Field work: explore a drug / procedure / treatment / condition, and so on, hybrid
MINI-CASE 1: Here, Vicks is selling their night (Nyquil®) and daytime (Dayquil®) cold / URI medications. But (IMHO) they are also selling a view of mother and fatherhood, working conditions, and appropriate compensation for labor. Go HERE and HERE and HERE for the YouTube links to the actual TV ads. Watch a few.
In Robin's Humble Opinion, neither of these ads could work in Europe, because people there all get sick time, and maternity leave. Works here. Sells drugs. Sells ideology. 'Makes up' our world.
So Vicks is selling cold meds (pharmacology discussed below) at twice the price of the Walgreens unbranded exact equivalent you'll find next to the Nyquil® on the shelf. But are they are also selling a politics of sexual identity (hetero-normative?), fecundity, labor, compensation, how to dance at your daughter's wedding, and a good deal more—like how to decorate a kid's room, and how to talk 'business' as a man or woman ('Hey Amanda, sorry to bother you…')? 
Note the richness of the phrase 'Power through your day.'
'OK? Got it? OK? OK?' — as The Donald would say. THIS IS A HYBRID — made of all these things, and doing all this 'cultural work.'
THEORY: On p. 100, Latour gives us a diagram (good one) of 'science's blood flow.' He argues that 'the facts' / data / laws of science are not the 'real stuff' with everything else just noise, corruption, superstition, bias, background and so on. Science literally IS its (1) instruments (2) allies (the money) (3) colleagues (fellow scientists) (4) public representation (literally the PR; getting 'the public' to go along), and the web of meaning he calls (5) links and knots (what we used to call 'the facts'). In sum: science (for us 'techno-science) is ALL of the activities in and around science that make it possible. It flows. Neil deGrasse Tysen on TV looking cool is doing science, just as he is in front of a radio-telescope or computer screen. Neil negotiating his salary is doing science. Neil telling people of faith they aren't rational is doing science. Neil telling us that facts are facts is doing science.
And Vicks peddling Nyquil®, motherhood, and crappy working conditions is doing science. Nyquil® recommending that we spread disease is doing science (remember that many Japanese stay home with colds and wear masks in public. Losers). God Bless America. Let's be great again and work through our colds.
What to DO (however you want to structure it):
1. Get in the field. Go to Walgreens and look at the sexual — uh — 'stuff' counter. The diet pills. The sleep aids. Go to The Wedge or Whole Foods and scan the vitamins / supplements section. Go to GNC and feast your eyes on the body-building supplements. Note that you can define 'drug' really, really widely—just make your case. Remember that in 2018, 'the field' is also virtual. And this might be a good project to do with a buddy or two, or as a group—share the work; share the fun.
2. Find a good one (sorry I hogged Nyquil®), and:
3. Read the heck out of it, as follows:
· Get the data (the pharmacology, the ingredients, the prices, the info on who owns what, the visual details of the packaging, marketing and so on. Detail colors, wording, language, mini-dramas ('Dave, I'm sorry to interrupt; I gotta take a sick day…'),. Get online and do some private-investigating or investigative journalism.
· Theorize it, using all of our work; show us the organization of the hybrid phenomenon you found. All the links, all the connections.
4. Show us something new and important. This is your 'new knowledge,' the part where you show us something in our everyday / science lives that is interesting and surprising.
But then I saw this banner ad, seeking egg donors for pay. OK, 'men,' listen up: while not a dangerous procedure (it's done laproscopically, but it still means a hole in the abdomen, a hole in the ovary, and general anesthesia). Ouch, it hurts. And that egg is 'half' a 'person,' in some views. I can't begin to count the issues here, but let me give a list of possibilities: Heteronormativity (again). Tissues as commodities. Sex as 'procreative' (a little side piece on something like 'multi-culturalism' with those three cute, differently-colored women). 'Breeding' and 'the future.' And lots more.
Without understanding ALL the parts of this vast hybrid, we don't really get it. We don't really 'believe in reality.'
Like this, guys. Find something cool and read the heck out of it.
____________________________________________________________
Extra Stuff: Nyquil® sucks (pharmacology and marketing)
Well, it doesn't really suck, but ALL 'cold remedies' are made up out of the same 3-5 ingredients, made different and distinct by BRANDING (CF: Economix, p. 167)
Here's Dayquil®:
Acetaminophen 325 mg
|
Pain reliever/fever reducer
|
Dextromethorphan HBr 10 mg
|
Cough suppressant
|
Phenylephrine HCl 5 mg
|
Nasal decongestant, slight antihistamine potential
|
Here's Nyquil®:
Acetaminophen 325 mg
|
Pain reliever/fever reducer
|
Dextromethorphan HBr 15 mg
|
Cough suppressant
|
Doxylamine succinate 6.25 mg
| Antihistamine, soporific / hypnotic |
Dextromorphan (a bromide salt, here, but used in several salts, all the same) is the universal cough suppressant. Give it names, it's Robitussin®, Walitussin (Walgreens, poaching the brandname), or Delsym®.
Both Doxylamine and Phenylephrine are in the same class ('decongestants' because they speed and dry, antihistamines because they—duh—block histamines. One sedates (Doxy…), one's a little speedy (Phenyl…).
Acetominophen is good ole Tylenol®, and will take out your liver if you overdose. So wouldn't it be good to know it's IN there?
Point: 3-4 cheap, universal ingredients that, recombined and branded, fill a wall at the drugstore. All the same. All marginally helpful. But check out the pretty ads!
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