stupidity in government and advertising
This is kind of a lame post, but I’ve been slacking on my posts lately, and just thought I’d share whatever pointless information was on my mind at the moment.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the advertising methods of Hulu, the online TV portal, but basically, they show little 30-second adverts, from one sponsor, two to three times during each episode. Their recent sponsor is Latisse, the prescription eyelash-growing treatment. Now, I am a sucker for anything that claims to make your eyelashes grow – I once paid someone $200 to individually glue fake eyelashes to each of my real eyelashes, and did not regret it for a minute – but I have two complaints about this product. First, they claim their product is for the treatment of “inadequate or not enough lashes.” Inadequate or not enough? Aren’t those the same thing? The redundancy bothers me – either their ad copy is written by an idiot, or they really are targeting two audiences: people who know what inadequate means, and stupid people who just don’t have enough lashes. Whichever it is, I’m annoyed, and if there’s one thing that will stop me from buying your product, it’s being annoyed by your marketing. The other thing that will stop me from buying a product is when the fine print side-effects are horrifying. They claim “Latisse may result in increased brown iris pigmentation, which is most likely permanent.” This intrigued me, so I did some internet research, and found that it literally means, for like 12-18% of the blue eyed people who underwent the clinical trials, it turned their blue eyes brown, forever. I’m sorry, but eye color is determined genetically, and the fact that this product alters that, and they are not even sure if it is reversible or not, makes me suspect they really have no clue what this product is doing to the parts of your face that are not eyelash.
Update (after checking the website for a thumbnail image to accompany this post): I take that above statement back – they do have a clue, because the pigmentation warning is followed by “There is a potential for hair growth to occur in areas where Latisse solution comes in repeated contact with skin surfaces.” Hmmm, freaky. I think I’ll pass.
I’ve been reading, and digging, the Discovery On website, and found this choice quote in the article on the geoglyphs discovered in Kazakhstan: “Recently the Kazakhstan Government toyed with the idea of creating a UFO landing field and an alien embassy.” I re-read this a couple times, and there was nothing indicating they were kidding. Heck, why not?
Emilily, 
Carmen, and 
Olga are discussing.
Carmen 3:20 pm on September 29, 2009 Permalink
wow, good post! and WHAT?! they can permanently change blue eyes to brown?!?! And the reason is – let me see if i have this right – because your iris is growing hair on it? Also, I think some don’t have enough lashes and other people have enough but they are too thin (or something) to have real impact, thus, inadequate. Maybe that clears up the redundancy quandary you are having.
I’m liking the Discovery On too, its kind of like Scientific American (which I love) but more tailored to my short attention span. I wonder if the people who “discovered” the geoglyphs thought about the possibility that these were just trails for goats and sheep?
Olga 6:50 am on September 30, 2009 Permalink
So many things come to mind as I read your post Emily. 1. Are we going to be seeing an abundance of middle-age men with brown eyes in the future? I would think that the baldies of the world would be buying this product up in mass quantities and rubbing it all over their shiny lil’ heads. 2. What did the first few (girls?) think when their nice blue eyes started turning to Mayblline dark lash #21? 3. What will the rest of us think about brown-eyed-girls in the future? Maybe she was born with it… maybe she’s Latisse? 4. And here’s a tip for all you gangsters and fugitives out there, are your eyes blue on your wanted poster? Whallha! Insta-brown will save you from the FBI! So many possibilities, so little time.
P.S. Speaking of genetic tom-foolery, I think that hair color is in a similar category. I was once (genetically) a brunette, now I’m L’oreal # 9A-bL
Carmen 10:08 am on September 30, 2009 Permalink
I think we should all buy stocks in Latisse.
Emilily 10:47 am on September 30, 2009 Permalink
That’s a really good idea!
I think we should also try growing our own mustaches.
(ok, kidding about that last one.)