I Saw an Ad the Other Day With Jamie Lee Curtis Touting Dannon Yogurt (Activia), Have you Seen this Ad?

Question

With Very Little Search, I Came Across this:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/state/n053149S33.DTL&type=health

http://www.bifidusactiregularis.com/

Answer 1

Yes--I think we've all seen it.

Answer 2

Aren't ALL yogurts a source of probiotics? So, on the sheer level of logic, there can be nothing special about Dannon and it's trade name probiotic. Yogurt is yogurt.

Really bugs me that this is being touted as a medicine. It is not:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18461...

Didn't anyone have grandmother's who used to tell them to have some symbiotic food if you were constipated? Nice cup of coffee on an empty stomach works too.

Any scientific studies that do exist will only show effects associated with probiotics; that is, advantages to eating yogurt and consuming milk and milk products, not those specific to Dannon's trade name of Bifidobacterium animalis. Yeah, milk and milk products are important in one's diet. Who knew?

One example:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18533...

Read closely. The study IS actually comparing pre/probiotics and NO probiotics. NOTHING to do with Dannon's Activia, specifically.

IF there is a study that is published in a peer-reviewed journal with a rigourous methodology, that shows Dannon's Activia to be superior to any other yogurt or other symbiotic food, I would be highly interested in reading it. I won't be holding my breathe. I should also mention, "peer-reviewed", does not mean a "journal" (notice the quotes) that was specifically created to dupe people or to promote Dannon's trade name. This is becoming a common thing, unfortunately.

"Activia" has just become a trendy thing for people to eat among those who do not *think*. They only believe they are doing themselves a favour in choosing Activia over other yogurts, but really, they've just been bought into a really flimsy marketing strategy. They've essentially been "taken". Oh, but, wait, Jamie Lee Curtis wouldn't lie to us, uuummm, would she? LOL.

EDIT: "More effect from phases of the moon". That's a good one. I love that! I remember learning about spurious relationships in highschool. Occurences appearing "causally" related, as in correlation, and phases of the moon used as a common example. Like, I always get a pimple when there is a full moon, but not during a quarter moon. Therefore, full moon is related to pimples. In relation to Ativia, I always take a good S**t when I eat Ativia, not other yogurt. Therefore, Ativia helps me S**t, but other yogurt does not. PLUS, commercials tell me this is true. So funny and very sad. I think as a society, we prefer anecdotes, attribute causality to spurious things, including heresay, and call it fact or knowledge. Unfortunate, but this can be seen all over, in many ways, shapes, and forms.

What is particularly bothersome about this Ativia hype is that SO many people ALLOW themselves to be duped. It's almost unbelievable, when all is needed to *see* is simple logic. So, Dannon gets rich due to our stupidity, accepting things at face value. Doing the latter? It's like we *actually* believe we do not need to *think*; that manufactuers, like, Dannon will do it for us AND know what is best for us, and, what they indeed clearly do not know. On top of it all, this Ativia thing BECOMES a trend. Like, an "in" thing to do. A trend based on "false beliefs". So highly ridiculous.

EDIT 2: An erroneous conception to assume that an "educated" person is not naive, is logical, and possesses common sense. They are NOT synonymous. Some people just don't think. Many reasons for this, that in my mind, have very little to do with possessing a "degree". More often than not (in relation to advertising), "degrees" or "expertise" are USED to dupe people. As a guise for "knowledge". So, people will believe, make the assumption that education=knowing and not that education=a means to manipulate, to be believed, and to make a buck.

BTW: I don't know what prevents other yogurt manufacturers from using what we speak about to their advantage. Something along the lines of: all yogurts are the frickin' same, we won't name any names in terms of erroneous claims, but, here is the evidence, now buy ours for X reason.....like, it contains more fruit or more milk. Blah, blah, blah. But, by emphasizing the actual truth to do with this "probiotic advantage bull", in my mind, can't NOT result in more sales for other non-Activia (if you will) manufacturers. Funny...

EDIT 3: I just read to the end of your second link. Key to all that info, in my opinion, is the that there are NO health benefits associated with Activia that are not also available in other yogurts. Yet, if you scroll down to the comments left by the public, you'll read 100's (!!!!) of people indicating whether it worked for them, whether it didn't; others blaming the yogurt for illness (e.g., diverticulitis with peritonitis and bowel resection, even!!!!), and still, others attributing their good health to Activia. Seems to me that people have missed the point...to say the least! Missed the knowledge. *Pewwww*. Apparently, people really do LIKE to let others think for them, prefer beliefs, anecdotes, and coincidence over evidence, and, of course do not mind being ripped off and helping companies sell a lie. Humans can be really dumb.

EDIT 4: We don't have that stuff here. Good thing. Sounds like a S**t load of vitamins (e.g., 8333% Vitamin B12 and 2000% Vitamin B6). This justified to be advantageous--based on what appears from their website, anyway, to be nothingness, ummm, again. False claims, abound. Amount of caffeine, equivalent to a cup of coffee. Much cheaper and similar effect achieved by taking half a bottle of complex B vits, and chasing that with a cup of coffee.  But, hey, guess that wouldn't be as cool? And, wouldn't include the placebo effect to do with all the other junk the drink includes that can not do what it claims. Caffienated bullsh!t drinks: a trendy thing guzzled by our sleepless, overstressed society, as a means to have one's cake and eat it too....while, maintaining optimal health, only in one's mind, with the health provisions drinks like, "5 Hour Energy" only claim to offer.

EDIT 5: I've heard that Sagan quote before. I like it, a lot.

About: Whether is it wrong to REQUIRE substantial evidence for any claim made by anyone. Unfortunately, many times evidence is deemed unnecessary especially when there is a title or feigned "expertise" to hide behind. To require this, or to simply question an authoritative claim is often considered "disrespectful". But, I fully and totally agree that "Without "Unequivocal Supportive Hard Evidence for a Contention, it Might as Well Be Magic". Well said!

EDIT 6: In general, I dislike the word, "dumb"...Just a dumb thing people say (ummm, like ME, apparently)...I'd say, typically, it's just a means to label a poor decision or to stroke oneself at the expense of another or others. A relative word that is just a meaningless, angry adjective, I guess.

But, hmmmmm, I don't know if the right word is apathetic, either. I'm not sure. So, you mean, apathetic, as in a "lack of interest". So, apathy may be why some people let others think for them, prefer beliefs, anecdotes, and coincidence over evidence, and, end up getting ripped off by certain "only-money-minded" companies. I don't know. But, maybe....Perhaps, I'd be more inclined to use the word, neglectful, heedless, unthinking due to numerous individual reasons?? I don't know. But, no, probably not "dumb". I would think we've all been duped, at some point, by one of these scams.

EDIT 7: Yeah. It's disconcerting when so many people either choose to trust or have to trust those that should not be trusted. Pretty crappy consequences, all around. But, in reference to trusting fraudulent purveyors, hopefully hindsight is 20/20. I would like to think it usually is...

EDIT 8: That makes sense. Yes, kinda nice to deal in absolutes and with certainty when consequences are severe, long-lasting, and, I would add, reverberative. Heresay, not good enough.

Answer 3

Yes I saw it. Did you know she was born with a p***s!

Answer 4

yes I have seen it.