Adverts telling us to take services into our own hands are trying to maintain the delusion that we still have a functioning society
One of the beautiful things about adverts is that each one is a kind of window: into the entire thought process that led to it being produced. The television series Mad Men understood this: although I doubt there was quite so much grief and self-torture behind someone thinking, for instance: “Maybe we could use a guy with a giant head to advertise this online bank.”
I often spend journeys on public transport trying to peep through these windows. For instance, over the past few months, I have been seeing posters that in effect state: “For the love of God, stop bothering the doctors with your minor complaints.” Explicitly, the content is more along the lines of: “Cold? Tummy bug? Nits? Think pharmacy first!” But implicitly, I know what whoever came up with this advert was thinking. “The NHS has no money. We have to find a way to have fewer patients. Please can the less seriously sick people just start taking their medical care into their own hands?” One version of the advert tells patients to “#DoYourBit” and “Don’t just turn up” to A&E.
Tom Whyman is an academic philosopher and a writer
