Casual sexism in a cold cure

I was standing in Waterloo tube station the other morning, idly watching the video billboard.  Up popped a ghoulish cartoon image of a very stressed girl with green snot dripping from her nose.  The gloriously catastrophizing speech bubble said something along the lines of “Oh no, I have a cold and now I can’t go on my date with xxx and I’ll end up a lonely old cat woman.”  Never fear, the magic cold remedy (can’t recall the brand) would save the day.

The screen cleared and up popped a ghoulish cartoon of a very stressed guy with glasses, a beard and green snot dripping from his nose.  The gloriously catastrophizing speech bubble said something along the lines of “Oh no, I have a cold and I can’t go to this important meeting and sneaky Pete will steal my promotion.”  Never fear, the magic … well you get the picture.

Silly, vapid, pointless, transient.  And yet…

Made me think.