cerebral compliance

  The advertisements on television catch my attention, just as they are designed to do. I suppose that is a good thing for those paying for them. Now advertisements are designed to get you to buy something. That is their basic function. At there heart they are supposed to create a desire. As a Navy recruiter I were given a sales course. There are five steps to a sale, conversation, curiosity, conviction , desire and close. I was taught that if I followed those basic steps I could sell the Navy, or just about anything else. I have to say the technique did work, at least partially. A great deal of the technique does rely upon the salesman and I soon discovered sales isn't my forte. I will tell you about a product and then you can take it or leave it, the reason I wasn't a top salesman.

 I mention all of that because I was also told once you understand that process you will never hear an advertisement the same way. I have to say that is completely true. Ever since that period of "selling" I do hear the five steps, the method being employed. Now we are all vulnerable to that and it does work a good bit of the time. It is the creating of the desire for the product that ultimately gets you to buy. It begins with that conversation. The latest one (advertisement) that has caught my attention is for for a product called cerebral. It begins with a conversation, asking whether you feel depressed and anxious.  It pretty much describes how we all feel at various times, you know normal everyday feelings. But the conversation is designed to get you to agree with the speaker (salesman) regarding your circumstances in life. The victim mentality plays an important role here. That's the conversation part and gets you curious about what can be done about it. (curiosity) Well, all your issues can be addressed and remedied! You don't even have to leave home to get the help you need, the help you deserve to have! It's your right to get help! (conviction) That creates a desire in you to get that help that you deserve, that you need, and that you are absolutely entitled to! (conviction) The closer here is cerebral. 

 Now what bothers me is what this is selling. What is cerebral? Cerebral is advertising itself as online mental health. You can receive counseling and therapy online by certified doctors. They can even prescribe medications for your condition without you ever leaving the house. Yes, that whole scenario troubles me. You go online and get diagnosed. My feeling is you will have a treatable mental condition. Most likely it will require weekly sessions at a minimum. Or, if you are agreeable, some medications. I have a suspicion that will be determined in the conversation phase of this sales pitch. Yes it bothers me that this is even allowed. Just go online, get your diagnosis and order the medications! A business now being predicated upon what? According to the advertisement just thirty bucks a month! The testimonial portion of that commercial has a woman saying how difficult life was for her. She suffered from anxiety and depression, it was so difficult to function. But then she went online, had a video session, got the medications she needed, and is now just as happy as can be. And, it cost about 1/3 less than going to a real therapist. Hey, you don't even have to get dressed if you don't want to. Hawking mental health? I'd say it was preying upon the current situation. Now that the main stream media has barraged the general population with messages of doom for over a year, making people afraid to get within six feet of one another and generally being afraid of everything, combined with the narrative of a great racial divide leading to a civil war. I'd say the market was ready! Anxious, a little depressed, looking for relief? No problem, cheap mental health services are available to you and coupled with medications you can be managed. Oh, I mean you can mange your symptoms. 

 Well just call me skeptical, old fashioned and stubborn. I do believe that all this prescribing of medications to alter your moods isn't a good thing. I don't think you are curing a thing by that process. You are selling a product. I'm aware that we are now living in a victim society. That is the narrative that has been created over the years. The truth is, it is good for business. You can sell more products to those that are dependent than you can to the independent. Doesn't require any advanced degrees, any particularity brilliant mind to figure that out. Victims deserve help and compensation. Even though you have to pay for the "help" both are perceived as deserved. I'm feeling a little depressed and I deserve to feel happy because I'm depressed. Here, take this pill, you'll feel great. You will still be able to drive your car, go to work and all that, no one will know you are actually under the influence of a drug. And isn't that a great selling point? Sure you can think of it as cured if you like, taking that maintenance dosage every day, but the reality is you are under the influence. And now you can just do that online! Real progress. Soon we can all just "shelter in place" take our medications and never have to go outside at all. Not until we are certain it is safe. Those selling the products will take care of us. Life is just a big bowl of cherries. It's all cerebral isn't it? Yup, pretty much what your mind perceives is reality, your reality. Of course it pays to understand that others wish to alter your reality, particularly those that stand to make a profit. Look all I'm saying is when your government spends millions on advertising they are trying to sell you something. Pay attention or just go online to cerebral and get your medications. Compliance is at hand.