So there I was during the middle of the night, stumbling into my bathroom, only the hallway light for illumination when my sleepy eyes fell upon my bottle of vitamins. It’s an industrial size bottle of Kirkland (Costco’s house brand) Mature Adult Daily Multi Vitamins and Minerals. In the dim light colors were muted and outlines were obscured. If you squint at the image above and look at the heart and banner — the one that proclaims that the vitamins now contain lycopene — you may see pretty much the same thing I saw. The shape remind you of anything?

I Googled lycopene and discovered it may have benefitial effects regarding prostate health. Vitamins for “mature” adults, prostate health, a graphic shaped like…. Wait a minute… You don’t suppose the advertising people…

Some years ago, I got to meet the guy who wrote the famous book, Subliminal Seduction, which spilled the beans to the public on what and how advertisers use sex in their work. Of course, the world has changed in the thirty years since it was written. Not much need for the subliminal when fully naked people are used in ads. Unless you’re selling vitamins to the older, Costco crowd.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

As it happens, I went to Costco today and it looks like someone else figured out what was on the label and, er, um, pulled it. The new bottles have an arched rectangle shape for the mini banner. It also could be that because now it trumpets the addition of calcium and something called lutein, more space was need than the previous shape provided, or it could simply that this is the, er, flacid state.