commercials with the wrong facts

[sandy]

There is a commercial that runs on tv about a cholesterol medicine. Saying that you got your cholesterol from your mother, father , grandparents or your aunt. That is wrong. I did not inherit my cholesterol from my aunt. It's impossible. Now the pancakes several aunts fed me might have given me high cholesterol but I didn't get it from her genes.

Another candy company has a commercial running that says I just got kicked by a mule and they show a donkey in the background.
Mules and donkey kicks have different consequences.
Don't they check their facts? Do they think we are stupid? NO wait. They are the stupid ones!

[Mark]

Well, I've never been kicked by either a donkey or a mule, and haven't seen that commercial so I don't know about that... ;D

However, Familial Hypercholesterolemia, is an inherited trait which causes your body to have increased cholesterol levels in one's blood - so really it's not cholesterol that's being inherited it's a genetic disorder. Cholesterol is removed from the blood by the liver using Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) receptors. Each person has two genes that are responsible for making the LDL receptors: one received from the father and one received from the mother. In a person with FH, an abnormal gene was passed on from one parent who has FH and a normal gene was passed on from the other parent. Therefore, half of the LDL receptors are absent or do not work properly and the other half are normal. Because half of the receptors do not remove the cholesterol normally, cholesterol levels increase in the blood. So, while the Vytorin commercials provide only an over-simplification of the process and might be a little misleading, I don't think they intend to actually lie.

Now the commercial that really gets my goat, not to mention 'head' is that dumb one for 'Head-On', which someone repeats over and over until you want to throw your remote control through the screen. That one is not only truly annoying but probably making false claims as well.

[Dabbit]

Do they not have regulations over there as they do here, things are very strict here really. Every packet sold in the supermarket that you eat has to have the amount of fats, sugars etc within that product. No advertiser can claim anything aht is false so someone could not say you get your high cholesterol from your mother, but they could say "You get the likelihood of getting high cholesterol from your mother' etc.

Everyone at risk is issued with a free flu jab each year this includes, asthmatics, diabetics, those with heart problems, and the elderly.

Restaurants are only permitted to let guide dogs in the premises, people handling food products have to complete a basic food hygiene certificate every three years.

Oh well I've prattled on for enough now...

[Mark]

Funny you should mention guide-dogs on restaurant premises, Dave, you'd go wild in Paris. People take their little dogs with them practically everywhere, including many restaurants. But then what can you say about a people who many people think regard garlic to be a perfume?

But labeling here as well normally shows all of the fat, carbohydrate, cholesteral, sodium, etc contents of the products as well.

There are many regulations here as well for health concerns, the problem being enforcement. Each county has its own health department, some better than others and working under different guidelines and regulations in many cases because of local laws, state laws in addition to national laws. It can be a confused mess with so many bureaucrats at different levels protecting their 'turf', so-to-speak.

[Dabbit]

Now you've hit thenail on the head Mark all these rules are from the EU - which France is a member...But how comes they can let their dogs into these places etc and get away with things that the UK can't seem to. Now I won't go into a long winded waffle, but I think we need to come out of the EU.

[Mark]

Well, I'm reluctant to express an opinion about the EU, but it would seem to me that all signatories to it should be held accountable to the same rules, and any violations of said rules subject to a demarche by other signatories or their citizenry.