Viral Advertising: Parfum de Pandémique

Pandemics don’t stop capitalists from making a killing, uh, I mean, making money. It’s an opportunity to rebrand their products to take advantage of the new world order. Disinfectants are hot commodities right now, so why not sell them as if they’re worth their weight in gold. In fact, it may take just that to find bleach in any market.

Anxiety, fear, and paranoia represent the new social status. But, be careful, too much of a good thing is never good, no matter how scarce and luxurious it may be. In San Diego, internal medicine specialist, Dr. Sabrina A. Falquier, saw 24 patients with anxiety, which could easily be attributed to the stress of confinement due to the coronavirus. However, in addition, she noticed some exhibited rashes on their faces, eye and throat irritations, and tightness in their chests. Their anxiety was fueled by thoughts they had caught the virus.

After talking with each patient, she noticed they many had one thing in common: they were cleaning their homes, sometimes three to four times a day. And, many were not diluting the bleach they were using to disinfect their houses. Falquier said, “There’s so much we can’t control. So there’s a sense of, ‘If we clean enough the virus will go away.’” The effects of controlling their environments were mimicking symptoms of the disease.

The same rules of high class perfumes apply to pandemic luxuries. Use sparingly.

This poster is part of a series of posters Jeff Gates does under the guise of the Chamomile Tea Party. Often taking World War II-era propaganda, he remixes them with new text and imagery about the rancor so prevalent in American political discourse. Download a high resolution copy of this poster for free. In fact, all Chamomile Tea Party posters are free to download under a Creative Commons license.

Follow the history of our country’s political intransigence from 2010–2018 through a six-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.