redirected from Main.ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV
alt title(s): Im Not A Doctor But I Play One On TV
Sometimes it would be really great to get a doctor or other medical authority to say something nice about your product and or service on TV. However, for some reason — FDA approval, budget, etc. — it will not be possible to actually get a real doctor to do this.
The solution, dress an actor up in a white lab coat, and give them a stethoscope. Even if he is a dentist. If possible put them in a set that looks like a waiting room, pharmacy, or hospital. As long as you don't say they're really a doctor you aren't going to get in trouble.
Trope named for a commercial from the 1980s in which Peter Bergman, who played a physician on
The Young And The Restless, opened his pitch for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup with this very line.
- Subverted in a Jack in the Box commercial where a guy in a lab coat rattles off a bunch of preposterous health claims about cheesy fries on a tv screen being watched by the Jack character and a suit. When Jack asks the suit where he found this guy, the suit replies, "Tobacco company."
- This editor has also heard a tongue-in-cheek expression, "I'm not God, I just play one on TV."
- Someone at the old spice marketing department looked at this page and went "Hey, I think I have an idea...
- Basketball player Dr. J has started doing Dr. Pepper commercials, concluding with "Trust me, I'm a doctor."
- Ditto with Gene Simmons (as Dr. Love) and Dr. Dre.
- I've heard a Kermit-the-frog-themed parody of Five for Fighting's "It's Not Easy to Be Me" that opens with the verse: "I can't stand to swim / Swamp soaks right through me / I'm not amphibian / I just play one on TV."
- Many Male Enhancement ads combine this with Hot Scientist. According to her, 66% of men can't satisfy! Wait but she's not a doct- hey boobs.
- Dr. Wattage from Wildguard is not a doctor, but the name sounds cool.
