Problem-agitate-solve

The pattern

This still is filed under Problem-agitate-solve.

Define

Name the problem, make the cost of leaving it felt, then present the way out as relief.

Mechanism

Tension then release. The offer is not an interruption. It is the only door once the cost of staying is clear.

Verdict

The problem is known but not yet urgent

Why it works

The ad opens with a national count, 8 million Egyptians carrying one kind of worm or more, backed by every doctor and official statistics, so the reader starts by assuming he is one of them. It then walks him through the cause in canal water and raw greens, and lists symptoms common enough that almost anyone can find one in himself. Only then does the remedy appear, framed as made for Egypt's worms and easy to take.

The big idea

Eight million Egyptians carry intestinal worms, so the reader is probably one of them, and this German purge was made for Egypt's worms.

The offer

The 75 Worm German purge, sold in all pharmacies at 6 and a half piastres. Agents: the Egyptian Drug Stores Company.

The proof

The figure of 8 million infected, backed by what every Egyptian doctor knows and the latest official statistics, and the claim that it was tested on Egypt's worms.

Lines from the ad

٨ ملايين من سكان مصر مصابون بنوع أو أكثر من ديدان الامعاء

8 million of Egypt's people carry one or more kinds of intestinal worm

فاذا شعرت بشيء من هذه الاعراض تنبه لنفسك

So if you feel any of these symptoms, take care of yourself

جهزت خصيصاً لديدان مصر واختبرت فيها

Made especially for Egypt's worms and tested on them

Steal this when

Use it for a health or safety product where the problem is widespread but invisible, and a list of everyday symptoms can make the reader recognise himself.

The emotion

Written to Anxiety. It makes the Say move.

It makes a hidden worry checkable: 8 million infected, the cause in canal water and raw greens, a list of symptoms, then a purge sold in all pharmacies at 6 and a half piastres.