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• 1 2019-12-10T21:23:41-05:00 "Hypertension PSA" 25 plain 2020-03-17T21:50:10-04:00 This short one minute dual public service announcement and advertisement, commissioned by Gulf Oil in 1973, discusses the dangers of hypertension, and humanizes the issues by centering the PSA on a young couple, reminiscing about their recently deceased friend. The piece follows the couple as they galavant around a beautiful park in the afternoon. They are playful and in love; their joy harkens to everything that Angela Davis is fighting for at the end of her autobiography: "I sank deep into the the moment, husbanding this delight, hoarding it. For I knew it would be short-lived. Work. Struggle. Confrontation lay before us like a rock-strewn road. We would walk it ... But first the grass, the sun ... and the people." (Angela Davis, An Autobiography, 396) They are "husbanding" the delight of the moment, indulging in the moment before reminiscing about Lamar, and puzzling over why he past. By framing the conversation against such joyful backdrop, James Hinton makes the stakes of hypertension clear: to die of heart attack or stroke is to miss a life certainly worth living.
  The woman claims it was high blood pressure, but the man claims "that's no disease," and reckons that he "knows half a dozen cats with that." The tone of the piece then shifts, as the narrator urges the African American community to consult with their doctors. This presupposes ample access to medical care, bringing to mind George Jackson's declarative statement that "each individual born in these Amerikan cities should be born with those things that are necessary to survival. Meaningful social roles, education, medical care, food, shelter, and understanding should be guaranteed at birth." (George Jackson, Soledad Brother, 245) Given the dubiousness of this claim, especially among the African American community, we are forced to grapple with the inadequacy of corporate action in the face of systemic inaccessibility to sufficient resources. The add finally resolves to the Gulf logo, and the claim that this was brought to you by Gulf, because "human energy is what counts." Gulf is never mentioned prior to the last two seconds, begging the question, why was this the most effective way to sell gasoline?
  
  
  The full advertisement is available to view below: