who's behind the obay drug ads? torontoist looks into obay ads.

Across the city, ads for Obay have appeared on buses, shelters, and radio. Tongue firmly in cheek, they purport to be for a drug that silences children's independently thinking and allows parents to instead shape their children's goals and beliefs to match their own.

Though not Cloverfield in size of hype, there is some buzz about the ads. (If you haven't seen the ads, click here to check out the Torontoist post.) Clearly, the ads are satirical, because they claim Obay is from the makers of "WhyBecauseIToldYouSo"-not to be confused with the bad Mandy Moore flick. It's a tip-off that this ad isn't anti-pharmaceutical. (If it was, the drug would have been brought to you by something like "ADDictedica.")

Instead, Torontoist writer Jonathan Goldsbie wonders if the ads are an effort by Ontario Colleges. If it's true, then it plays on the idea that college helps form our belief system through education and exposure to new ideas. (I always thought higher learner was just a pressure cooker to help prepare students for real-world working conditions. I probably did learn a thing or two too while I was there.) I'm not sure if this would be the angle I'd take if I were Ontario Colleges: pitting children against parents and getting wrapped up in the Big Pharma debate to boot. If anything, family gives us a background on where we come from and the traditions that inform our ancestry. Saying that one (higher learning) replaces the other (familial beliefs) rubs me as bad PR.

Also, let's give parents the benefit of the doubt. Don't most parents try to do what's best for their children, including instill the values they hold dear. The creators of the ads may not agree, but creating a connection between teaching your children and the use of pharmaceuticals is a big leap. Yes, some parents may use pharmaceuticals incorrectly to pacify their children (if that's what this ad is about.) But how does this ad further that argument in a meaningful way?

Now if the ads were about whacked out hockey dads, soccer moms, and pageant parents trying to live vicariously through their kids and how eduction will set you free from these loonie bins, well, it's still not the clearest key message, but at least it's funnier.