Question about a commercial.

I don’t undertand this commercial.

There are two women taking on the edge of the pool, the one asks the other to go swimming, and she says no and whispers digestive issues. Then they break to Jamie lee Curtis talking about yogurt.

What kind of digestive issues have to do with swimming? Is she afraid she is gonna fart in the pool? take a shit? The runs are gonna leak out? What female digestive issues prevent swimming, but allow sitting on a pool chair?

I’d explain it to you, but I don’t understand it, either. The only thing I can figure out is that her tummy just doesn’t feel good, so she doesn’t feel like doing much? I don’t know.

Maybe somebody else can help.

She has diarrhea. If she’s sitting still, less of a problem, but engaging in vigorous activity might cause a loss of control. Supposedly the active yogurt cultures help normalize the gut to help the condition.

It’s probably one of those things where if you’re in the target market, you’d understand. I for one applaud their lack of explicitness on this issue!

She wants to avoid this. (link has sound)

Joe

Maybe it’s gas. It’s a lot harder to blame it on the dog if you’re in a pool and everyone can see the bubbles rising.

That would make sense, but the product specifically targets constipation.

Does it really? If so, IMHO it’s foolish. Unless it’s one of those that supposedly has fiber in it. I’ve often heard of yogurt being suggested for people with diarhhea, especially if brought on by a course of antibiotics, which can kill off the beneficial bacteria as well as the disease-causing ones.

Either diarrhea or constipation can cause intestinal cramps; I guess that would make one reluctant to go swimming.

Look, let’s not analyze this thing to death; it’ll kill the magic.

It’s for Activia, which I understand to contain Bifidobacterium animalis, marketed as Bifida regularis, an intestinal flora regulator type thing, rather than a fiber type thing. Looking online, I see nothing to tell whether it’s meant to regulate, period, or if it’s meant to address just constipation.

There was a recent article in Slate basically claiming that’s a deliberate choice on Dannon’s part.

Yes, but what’s mystifying me is that unless Dannon has net-police on alert editing the generic bacterial Wikipedia entry, even online sources don’t say exactly what it’s supposed to do.

SNL Jamie Lee Curtis yogurt sketch.

She specifically said she’s “irregular” which usually means constipated. I would imagine that she doesn’t want to go swimming because she’s bloaty and uncomfortable.