Obecalp: well-meaning or worthless candy?

Is Obecalp (the ‘placebo’ pill for kids) a well-meaning testament to the influence of wishful-thinking, or (more than likely) is it quite simply a worthless sugar pill?

Like any placebo effect or response, Obecalp is supposed to work as a therapeutic ‘medicine’ by placating an individual’s symptoms without actually remedying them.

On the placebostore.com homepage, well-meaning ‘mommy’ of three spuriously claims to have invented Obecalp as ‘the first standardized placebo’.  If by ‘standardised’ she means uniform, well then we may as well be talking about Love Hearts or any other sugary sweet.

Of course, the notion of ‘standardising’ or homogenising something that’s effectiveness depends on heterogeneous conditions is essentially nonsense. The power of suggestion deeply depends on the element of surprise or unfamiliarity.

As soon as kids identify Obecalp as a rogue Placebo-effect drug moonlighting as a well-intentioned ‘medicine’, its value will be negligible. And this may be sooner than a mum may think, if they make the same gross underestimation as the pill’s inventor, who has clearly forgotten that the old trick of holding a mirror up to a word to uncover its meaning is quite literally child’s play.

Candy-coating the issue further, the matriarchal architect of this double-edged wonder makes a considerably naive comparison between a mother’s comforting love and a sugary tablet – she would do just as well to liken her affections to a tube of Love Hearts wrapped in plastic.

Actually, cuddles, unlike sugar, release endorphins (‘happy’ chemicals) that make us feel better.  Even so, if a kid really needs a sugar ‘fix’, then their mum will probably buy them some proper sweets (like Starburst) or chocolate (which also releases endorphins), which will no doubt make them feel better psychologically, even if they O-D and feel sick with it.

However, as with any palatable (addictive) sugar-based substance, it would not be advisable to consume large quantities of Obecalp. Yet, with such an ineffective ‘treatment’ its intake would be difficult to moderate.

In the midst of the investigation into Red Bull that revealed that the ‘energy’ drink aimed at the student market, is regularly distributed on campus, has resulted in one school implementing a ban on the toxic sugar-based substance, controlled intake of Obecalp would be advisable until some further research is done into what constitutes a ‘safe’ amount.

More crucially, people should be more aware of the risks that a quick-fix solution poses to what may be deeper unresolved issues that a child is experiencing, or conversely, that could be fixed with a cuddle.

Put simply, Obecalp should be held up to a mirror and exposed for what it really is.

By Amanda Carey/MOLI