Inside the October 2013 Issue of Parents Magazine, an ad for a life insurance company, Aetna and its app Carepass, asks the question “What is your Healthy?”(26) It is the first thing that stands out when the reader see the advertisement. The reader might begins to wonder what the ad means by the answer, “downward facing dog.”(26) Even if the reader knows nothing about yoga, it could easily be figured out by the depiction of the woman performing a yoga move in her cold, colorless, barren, room with only herself and her loving dog. In contrasting colors, an illustration of the app is promoted on a smart phone and tablet. Alongside the illustration, the ad states, “Whatever your healthy is, Aetna can help you get there.”(26) The ad is trying to target people who are health conscious and need guidance in achieving those goals. One would presumably think the ad is trying to target women in their thirties to mid forties. Men in general are too pompous to think they need help achieving these goals, but as women get older, there is more pressure to stay fit and young looking. Societal pressures can make women feel self-conscious about their appearance and this app takes advantage of that by giving you a plan to achieve these ideals.
The creator of Carepass is aware that Americans are unhealthy, yet health conscious, and is here to help with this problem. In proposing a solution to a health conscious society, by creating an app to assist in the journey to become a healthier individual, it is revealing a bigger problem. America thinks it can fix anything with one click of a mouse, one app purchased or one pill to swallow; but in fact, “What’s your healthy?” is not just one purchase or something one can accomplish, it is a lifestyle. Aetna is trying to give the idea that all of this can be achieved through the app, and Carepass is a one-stop-shop to all of life’s problems.