Help Remedies’ Clever Packaging

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date April 24, 2008
29 Comments on Help Remedies’ Clever Packaging

The blog HealthBolt (one of the blogs in the b5media network) has an article about Help Remedies’ cool packaging for things like aspirin and band-aids. The aspirin package is labelled “Help / I have a headache” and the package for the band-aids says “Help / I’ve cut myself”:

Click the photo to go to Help Remedies’ site.

Here’s a closer look at the aspirin packaging, complete with reassuring message:

Click the photo to go to Help Remedies’ site.

On the outside of the aspirin packaging, it says:

As you can see, these pills have 500mh of acetominophen in them. They don’t contain Red Dye #40. If you enjoy Red Dye #40, you will have to eat it separately.

Opening the package not only gives you access to the pills, it also reveals this message:

Hello. I’m sorry about the headache. Don’t be embarassed.

It doesn’t mean you’re dim-witted. Maybe it means the opposite. Maybe your thoughts are so radical they have astounded your brain. You ought to be proud of your headache.

“I have a headache,” you should say to your boss. “You’re promoted,” your boss will say.

But you probably want to get rid of your headache. That’s probably why you purchased this package in the first place. So sit down on a cushiony object, and swallow two tablets.

Click the photo to go to Help Remedies’ site.

Opening the band-aids package reveals this message:

Hello. I’m sorry you cut yourself. It could be an isolated incident, or maybe you are a very clumsy person. Don’t worry. The clumsy are much more lovable than the graceful. The graceful are always busy ballet dancing, and doing incredible feats on the trapeze. The clumsy are always busy being coddled, rubbed, and cared for.

So if you’re not too busy having attractive persons ravish you with attention, take a minute to care for your injury. Wash it, and lay one of our pretty bandages on top. In a matter of moments you will be able to return to your clumsy affairs.

In addition to these clever messages, Help Remedies come with two added bonuses:

The packaging is made out of compostable, recycled paper pulp, with just enough plastic around the pills to meet FDA requirements.
Help Remedies plan to give 5% of their profits to charities that will help people without healthcare get it.

29 replies on “Help Remedies’ Clever Packaging”

Acetaminophen is not aspirin, though. It goes by the trademark of Tylenol.
Acetylsalicylic acid is aspirin.

I just checked the original website, it even says it is not aspirin because of stomach effects of aspirin.

@Maria: Yes, I’m using the term “aspirin” colloquially — that is, to refer to any pain-relieving pill. Think of it as the way people in parts of the southern U.S. refer to soft drinks as “Coke”, regardless of actual brand.

Pffrt. Hahaha.

The message on the acetaminophen package sounds like it could’ve been straight out of The Areas of My Expertise! As for the bandages’… not so much (or at least not as obviously to me).

@Maria;

Was that really necessary? It sounds like you’re showing off. I’m a biochemistry major and was previously aware of the facts stated in your comment, but I didn’t personally feel the need to share them. Everyone refers to store-brand pain relief medicines by the blanket-term “aspirin.”

Are you going to draw the acetylsalicilic acid molecule for us next, then explain the synthesis of esters?

@Meg:

Pointing out the difference between two fundamentally different chemicals which operate in different ways on different portions of the pain pathway is not showing off.

If you order a “Coke” and get Coke when you meant Root Beer, that is entirely different than asking for aspirin when you’re drunk and have a headache, getting Tylenol, and doing serious damage to your liver.

I suggest you work out why you’re so eager to accuse other people of showing off. Maybe it would be a good idea to fix it.

help
I stumbled upon that site totally by accident and with no prior knowledge of it and now I’m obsessively compulsively googling the entire ‘net looking for more to satisfy my addiction.. helpineedhelp(.com 😉

Humour should relieve some of that pain:)

I’m completely with you, Meg. Aspirin and paracetamol are two completely different drugs that do completely different things, and they certainly shouldn’t be confused! If someone had a heart condition and asked for aspirin and you gave them paracetamol instead, there could be serious consequences. I understand if you called all brands of paracetamol “Tylenol” (Here we have “Panadol”, and even generic brands of paracetamol are referred to as Panadol) because it’s the same thing, just a different brand. But aspirin is a completely different drug and should not be confused.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol

I am inclined to agree w/ Meg. Aspirin is just used to refer to a OTC pain reliever. This is not really a forum to be discussing the difference between aspirin, tylenol, advil, or their generic equivalents, the use of the word aspirin was just a term being used as a description.
Instead of looking at the intent of the original post, you have decided to analyze exact terminology. How about just acknowledging the post?
And if you have nothing better to do than to make sure everyone knows your knowledge of the importance of these meds, then I say “Get a Life”!
Please find a truly important cause that could use your kind of zealotry.

Far be it from me to feed the troll but I would never call a substance that wasn’t aspirin “aspirin”. That would be kinda dangerous. I’m allergic to aspirin and it might kill me. Believing thse beautifully packaged pills to be aspirin could only lead me to miss out on a real treat. So let’s call them painkillers, please.

Likewise, I am on medication that, when taken with acetaminophen, can seriously mess up my liver. When I ask for an “aspirin,” that’s exactly what I mean. I never heard of people using it just to refer to a generic painkiller, but I guess I should be more careful now that I know it happens. 😛

i wouldn’t promote calling anything but aspirin as “aspirin” either, but is all this blabbering about aspirin versus acetaminophen even necessary here? it’s not like he’s suggesting use of one or another or anything even remotely along those lines. he’s showing you neat products with neat packaging. so yes, to all the idiots going on about it – please shutup, it’s pointless to the post & is only to in effect say “i’m right, i’m right, i know about pain relief medicine, give me a cookie!!!”

if you go to the site, as was pointed out, they do say what it is specifically.

anyway, thanks for the neat post 🙂 sorry the point seemed missed to most. i’m glad you didn’t change your use of the word “aspirin.”

This would be nice if you could get to the items easily. This kind of packaging is hard to open if you have arthritus, carpal tunnel syndrome or any other problems affecting hand and finger strength. The worse you feel the harder it is to open the packages. FAIL.

this is the dummest hippie sh*t I’ve read in a while. Actually there’s a lot of this stuff popping up these days: cute little packages, filet mignon and curry and cinamon flavored rice for you dog… what happened to america’s balls? why can’t our advil just be advil. What are they trying to cover up with these fun little packages? Is this what consumers want? I’m fu*king ashamed to be human right now

I’m not exactly a really burly manly man, but I agree with Derrick, wtf? I went on their site, curious about the cost. The cost is $6 for 12 tablets of aspiramenaphin or whatever it is (it’s not a big deal, chill out people). It’s also $6 for eight bandages. You’re paying 6 bucks for a cute package with a witty little message on it. Thinking about this is giving me a headache.

Message to derrick: Don’t worry, you won’t be mistaken for a human. Not with spelling like that.

What’s with the vehement response Meg and Crys gave to a minor correction in point of fact? I have never ever heard of the word ‘aspirin’ being used to refer to ‘tylenol’ colloquially or not. In which area do I do this? I’ve lived the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, New England, and the South (I’m in the military) and i’ve never heard anyone just calling all pain relievers as Aspirin. If you want to know why that’s important look at Loiuse’s and aloria’s comments.

raetsel, how is pointing out that the author’s verbatic statement, “The aspirin package is labelled “Help / I have a headache” ” is completely and dangerously incorrect pointless to the post? It sounds VERY relevant to me. Why do you applaud him for stubbornly maintaining patently incorrect and misleading information that could kill someone for no other reason then perhaps a point of pride?

Mr. deVilla, if you are using this term ‘colloquially’ as you say then that implies that it is used conversationally in this manner in some region or dialect somewhere in the world. Can you please tell me where you’ve heard this used in conversation in this manner?

Scenario:

I have a headache brought on by a glass of wine. I know I’m not supposed to take tylenol if I’ve been drinking because of potential liver damage. I see this on a friend’s coffee table. It says, ‘help I have headache’ and the packaging is cute and appealing. I remember this site saying that’s what the aspirin package says and I don’t know what the heck this ‘acetaminophen’ stuff is so I assume it must be a fancy name for aspirin as reliable source, a well read author, told me so. I take a dose. A few hours later I die of liver failure. With my last dieing breath I gasp ‘deVilla…’.

A little melodramatic but I think I made my point, hehehe.

Frazer: Am I to assume you’re the voice in the Best Tornado Video Ever?

But seriously: when someone asks me for some pain-relieving pill, I use the correct medical terminology.

Hahaha I love that vid :).

It reminds me of ‘Idiocracy’ when everyone calls Not Sure a fag when talks :)).

I refer to asprin as the blanketed term of “bacon”. yum.

Why would you ever call aspirin bacon? Everyone in the south knows that bacon is something you take for additional clogging of the arteries, while aspirin is something people use to thin the blood.

Don’t be such a loser.

I’m so much more advanced than you because of your (spelling, showing off, use of humor, lack of previous travelling, failure to drink and take the right medicine, criticism of packaging, love of packaging, etc…)