I get a lot of D mags and rags in the mail. I get a lot of meter ads, and supply ads, and part of that is my fault. I love the freebies. You can get freebies from almost any company, and that is the way it should be.
Accucheck sent us a free Aviva, with cool stickers so we could change the look of the meter, which is a novelty, at least, but is fun and cool. Years ago, I talked sidekick into sending us a free meter. They really didnt want to, and I figured our why as soon as we used it a few times. Novelty Item. Then Glucophone sent us their free phone. Another novelty item as well, because it limits the model of phone that you can use, and ours broke rather quickly, so... But a good concept... hopefully one that will be expanded on.
As fun as all of the freebies are, they are hard to toss out. I end up keeping a lot of magazines.
I decided today to go through them and toss what I did not need to keep.
I went through page after page of ads for foot lotion, sugar free Lorna Doones goodies, along with countless articles on Type-1 diabetic tri-athletes, and older Type 2's who are living life to the fullest by taking walks with thier spouse and the occasional famous old person adding thier face to the many faces of Diabetes, sometimes reinforcing the stereotype... OK almost all of the time...
And, of course, the myriad of ads for the Blood Glucose Meters. Less painful testing, Alternative site testing, Obviously meant to lure in the person who tests once daily or less, because when you need to test six or so times a day... what's pain?
And there are several brands of meters... some I have never even seen in real life... some I have a hundred of at home... like bar soap or a black comb... they are just an object in our house that are often unnoticed. The black vinyl zipper bag, with the zipper pull missing in many cases... They always show the meter on a white or bright surface.
But those ads would not even catch my attention if not for the one thing that makes them stand out, stark and noticable to me...
The number.
They all read 104, 107. 108, 102, and numbers like that.
I dont know if they are trying to imply that thier meter equals better control...
But much like the diaper commercial where they pour blue fluid onto the test diaper, the meters ads are only trying to make pretty what is most often not.
I think they ought to put realistic numbers in thier ads...
Like a sweaty and blurry from shaking hand holding a meter that says 36, or a Kate Moss from the 1990's holding a meter that says, 462, or better yet, "HI".
Cause thats what diabetes is really all about...
But then I'd also like to see a diaper full of mustard on commercials too.
