The Power of advertising

I recently had a moment which brought home the point how effective advertising can be.

One of my favorite little gals had foot trouble. I was spending the evening with her and her sisters. She had been with mom and dad at the "Y" for swim lessons earlier in the day. She told me she had cut her foot and showed me the bandage she was wearing. It didn't seem to trouble her much until it was time to go to sleep. You know how the tiniest little thing is magnified when all you are doing is resting in the quiet waiting for sleep to come. This was her plight. I offered to get some lotion and give her a foot massage. As I was rubbing her foot I felt what seemed to be a hard lump in the bottom of her foot. Thankfully her mom and dad were just coming in. I asked her dad to take a look. He is a doctor.

This soon progressed to me holding her still while Daddy probed the wound to remove the foreign object. This called forth several entreaties from Sara for her dad to leave her foot alone. Her mom was explaining that she needed this done. Sara then said "I want a doctor, I want a doctor" repeatedly. When she was reminded that Daddy was a doctor, the mantra changed to "I want a doctor who's not Daddy, I want a doctor who's not Daddy." Now mom is telling her this needs to be taken care of so she can go to sleep. This was the moment that brought about the revelation of the importance of advertising. Sara began to ask for sleep medicine. She said "I want some sleep medicine, I've seen on TV, I want sleep medicine."

The episode was resolved when Daddy declared he would rather be a dad than a doctor. They both bundled up to visit the minor emergency clinic where there are other doctors and wonderful pain killing medicines. All ended well and Sara was able to take part in her dance recital a few days later.

I was impressed she did so fabulously with her dance routines. I was also impressed that in a moment of pain she pulled a memory of a commercial to use as a way to avoid all the unpleasantness. Advertising works.