Overview
Supercuts works by cutting together all the times a word or phrase is said; so the length of each repeated word reflects all the times it was mentioned in my archive of 50+ commercials from 2012-2018 seen here.
The video highlights the bizarre tone dissonance unique to U.S. pharmaceutical ads—where life-threatening risks are calmly narrated over sunny visuals of backyard barbeques and beach walks. By deconstructing and reassembling this advertising formula, the piece points to the darker reality beneath the aesthetic: over-prescription, dependency loops, and a profit model that relies on maintaining—not curing—chronic conditions.
The U.S. is one of only two countries where direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising is legal. This work calls attention to the normalization of medical marketing, the aesthetics of distraction, and the way language is used to pacify and obscure harm. It also touches on the broader systemic issues of Big Pharma’s influence and the ethical breakdown between public health and corporate gain.