Harvard Health Ad Watch: A feel-good message about a diabetes drug

This 60-second advertisement for Trulicity, a medication for diabetes, is one of the most feel-good medication commercials I’ve ever seen. The narrator never uses the scare tactic of so many other ads, listing the terrible things that could happen if you don’t take the treatment. Instead, from start to finish, music, images, and spoken words deliver empowering, encouraging messages focused on helping your body to do what it’s supposed to be doing despite having diabetes. There’s a lot of good information here, but as in most direct-to-consumer health marketing there’s also some that’s missing. Let’s go through it, shall we? Three actors, three positive messages The ad opens with uplifting music and statements by three people with type 2 diabetes (though all are actors, as noted in text at the bottom of the screen). A woman faces the camera to declare “My body is truly powerful.” So far so good! Then a man wearing a hard hat and holding blueprints at a construction site states “I have the power to lower my blood sugar and A1C.” More good news! By the way, he’s referring to hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), a molecule in the circulatory system that serves as a standard test of average blood sugar over the previous two to three months. A normal or nearly normal HbA1C suggests good diabetic control, while higher results indicate elevated blood sugar and poorer control of diabetes. We then meet a third woman wearing scrubs, who works in the physical therapy departmen...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Diabetes Drugs and Supplements Health Source Type: blogs