What, exactly, is the hideous fate at stake? Using a wheelchair. Apparently, needing to use a wheelchair is the ultimate tragedy. "Beware the Chair," warns the PSA. It's catchy. It stays with you in a way that's haunting and unsettling. The problem is that as a wheelchair user, the PSA has me on edge for a much different reason than its intent. I'm not frightened by the prospect of osteoporosis. I'm frightened by the fact that wheelchairs are portrayed as an object of doom.
The ad shows a manual wheelchair being rigged to move via remote control, and then set loose in public while empty to chase people down. Combined with creepy horror movie music, the visual of an empty wheelchair moving on its own is meant to somehow convey the risks of osteoporosis.
This PSA takes the very serious matter of osteoporosis and turns it into a sideshow. I understand the intention behind the campaign is positive, but it is neither well thought out nor well executed. The ridiculous prank of being chased by empty wheelchairs might be memorable, but it does absolutely nothing to effectively educate the public. There are barely any facts included in the video, so it becomes all about the fear of wheelchairs, and on a larger scale, of disability.