This week I had the occasion to be at UCLA for a very interesting meeting (more on that in a future post). As I arrived at LAX to return my rental car, I drove past a huge billboard at the corner of 96th Avenue and Airport Blvd (just across from the Renaissance Hotel) that made me do a double take. The billboard, said in gigantic white letters on a red background: “This year thousands of men will die from stubbornness.”
Naturally, my first thought was this: Why thousands? If men can die from stubbornness, aren’t they all doomed? If stubbornness is the proximate cause of death, we are looking at a wipe-out of society on a pretty imminent basis. The bad news: no more future generations. The good news: no one will hassle us women about buying too many shoes and all the top-paying private equity jobs will soon be available.
So figuring that I had misread this billboard, I actually made a U-turn and drove past it again (not sure what made me do it: alarm or wishful thinking). What I noticed on my second pass was the very fine print, which said, “Learn the preventative medical tests you need. AHRQ.gov.”
The billboard is apparently part of an U.S. Government Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Department ad campaign targeted to get men to stop avoiding the doctor and to go and get the medical screening tests recommended each year, such as those for cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and other illnesses.Continue reading…
