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What’s interesting about Parkinson’s TV commercials is what they teach society. For people whose lives aren’t affected by Parkinson’s, getting a TV ad pushed at you is one of the few moments you’ll actually have to think about the disease.
With just 30 to 60 seconds to make you care, an advertisement’s got to grab your attention and pull your emotional strings in a jiffy.
Want to get educated about who Parkinson’s affects, and how it affects them? These ads make for an entertaining crash course with broader implications for how the disease is viewed by society.
The woman has abusive male partner whose always by her side in a choreographed dance of physical gaslighting, forcing her limbs to commit a series of at-home bloopers, with the spilt teapot, the falls onto furniture, and the sweep of lipstick and jewelry from the vanity surface thrown across the hardwood floor. This woman has a physically abusive husband, and trapped inside a small Parisian apartment, she can’t escape. She persists forward to do everyday self care despite the evil shadow man, and in one scene walks away leaving the shadow man defeated on the floor. Until the final scene, where her metropolitan husband walks in to find her fatigued on the floor. The shadow man, after all, is a metaphor for the Parkinson’s from which this woman suffers.
Fact: Parkinson’s [is] the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.
Fact: There is no cure.
The first half of this TV ad bluntly lists the “disabilities” related to Parkinson’s, “Can’t work, can’t walk, can’t taste, can’t talk, can’t move, can’t eat, can’t remember, can’t sleep, can’t finish, feel ashamed, can’t smile through the pain, can’t stop the voices, can’t make it stop.” Split second graphic flashes of grotesque in-home agony berate you into experiencing the same type of feelings I’d imagine is going through someone’s head right before they off themselves. Following the second half, are slit second flashes of equally graphic human brains and neurological surgery accompanied by a hopeful sea breeze blue color tones tone, which happens to be the Parkinson’s UK brand colors. “Together we can find the cure. Donate now.”
Fact: Millions of people have Parkinson’s disease. (Probably a baffling statistic back when this was filmed.)
It’s Back to the Future as Michael J Fox and Muhammad Ali team up for a brief, low-budget donation drive toward the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Humble and squirmy, Michael J Fox explains millions of people suffer from Parkinson's, and these two celebrities are talking to you about it, because people donate money when celebrities say stuff. The commercial aired over 10 years ago, but I called the 1-800 number listed, and connected with sexy lounge music, followed by a voicemail for “Donator Services, please leave your message after the tone”. If you want to donate, you’d better check the Michael J Fox Foundation’s up-to-date website instead.
Fact: “During the course of their disease around 50% of people with Parkinson’s may hallucinations or delusions.”
All that Sugar Hill Gang wapoo and blingin’ stylin’ is added on by the YouTuber for hilarity, not by Acadia, the drug maker the original advertiser of Nuplazid, for which this commercial is made to sell. The man (person with Parkinson’s) is seein’ sum thangs that ain’t thurr, like a slobbery waggin’ dogg. His wife trippin’ like they ain’t got open lines of communication in they murriage ‘bout them slippery waggin’ doggz’n’thangs. One proud OG to keep dem Parkinson’s Dizeaze hallucinationz and diluzuns all up in’is head like his wife can’t tell. Acadia plucked the deepest emotional strings to get people to buy their drug. Their other video has an eerily similar plot and cast (what video without the Sugar Hill Gang edits), here.
Fact: Freezing is one of over 40 symptoms of Parkinson’s disease [where the person] may not be able to move forward again for several seconds or minutes.
British humor makes for a curiously lighthearted Parkinson’s commercial, compared to the horror-film shock tactics and barf-inducing imagery we’re used to from Parkinson’s-related advertisers. Parkinson’s UK’s other commercial does the same. The commercial is designed to first prime your emotions with a relatable common annoyance, that of being blocked from moving forward in public by another person, like in an elevator or at a crosswalk. But the chuckle fades when the voiceover of a early-middle-aged male explains a symptom of Parkinson’s called “freezing”.
Muhammad Ali popularized the jacked athlete whose Achille’s Tendon turned out to be trembling hands. Enter stage stone cold John Cullen, whose lack of facial animation is aptly compensated by sheer brawn. An iron man’s story of “the only guy to ever beat Parkinson’s” turned humbly vulnerable in the wake of an incurable disease. “Even though I know it’s gonna happen, I still carry on.”
“I feel so grown up”, a gentle demeanored 40-ish salaryman with baby-soft hands stands buttoning his shirt. His wife reminisces the joy of helping her husband get dressed everyday for two years, and gingerly slides her fingers across his broad shoulders, exposing a full head of California surfer hair. Deep brain stimulation, getting an electrode drilled into the center of your Parkinson’s pruned skull, is a dream come true for corporate executives with the means.
Fact: 3 Australians under 40 are diagnosed every day.
American TV would have you believe Parkinson’s is a handsome 60-ish white man’s disease. But down under where the toilet bowls flush the other way, things are different. The beginning portion of this Aussie commercial would have you believe the same. Turns out this time, it’s the late-30s woman who’s wrought with hopelessness with her uncontrollable trembles.
Irony continues to be an effective premise for Parkinson’s awareness campaigns. “Jon Stamford was the head of a [London hospital] Parkinson’s disease research team”, before he himself was diagnosed. 12 years into the darkness when this movie trailer was shot, he’s kept his positivity and intellect in balance with the disease’s reality. This is going to be one grim TEDtalk.
“Do you have a deficiency of dopamine? Do you have trouble walking? Do you like Michael J Fox movies?” Back in 2013 AP Biology, some high school kids discovered a breakthrough new treatment to stop the shaky hands, in the form of a maroon capsule you can barely make out due to poor camera work. I called the number, which seems to be a regular residential US number, was met by the voicemail of Jim, and said “Hi, I’d like to pop a Polly”. This is a spoof homework assignment (not a real drug), but the side effects look like the real thing: diarrhea, nausea, amnesia, headache, colored urine, hallucinations, and death.
Imagine if getting two gaping 2-inch holes drilled into the top of your head was your best option to stay able. With stomach-twisting uncensored video footage of real life female brain surgeons going wild on this dude’s cranium (to treat his Parkinson’s through brain stimulation surgery), this TV ad really hit the nail on the head. If you are disturbed by gory content, or prone to terror dreams, I sincerely recommend you stay away.
Doesn’t it seem phony when a medical commercial chooses an “actor portrayal” instead of a real patient? Why does society say it’s immoral to show true suffering? When does a person’s cognitive decline severe that the mere sight of this person is unsafe for “viewers like you”? Why is it OK for actors to act out a Parkinson’s sob story, but not OK for a real sufferer? This Dutch actor portrayal of Parkinson’s tremors is simply repugnant.
Want to know what Parkinson’s freezing feels like? Watch this. The “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song is something a toddler can do, until the music and video tracks gradually drift further out of sync, then even adults get off-tune. It’s called “lyrical dissonance” when the music and lyrics don’t match up, and a 45-second masterpiece offers healthy people an experience similar to Parkinson’s freezing.
