In the 1960s and 70s, you would have thought the onset of headaches had become a national crisis. Bayer^®, Excedrin^® and Anacin^® were duking it out with a barrage of television ads.  Actors, who appeared in them reminded us that they weren’t real doctors even though they played them on tv, but certainly that was enough to qualify them to recommend what we should take to alleviate a throbbing headache.   

The virtues of aspirin gradually expanded to include arthritis relief as well as a heart attack prevention.  It truly became was a “Wonder drug.”  When there weren’t commercials about pain or coughing, Speedy Alka Seltzer made his way on screen to address your upset stomach with his famous “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz oh what a relief it is” song.  For increased vitality, the answers lay in One-A-Day^® and Flintstone’s^® vitamins.  These messages were effective enough to fill medicine cabinets across the country.  And if dealing with problems on the inside of your body weren’t enough, you could always entertain the idea of changing your hair color to look younger and sexier.  Clairol^® was king of that hill with its tagline, “Only her hairdresser knows for sure!”

Considering the time period, these advertisements made sense.  Our parents were in their 30s and 40s, and generally in good health. The effects of smoking and bad diets on their bodies wouldn’t appear for another 15 to 20 years.  They were the perfect demographic for advertisers.

Today, those of us who are part of the “Baby Boomer” generation (1946 to 1964) are now in our 60s and up.  We represent 70 million people or 21% of the U.S. population.  A whole new set of advertisers have found us.  More importantly, or sadly, they do their best to remind us that we’re getting older.

Are you forgetting things?  There’s Prevagen^®.  This drug comes from research found in Jelly Fish, so it certainly will work for us.  Want vitality?  Order Balance of Nature^®.  Frankly, the folks they pick for these ads aren’t role models for me.  Can’t sleep?  No problem, Melatonin is in dozens of sleep aids.  Having trouble moving your bowels?  “Good…good morning” from the folks at Dulcolax^® constipation tablets, yay, they’re chewable and work in 30 minutes.  Suffering from ED there’s a little blue pill by the name of Viagra^® for that. Thank goodness for the pulmonary hypertension and angina suffers who discovered a useful side effect for a treatment designed to increase blood flow.  Of course, there are dozens of other products that can be added to the list.

It is a privilege getting older.   Being reminded of it over and over again is not.  The big difference between now and when we were kids is that the number of messages that reach us has exponentially increased.  Just thinking about it gives me a headache.  Please pass the Bayer!