[Medication] Drugs Will Make You Popular

If there’s something every mom keeps in the medicine cabinet, it’s Tylenol. Tylenol was the answer to seemingly every minor medical condition in my childhood. Fever? Take some Tylenol. Chills? Tylenol. Stomachache? Got some children's Tylenol for that. Headache? Here is a tablet, dear child. Tylenol was originally developed by a gastroenterologist (a doctor that deals with the digestive tract for all you non-medical people out there) as an alternative to aspirin. It has since developed into a huge name brand drug with tons of varieties. Now you can take Extra Strength Tylenol, give Tylenol to your children, and use Tylenol PM when you can’t sleep.

One Tylenol PM advertisement was particularly fascinating to me. There were several advertising techniques that I noticed throughout, and which you can see for yourself:

Some of the obvious observations I made are that all the actors are sleeping in dark sheets (dark implies nighttime which implies sleep), have clear skin, are slender, and make excellent eye contact with the camera. They also all look abnormally good while sleeping--I can't think of anyone who looks that attractive while they are asleep.

The main thing I want to focus on is the claims that are made. This commercial claims that sleep can help “improve your mood, help rebuild muscle, and improve your concentration.” Tylenol PM is the drug that can help you fall asleep by relieving aches and pains that keep you up at night; by the transitive property Tylenol PM can improve your mood, help rebuild muscle and improve concentration. At least that is what the manufacturer wants the consumer to believe, when in reality sleep is what does these things, not the drug.

Nevertheless, these claims are shots right at the human heart and our deep-seeded desire to be accepted by others. Improving our mood makes us more attractive because positivity and energy make for a popular personality. It’s important to rebuild muscle because then we will be more in shape and be more physically desirable. Improving our concentration means that we will be (or at least appear) more intelligent to our peers.

The great news is that Tylenol PM can help you do all these things!

In reality, Tylenol PM probably could help to do these things, but only in a very short-term sense. The feeling of acceptance we all desire is not going to be achieved by any medicine.

One verse that has had a lot of meaning to me the past few months is 2 Timothy 1:7. It says,

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

So often we act based on that deep need for acceptance; fear of rejection goes right along with this. As Christians, I think often we are fearful of what others think of our beliefs. This verse in 2 Timothy is so encouraging to me because it reminds us that God himself purposefully did not give us a spirit of fear. Instead, he gives us power, love, and self-control—all attributes of himself.

The interesting thing is that these are the exact attributes that people normally find attractive. Fear is not an attractive personality trait. Let’s be real, who wants to be friends with a scaredy-cat? Power (in the sense of confidence and power in speaking God’s truth), love, and self-control are very attractive personality traits. By giving us a spirit that is devoid of fear and full of these other characteristics, God is actually making us more attractive. The best part about this is these are characteristics of God, so people are being attracted to God in us rather than to us as normal people. In reality, our fear of rejection should be turned into rejoicing because God has given us a fearless spirit!

Think about that next time you pop your Tylenol capsule!