Adventures in Protest

I'm on vacation this weekend, so have been exploring NYC like a tourist. It's been fun. You can live in a city and never see the sights if you don't.

Pictured: My super touristy photo. Doesn't really have anything to do with the subject matter, but here it is.

On my adventures, I came across the below in the Subway.

Pictured: The things I was just talking about.

It spoke to me. Probably because I have internalized weight issues. But it spoke to me. So I do what I do when I have a quirky thought; I posted on, inter alia, the insta (which you should totally check out). For the caption, I noted that:

Graffiti is many things (art/expression, culture, etc.). But one of the primary things it is a form of protest. A protest against how some want you to see this world. A reminder that the most polished things come at a human cost. #graffiti

Feeling satisfied with my observation, I let those sweet internet updoots come in. But then, one of my friends had an observation of their own. They noted that they were glad the artist didn't cover up the whole ad so that someone with diabetes could still see the message about a potentially helpful or life altering shot.

It's a valid critique. My initial post lacked nuance. So here is an attempt to remedy that. It's important to first clarify with what my post was not intending to say.

1: I'm not saying the drug itself should not be available. After a bit of research, the drug does have efficacy and, thus, semaglutide is used for treating Type 2 Diabetes and those with truly chronic obesity. Apparently it's pretty good for it too. Modern medicine is great and we shouldn't chuck that in the bin.

2: This is not a critique of drugs being marketed to the public as a whole. That's a whole other and more complex issue that (quite frankly) I have not been able to fully come up with an opinion on. On one hand, it is the gateway to treating patients like customers rather than people. But on the other hand, it raises awareness for those who would not otherwise not realize a cure or treatment exists. Need to try to reason my way through this at some point, but that's not today's issue.

Turning to what I did mean.

Regardless on what your thoughts of drugs being marketed in general, *this* marketing is egregious in its scope. It should have lead with some kind of context. Something like "If you have Type 2 Diabetes or chronic obesity..." You know, like most drug marketing does. This helps limit the target to those who would actually benefit from the drug (and also remedies the fact that some experts believe you shouldn't use semaglutide for Type 1 Diabetes).

Instead, this ad is designed to target as many people as possible. This is no accident. Ads like this are designed to maximize the audience and thus, profit. Though this is true of many ad campaigns, it is particularly dangerous in medicine; it's fine for Mars Incorporated to target people broadly for M&Ms because that's the actual market.

I feel this graffiti does a good job of calling that out. This effectively puts the warning on the ad without affecting the informational value of it. A diabetic seeing this would still know that the option exists while someone struggling with an eating disorder will (hopefully) be less likely to spiral.

Finally, turning back to the point about graffiti in general.

It would be an over-generalization to say that all graffiti is good. But the original point that graffiti is a form of protest stands. As with any form of expressing disapproval, some is malicious. Some of it goes too far. But some of it is valid. Like here. It gives a moment to pause and look at the world others are presenting to you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get my estrogen injections.