Monday, June 23, 2014

Not Funny At All

The follow-up blurb to the insurance offering says, "VivoCare 100 covers 100 medical conditions, providing comprehensive coverage against early, intermediate and advanced stages of dread diseases as well as medical conditions under the special benefit".
The disclaimer about the "special benefit" stipulate this: "A survival period of seven days after diagnosis, or after having the medical procedure will apply."

Wow, an insurance policy that covers the risks of a sex-change medical procedure! And you thought Medishield Life will provide all the cover you, transgenders included, will ever need - $8 open heart surgery excepted.

Either the NTUC Income product is the best invention since sliced bread or - and this would be a more plausible explanation for the gaffe - the foreigner they hired for developing the advertisement routinely strings English words without an iota of comprehension. That's the xenophobe speaking, still upset about the busybody ang moh who claims foreigners "have helped Singapore become the economic powerhouse that it is today".

It turns out that the "mistake" was a bad taste in insensitive marketing, one of a series which includes a man admitting he suffers from ovarian cancer and a young girl talking about her onset of dementia. One who failed to appreciate the merits of the attention getter points out the adverse effect of the message: "Put yourself in a patient's shoes. How will you feel when you are suffering from a terminal illness and you keep seeing this ad playing on tv? Even if it does not get to you the first time, it drills in after subsequent times. You'll start to feel depressed, demoralised, thinking you are a burden to your family." There's no insurance cover for suicides.

You know there's a dire shortage of empaths in the country when a minister barges into a ward full of sick people requiring rest, drabbed in a Zorro outfit. Or selfishly deprives restaurant customers of their entitlement of free toothpicks. Even when there's a place for humour, such as the advertisement below, those whose lives have been ruined by the evils of the casinos may not find it funny.

9 comments:

  1. When I see the "stop problem gambling" message in posters and TV advertisement, I'm wondering when the gov't allows so many 4D/toto oulets and 2 casinos in S'pore. Why 4d/toto outlets have so many betting games beside the usual 4D and toto?. That's hypocrisy at it best.

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  2. 2 Malay men on a deserted island will sing songs and make music
    2 Indian men on a deserted island will argue about unionism
    2 Chinese men on a deserted island will bet who will die first

    Gambling is in the genes of the Chinese.

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    Replies
    1. 2 PAP Ministers on a deserted island will each want a million dollar salary to be honest with each other.

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  3. In Clementi town alone, there are 3 Singaporepools outlets for 4D/Toto/Football gambling each within 5~10mins walking distance from each other.

    It just simply makes one wonder why they are such hypocrites to come out with those gambling warning adverts when they don't give a damn as to the no. of gambling outlets approved in neighbourhood centres ?

    Think LHL & LKY ?

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    Replies
    1. Looking at me, he asked, “Ngiam, are you the Permanent Secretary of the Budget and Revenue Divisions at MOF?” I said yes, to which he replied, “What’s wrong with collecting more money?”

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  4. More likely one of the scholars employed by the G produced the NTUC advertisement. They expect consumers to have the same IQ as them, to think like them, and forget how to KISS. Don't they know that we are all dafts? Maybe that's the scholarisphobia in me talking, seeing how they have messed up this red dot.

    I recommend all to read Hsien Loong's primer on how to use simple language, or how to Keep It Simple Stupid, when selling their snake oil, starting with Zorro the head honcho of NTUC, a SAF scholar himself no less. Except that if your product or idea is good, it sells itself, no need to spin it - as simple as that.

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  5. I hope our foreign bank shares soars up in price.
    My empress has bet a lot of money on it.

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    Replies
    1. I hope CPF can pay me when I'm 65 and not extend to 75.
      "WarrenBuffett" Ho has bet all my savings to reverse her losing streak.

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  6. You have not seen the advertisement promising insurance coverage till you are 100years old at the bus stops?

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