Critical Analysis of Magazine commercial

The ad is a full page (front and back) in Sports Illustrated. It is for Abilify, a prescription medicine to treat bipolar disorder. The text heading states “Treating Bipolar Disorder Takes Understanding: (there are then three subtopics), 1. You’ve been up and down with mood swings. You want to move forward. Maybe ABILIFY can help: (there are then subtopics from this, stating what abilify can do), 2. How ABILIFY is thought to work: (there is then a very rudimentary picture of the brain with an arrow showing down for chemical and up for activity and a curved line connecting them. They then describe how abilify adjusts dopamine activity, etc.), 3. Ask your healthcare professional if one-a-day ABILIFY is right for you.

There is a large symbol of Abilify (aripiprazole) with an A and a road leading off to the distance. The caption below reads, “For The Road Ahead.” Off to the side of the ad a woman stands with her back to the camera. She is looking out over a small dirt road (background to the subtopics in the foreground) that extends through a lush green open field. She dressed in a skirt and red sweater and the wind is blowing her hair and skirt. Her hair is pulled back into a type of bun, but it is still evident that the wind is blowing through it.

The bottom forth of the page is taken up with small print information about the drug, as is the entire back page.

Feminist Analysis
Instantly I was surprised to see this ad in a men’s magazine. I felt it was not directed towards men suffering from bipolar, but at men suffering because their significant other is suffering from bipolar disorder. The first reason I thought this was because the picture of the seemingly bipolar person is a woman, not a man. Secondly, the points of what abilify can do seem to be directed towards men by emphasizing qualities men want in women – “stabilize your mood” and “Most patients taking ABILIFY did not gain weight or feel drowsy.” It could have read, “stabilize your woman’s mood.” I think men would see an ad depicting a woman with mood swings and think about their wife or girlfriend’s mood swings, not their own. I feel this ad justifies the stereotypes about women’s weight by highlighting that most don’t gain weight on this drug. The woman in the ad is neatly dressed and thin.

I also think this ad points to the age-old belief that women are mentally unstable in comparison with men. Why would they show a man suffering from bipolar when it is women who are so unstable? But why does this ad appear in a magazine dominantly read by males, if not as a guiding point for diagnosing your significant other? The large title, “Treating Bipolar Disorder Takes Understanding” points to men understanding that women are unstable and they are here to give a drug to help. It showcases the gender difference that men are the helpers and women need help.

Postmodern Analysis
Most arguments in this analysis could also be added to the above analysis. I think this ad is pointing to the quick fix of a pill to make people’s lives happier. In reality, bipolar treatment is not as easy as a nice walk down a road through a lush green field with the wind slightly blowing, as the abilify ad suggests. The ad acts as though calmness is only a pill-a-day away. Again, thinking that his is directed towards men whose significant other is suffering from bipolar, understanding the disease consists of treating it with a pill. Solutions to happiness are simple and taken with water. It does not address the messiness and difficulty associated with real mental illness. The side affects are listed in tiny print while it is highlighted that weight gain is not common. Weight gain seems trivial in the scope of a mental disease that is potentially life-threatening. However, in an ad that skews reality, weight is an important factor.