Atarax, 1970

 

“A problem child or a child with a problem?” That’s the hook that first grabs you in this ad for Atarax from 1970. The quotation is surrounded by snapshots of children, all of whom appear to be under the age of 10. There’s the troublemaker, the bed-wetter, the picky-eater, and the kid with the nervous stomach.

If these are all symptoms of being a child with a problem, I most definitely would have been on Atarax, had I grown up in 1970. My brother, as well. And my best friend. And my brother’s best friend. And the neighborhood kids we played with.  Actually, I believe that every kid under the age of 10 would have been on Atarax!

The problem children who appear in this ad have no real problems, nor are they suffering from any serious disorder, other than the disorder I like to call “being a child”. If kids are making trouble, it’s probably because they’re bored, have an active imagination, or (if you’re me) because an older sibling told them it was a good idea. If a child’s a picky eater, it’s because all kids are picky eaters and their parents most likely gave them a green food. A Bed-wetter? Well, if they’re anything like the child shown in the ad and under the age of 5, then they’re simply still getting the hang of not wetting the bed. Nervous stomach? Perhaps they’re actually sick.

Ads like these convince parents that their healthy, normal children have disorders, simply because they are participating in actions that kids are naturally prone to do. It demonstrates that any nuisance can be seen as a symptom to be fixed. In place of good parenting, one can give a child a pill. With that one swift action, all pestering attributes children naturally grow out of will instead disappear over night. Yet as the ad illustrates, there is no real disorder here. It is instead a pharmaceutical company attempting to fashion a disorder out of everyday child behavior. The only way to “cure” a 6 year old of a 6 year-old’s behavior is to have them turn 7. But the ad desires parents to think otherwise.