won’t allow their children to play anywhere they may be exposed to dirt or other people who might be sick. These obsessive-compulsives put themselves into a prison (at the extreme, think Howard Hughes) and make life miserable for their families.
Equally important is what these products may be doing to everyone’s health.
A researcher who studies public health and infection-control issues told me that using all these anti-bacterial/anti-viral products is lowering the general population’s resistance to infection and helping to create the so-called superbugs.
Obviously working in a hospital demands a protocol that discourages infection, but what about in the outside world?
How do you handle contamination issues when at home or in social settings?
Do you think Madison Avenue has sold us on the existence of non-existent dangers?
Tell us what you think.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Has Mr. Clean Gotten Out of Control?
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3 comments:
I was glad to see this post, I think Lysol is probably one of the key offenders in this area. Their latest commercial for hand sanitizer shows germs creeping, wriggling, mutating, and flowing all over the things the kids touch. But their product makes all this go away so the kids can live in a sterile bubble.
Another piece to this argument is that the immune system can't make anitbodies to things it isn't exposed to. Advertisers neglect to tell people that the human body is built to withstand exposure to thousands of germs per day, and that by that exposure, we become immune to them. Encouraging people to live in these sterile environments is actually hurting them more than helping.
Thanks for the post.
The media seems to want to terrorize the public in order to sell more papers, magazines, advertisements etc. I am amazed my children survived to adulthood with a mother who believed in the 5second rule (you can eat it if you pick it up off the floor before five seconds have elapsed). But then my mom kept Helman's mayo in the cupboard. It is too bad that I have become such a cynic that I don't believe in much of what I read.
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