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2005 Mar 23 (Wed)

Triaminic Cold & Allergy Medicine being sick is no fun, especially when you don't take care of yourself. when i was at Wal-Mart yesterday with Margret, she was thinking about getting some cold medicine. some of her friends (including me) have come down with a cold, and since she doesn't take care of herself, she thought it best to get some medicine in case she gets any of the symptoms. anyway, my mom is big on two drugs for a cold or flu, Triaminic and TheraFlu, so i suggested Triaminic to Margret. when i looked at the Triaminic boxed container, i decided to read about it (since i don't use it myself). on one side of the box, it had the following text (with graphics to make it more appealing):

Triaminic
What You Need to Make Your Child Feel Better.

Cold & Allergy Itchy, Watery Eyes Runny, Stuffy Nose Sneezing Itchy Throat Great Taste

Triaminic provides a broad range of formulas, in forms created with the needs of children in mind.

Trusted by Parents, Pediatricians & Pharmacists for over 40 years.

what caught my eye were the checkboxes. the checkboxes seem to reflect what symptoms a person with a cold or allergy might be experiencing, but the last checked item seems out of place. the first four go together quite well, but the last one made me think, "WTF?" how does Great Taste go together with the four previous items? i tried to figure out a perspective where all of the checked items form a cohesive group that would beneficial to the product, but came up with nothing that made sense:

*a cold or allergy will/might produce these
*a cold or allergy will/might not produce these
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic will/might give you these
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic will/might not give you these
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic will/might remove these from you
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic will/might not remove these from you
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic gave these to a person who used it
*Cold & Allergy Triaminic did not give these to a person who used it

of course, this list is most likely not exhaustive of the possibilities, so if anyone thinks of a cohesive group that all these items form, please let me know. as of now, i just think it's weird that it doesn't seem to be a problem for most people who read it: they apparently just automatically register the last item as a property of the medicine rather than a symptom of the ailment, even though the transition is unmarked. it seems the advertising agency (or whoever designed the box) either doesn't know how to categorize things coherently, or knows that people in general don't categorize things coherently. she ended up getting the Triaminic for two reasons: 1) to get medicine in case she gets a cold; 2) to allow me to copy down what the side of the box displayed.

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